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Date:         Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:34:36 -0600
Reply-To:     Bruce Nadig <motorbruce@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bruce Nadig <motorbruce@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      VW Radio Into Vanagon (Long)
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Howdy From Texas,

Long story, but thanks to VW the stock radio on my '87 GL is now just a large paperweight. That is not the problems I am trying to solve today, although I am still pissed at VW (they can't get me the code for my radio because they didn't stamp the 14 character code into the chassis). Don't reply with suggestions on how to get it going again. I have moved on from that problem.

For a replacement I want to keep the VW look. A good friend of mine is the local VW guru and used parts vendor. He has a VW head unit that I want to use in my Vanagon, but so far I haven't been able to get it to work. He swears that all he had to do to get to work in a car was plug it in - on codes, no nothing.

This radio has a black face, VW logo, and says "Premium Audio." No other model names are present. This is a AM/FM/Cassette unit with CD changer controls. My friend told me that these are rare units. On the body of the radio there are a number of stickers. Several of them say "Premium." The part number appears in two places and is: 357 035 186H. One sticker that says Premium and has the part number also says "Made In Japan." Elsewhere on the radio there is a sticker that says "Assembled by Matsushita Communications Deutschland GMBH, Germany." Go figure. I don't know what year or model car this unit came from.

On the front of the head unit it also has a picture of a red key and says, "Anti Theft." My friend swears that he was able to plug it in to a car and it worked. He swears that he didn't need a code for the unit to work.

I checked the fuse on the radio and it is good. I checked to see that the radio is getting power, and it is.

On the back there are three receptacles for plugs on the factory harness, just as the original radio had. The lowest of the three is for power, the middle is for the connections to the speakers. The upper receptacle is for the cable that runs to the CD changer.

I think the solution to this problem will be getting the proper wires hooked up to the proper pins on the bottom receptacle. The stock socket for the bottom receptacle has wires going to only 3 of the 8 pins. There is a label on the top of the radio with a key to the layout of the pins. The stock socket supplies power to one pin. Another pin is ground. A third is hooked up to the dimmer circuit of the dashboard lights. All other pins are left empty. On the label on top there are, however, symbols assigned to 3 other pins. One looks like a "Y" but the vertical section is the full height of the character. I think this is a signal for a power antenna. One of the remaining pins with an associated symbol simply has a "+". The final pin has a picture of a speaker and a "+." Remember, only 3 of these pins are actually connected to anything on the factory harness (that is to say that the factory harness only has wires going to positions for 3 pins).

The new radio also has 8 pins in the bottom receptacle. The power, ground, and dimmer pins are in the same positions. Like the old radio, the new unit also has the "Y" (antenna?) symbol, and the speaker with the "+." There are two additional symbols. Rather than having the second "+" that the first radio had, the newer radio has an "S." Finally, there is a pin labeled "ALM." That is obviously for some sort of alarm function. One pin remains unlabeled on the newer radio.

When I told my friend that the newer radio wouldn't work in my van he gave me one suggestion. He seemed to think that this would solve the problem right away. He really knows his VW stuff, especially electrical, so I didn't question him. I just followed his advice. He instructed me to connect the negative terminal and the terminal marked with the "S." He gave me the jumper wires with the correct ends to insert into the factory connectors and everything.

Well, to make a long story, this afternoon, I did as he suggested. The new radio still doesn't do anything. I plug it in, turn it on, and....nothing. Nothing on the LCD screen. No mild thump from the speakers when the unit is turned on. Nothing. Any ideas?

I'd really like to use this head unit for several reasons (factory look, cassette and CD capability, and the price is right).

Any VW radio geniuses out there think you can help me with this problem? If we can get this solved you will have my eternal gratitude!

Cheers, Bruce

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