E30 Zone

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if you could shed some light on this.

Took out the radio that was in the car i'm driving now (see here) which was a Pioneer DEH-2000R (see here) and went to replace it with my own radio which is a Sont CDX-GT 616 (see here).

Anyway the Pioneer was working fine, no bother on it but I wanted to put in my own so I could hook up my ipod to it. Took out the Pioneer and put in the Sony and it won't work. Put back in the Pioneer and it won't work either!

When I plug in the Sony radio there is power going to it because I can here it as if it is trying to spin up a CD but when I put it all together and turn on the engine, nothing happens at all. No sign of life from the Pioneer. I replaced the fuse under the bonnet in case it was that but still nothing from it.

Just wondering if anyone could give me any advice on what to look for?

Thanks!

Could the fuses on the stereos have blown? normally there is a car type fuse hanging around the back of the stereo too.

Is there any possibility you could have wired it up wrong? are you using the ISO connectors? do the pins on the pioneer and sony correspond to the same inputs?

Try pulling the connector out of the hole in the dash where the stereo goes, and plug it into either stereo and then put the key in the ignition but just turn it to ACC and try get the stereo to work first, I guess where I'm going is to narrow it down its worth checking the stereo still works first, you could try it in another car too if possible.

Thanks for the quick reply, took my lunch there and went up the Halfords and picked up some new fuses for the radio itself - still the same result. When I plug in the radio I hear the CD trying to spin up but get no further than that with it.

Will try and put it into another car later if I can manage to find somebody willing to let me near their radio after I tell them why I need it!!

Both radio's have the same connections at the back so I just unplugged one and plugged it straight into the other so can't imagine I done anything wrong, thought it strange the original radio didnt work when I put it back in though.

You say its trying to spin up, but is there anything on the stereo screen?

Nope, this is with the engine completely off keys sitting on my lap. When I plug the main connection into the back of the radio (iso?) it sounds its trying to spin up and then when it stops after a few seconds I get nothing with the engine on or off.

I think the wiring up of the previous radio might have caused something to go wrong because there is a specific wire behind it that has a Pioneer casing on it which might have caused a problem maybe... I'll try take a few pictures of it on my next break of what I am working with.

Appreciate the help.

Ok so a bit of good news - I put a new fuse in the old Pioneer radio and put that in and hey presto, I have music again!

Though it still doesn't explain why the Sony radio would not work for me (will test that radio tonight/over weekend but can't imagine its not working)

Anyway here are a few pics of the mess that is behind the radio to see if anybody can see any problems - apart from the obvious almight mess that it is!




Now that I have the cigarette lighter back working I can use my ipod dock thing to transmit from my ipod to the radio but I would like to connect it directly if possible - to do that I need to figure out why the Sony radio is not working for me.

If anybody has any ideas I would love to hear them, thanks guys!

Get the instructions out and double check the inputs on the stereos are the same!

Then change the fuse in the Sony stereo, if it then starts working, next time disconnect the battery when you swap stereos

and check all that birds nest of wiring.

What under the insultation tape, proper connectors?

Doesnt look to me as if theres any connectors on there at all, wires stripped twisted together and taped up, could be causing all your problems, id get some proper connections on there if thats the case, before something worse happens than just the stereo not working mate

Yeah that looks like the next job to do - didn't realise how bad it really was back there until I went to take the pictures of it. And to think the guy who is the current owner is an electrician!

Ugh. (!)

On the way home from work yesterday, as soon as I picked up a bit of speed and the car started moving, went over a slight bump in the road which knocked the Pioneer onto MUTE. I'm guessing this is something to do with the wiring to the car kit / bluetooth kit wired in at the minute - and i'm using "wired in" very loosely here!

Going to have to get in and sort that mess out soon.

This situation stumped me a few months ago, turned out my battery was pooped, a new battery sorted it. Try installing straight after youve driven the car and the alternator has charged the battery.

Moz