My radio stopped working

Charm

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2002 GLS leather sunroof
I got into my car this morning and my radio did not turn on.
To keep this short and sweet I will list the perinant facts.

1. I use a ciglighter powered FM-modulated Sirius radio, it was turned off through the night
2. All other electrics seemed to work, the car itself seemed fine

now here is where it gets interesting:
3. I knew there was a CD inside of it, so I hit eject. nothing came out, but the little red security light blinked at me every time I hit eject.

does anybody think that maybe the radio thinks it was stolen and has shut itself off?

Do you think it could be heat/humidity. It was almost 90 degrees this morning in Bmore. its very humid here.

If the radio is dead it could not have come at a worse time.
I had been away from this scene for a bit over 2 years until recently, and for the last 6 months I had been eyeing my next mod to spend 3K$ s to get an Eclipse doubledin navigation and MB Quart speakers, and a 4ch amp.

I recently put that on hold and went with G60/Vr6 clutch kit, PP520, and change my chip from Speedtuning to Rocketchip. I am on a waiting list for the nozzles and pending appointments for the jobs to be done.

My car has is a 2002 Jetta TDI GLS with 49.5K miles. It has the double din headunit and it has steering wheel controls(which yes wil work with aftermarket headunits)

thanks for your thoughts
 

Charm

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2002 GLS leather sunroof
i need to append something.

the little red led security is blinking continously, i just did not notice because it is always blocked by a cup.

i just got hold of a VAG-COM and updated it to 607

all i know how to do is to run the general diagnostics that shows fault codes
if you have any suggestions on the vag-com angle please share thanks
 
Last edited:

ibrickey

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 21, 2006
Location
Princeton Wi. On the Fox River
TDI
2000 Golf TDI GLS Black Auto Trans
I'v Had this problem 2 or 3 times already
1st time i drove 60 mils. to the dealer and all they did was pull
out the radio fuse..#25? i think? For about 60 seconds And put it back in.
And it Worked fine.
The next time it happened i did the same thing my self..And It Worked.
I did'nt need the radio Code eather time.
Good thing because i do'nt have it.
My car is an 02 Golf Monsoon Radio/Cd/Tape
*** Rickey The Brickey *********************** :-/
 

weedeater

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Location
Reston, VA
TDI
Jetta, 2001, Baltic Green
There is a recall of these radios. the dealer will replace them ONLY if they see the problem for themselves.
 

Charm

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2002 GLS leather sunroof
thanks guys.
I hooked up the vagcom and it told me it could not communicate with the radio.

I looked at the fuse box, before reading these replies and did not see a picture that logicaly relayed to a radio, except for one that looks like a horn. How did you guys know what fuse it was? was it from a bentley manual? the owners definatly didnt have it.

Weedeater: you say the radio is recalled, I wouldnt mind getting a new one, but if it is the fuse there is no way around that. Under what rational are the radios recalled AND how do you guys find out this stuff. I dont think I have ever gotten a mailing for any recalls ever.
 

cage

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 25, 1999
Location
lakewood, ohio
Pull the radio and check the fuse on the back of the radio itself. Mine blew for some reason while the fuse box fuse was fine. I replaced the radio fuse on the radio and all is fine.
 

Jeff_Duncan

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Location
Cape Cod Massachusetts
Ours too!

We had the same thing this AM in our 2002. The radio won't power up. Pulled the 42 fuse and left it out for about 30 sec and it didn't fix the issues. I searched for recalls on the radio and didn't find any.

Next is to pull the unit from the dash and check that - any tips on pulling it?
 

weedeater

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Location
Reston, VA
TDI
Jetta, 2001, Baltic Green
YOu need the radio removal tools, 4 I believe on the double DIN radio. You can make them out of old credit cards or something similar.

The recall was reported here some years ago (02) and I believe there was a TSB for it. The radio would simply stop working. Removing/replacing the fuse on the back would cure it, but only for a while.
 

Jeff_Duncan

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Location
Cape Cod Massachusetts
Okay, so the #42 is definately NOT doing the trick. From what I read here some people say the dealer work is a warranty claim, and some people say it's a recall. There is obviously a big difference. I am going to try to search the forums again for the TSB but I havent had much luck - seems to be no info on the recall anywhere. Very frustrating.
 

motorinar

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Location
Buford, Ga
TDI
Jetta Wagon BEW
weedeater said:
YOu need the radio removal tools, 4 I believe on the double DIN radio. You can make them out of old credit cards or something similar.

The recall was reported here some years ago (02) and I believe there was a TSB for it. The radio would simply stop working. Removing/replacing the fuse on the back would cure it, but only for a while.
The fuse in the back of my radio it was keep on blowing, so instead of the 10 Amps I have put a 15 Amps one and it's been fine for a while.
 

Dave_D

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2003
Location
Gaithersburg, MD, USA
TDI
2015 Passat Titanium Beige six speed manual & Jetta, 1999.5, Tornado Red
Is this the stock radio? Is the red light between the "Power" button and the "1" button flashing? If not, go somewhere that installs radios and ask them to help you pull the radio so you can check the fuse in the back. Mine has blown twice in the three years I have owned the vehicle, but I have yet to determine what causes it to blow.
 

Jeff_Duncan

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Location
Cape Cod Massachusetts
Fixed

I pulled the battery cable off for 10 minutes tonight and it finally reset the radio. Funny that so many people fixed it with the 37 and 42 fuses but it didn't even phase mine. Battery disconnect worked like a champ.

J
 

scott_the_sock

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Location
USA
TDI
2002 Silver Golf GLS TDI 5 Speed
My '02 has done it twice. Blinking red light on radio with no response to buttons. It's as if it's off and won't come on. First time the dealer just pulled it, checked connections, and put it back in. It worked fine for a couple of months.

Then it did it again. :mad: I was going to take it in again and tell them I wanted a new radio (certified used with extended warranty), but a day or so later before I could, the entire car died as if the battery was dead. I hooked up jumper cables, and you'd think Fonzy had hit the jukebox. Dash indicators started flashing, dings went off, and the radio started playing. I haven't had any problems since, at least with the radio (knock on wood).

My only guess is hooking up the jumper cables electrocuted the gremlin playing with the wires. :D
 

Charm

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2002 GLS leather sunroof
its working again!

back to my udnerground hip hop and liberal talk radio on Siruius :D and and howard stern too! thank.

This event got me to fork over 60$ to impex and get a bently manual just so I could find out whate each symbol meant.

I still cant figure out what the symbo for fuse42 means, maybe this fuse handles other
 

Dodoma

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
TDI
2002 Jetta White
I have 2002 Jetta tdi with stock radio. Twice the radio went dead. I pulled the #42 fuse and push it back. It worked (the radio LED blinked while radio was dead). These small things are what give VW a bad reputation.
 

ToolNut

Veteran Member
Joined
May 2, 2004
Location
Boylston, MA, USA
TDI
'02 Jetta GLS, '11 SportWagen
This has also happened to my 2002 double-din Monsoon radio about half a dozen times. Sometimes removing and reinstalling the fuse works right away, but other times it seems like the radio has to be fuseless for several minutes before the radio comes back to life. At one point, after repeated fuse removal had no effect, I let it sit overnight before reinstalling it. The radio came back.

Of course, my AM doesn't work because of that crappy antenna issue...

Paul
 

Charm

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2002 GLS leather sunroof
Dodoma said:
I have 2002 Jetta tdi with stock radio. Twice the radio went dead. I pulled the #42 fuse and push it back. It worked (the radio LED blinked while radio was dead). These small things are what give VW a bad reputation.
It gives a bad reputation in the minds of those that want to give it one.
its a fuse!

I think my jetta had the best oem headunit of all cars under 30K in 2002.

Are there any sub 30k cars today that have component speaker systems stock?
how about in 1997?
 

greengeeker

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Location
Cambridge, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
Charm said:
It gives a bad reputation in the minds of those that want to give it one.
its a fuse!
Everyone is pulling the fuse, and just replacing the same fuse...therebye leaving the radio w/o power. For some reason, this reset fixes the problem with the RADIO. Somewhere in Wolfsburg, an electrical engineer is not doing his/her job.
 

Trois_ChatsSB

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI wagon
Just had the same dead radio problem on my '02 Jetta wagon, and removing the #42 fuse for a minute or two did the trick! Very frustrated and confused, so I'm glad a quick search of the boards turned up this thread.
 

Charm

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2002 GLS leather sunroof
so glad to hear!

I had to post to find out. shortly after this happened I bought the bently manual.
I had a good idea it was the fuse, just the little diagram in the car did not do a good job of telling you what number.

Trois_ChatsSB said:
Just had the same dead radio problem on my '02 Jetta wagon, and removing the #42 fuse for a minute or two did the trick! Very frustrated and confused, so I'm glad a quick search of the boards turned up this thread.
 

TDInewark

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2006
Location
Delaware
TDI
2002 Jetta
I'm so happy I found this thread!!! My radio stopped working today on my '02 Jetta...so I pulled fuse 42 for a couple minutes and viola, were back in business. :)

Once again, TDIClub comes to the rescue.
 

ditchdr

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 22, 2003
Location
Hutchinson Kansas
TDI
2002 Golf GLS TDI
The radio in my 2002 Golf did this. The dealership replaced the radio. They said there was a service bulletin out on these radios and they needed to be replaced.
 

Chris B

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2001
Location
N. central Illinois
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon 5 spd
Man, the gremlins are getting around! My radio in my 2002 TDI Jetta Wagon just did this this morning. No power, but blinking red light. Friggin' weird!

Only coincidence is that I was in there clearing a glowplug intermittent CEL last night with VAG-COM, and it didn't work this morning. It appears that this isn't related to VAG-COM at all, and I've done that many time with no issues. Gotta go and pull the glowplug connections and hit them all with De-Oxit. That usually fixes the issue for a good while.

Anyway, I'll try the fuse trick and report back to see if it works!

Chris
 

Chris B

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2001
Location
N. central Illinois
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon 5 spd
Chris B said:
Man, the gremlins are getting around! My radio in my 2002 TDI Jetta Wagon just did this this morning. No power, but blinking red light. Friggin' weird!

Only coincidence is that I was in there clearing a glowplug intermittent CEL last night with VAG-COM, and it didn't work this morning. It appears that this isn't related to VAG-COM at all, and I've done that many time with no issues. Gotta go and pull the glowplug connections and hit them all with De-Oxit. That usually fixes the issue for a good while.

Anyway, I'll try the fuse trick and report back to see if it works!

Chris
Update - I pulled fuse 42 for a few minutes, replaced it, and the radio magically worked again! Sweet!

This forum is GREAT! Took me 30 seconds to find this thread when I searched and got the answer I needed.

Chris
 

Trois_ChatsSB

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI wagon
ditchdr said:
The radio in my 2002 Golf did this. The dealership replaced the radio. They said there was a service bulletin out on these radios and they needed to be replaced.
Do you have more information on the service bulletin? Is there a link to it online?
 

JHolmes763

New member
Joined
Sep 26, 2006
Location
Kentucky
TDI
None
Just had this issue happen with my '02 Jetta and pulling the #42 fuse for a few minutes fixed it. Thanks for this thread! :)

---John Holmes...
 
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