Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 17:46:02 -0500
Reply-To: Carl.Scheider@STPAUL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Carl Scheider <Carl.Scheider@STPAUL.COM>
Subject: Premium Radio Problem and dumb idea
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Well -- my "premium" (there is no visible brand on it) radio in my 93
Eurovan has adopted a weird problem. The selector buttons have taken on
new personalities. Numbers 1 through 3 work fine, but number 4 has become
the "mode" switch (am - fm), number 5 stopped working period, and number 6
acts like "scan".
Well, say I -- why don't I disconnect this thing and perhaps reset its
brain, so it will treat these buttons with some respect. DUMB idea! This
"premium" radio has an anti-theft feature, which requires me to enter a 4
digit code to re-enable it after it has lost power. Note -- a FOUR digit
code. The FOURTH selector button is used to enter the FOURTH number, and
IT doesn't work! Bah, humbug. Now I have a radio where NOTHING works!
But, after diddling around for some time, I managed to get the 4th button
to increment, once every 40 or so pushes, pushing other buttons in between.
I have no idea why this works, but I managed to get the code in -- to at
least get me back to a radio with 3 buttons working.
But . . . then, I noticed that the station pre-sets were NOT wiped out when
I took out the fuse. I had let it sit for 30 minutes, and they were still
retained. What gives? Is there another source of power to this, is their
a hidden battery under there -- how does it remember the 4 digit code? I
would pull the battery cable, but then I'd have to resort to the diddling
to get it working again.
So -- if your fancy electronic radio adopts another personality, put up
with it! Shock therapy don't work.
I notice in the manual that VW will swap this radio for a reconditioned one
for a "modest" charge. I guess I'll try that.
By the by, I just noticed the post on the EV newslist -- and I'll take my
problems there in the future.
But . . . I have owned 4 air cooled and 1 water cooled VW vans -- and had
plenty of problems to share. The head gasket on my 85 was one of the
costlier, until I hit the AC on the Eurovan. On both occasions, and also
with all of the broken CV joints, I found that a reasonable letter to VW
resulted in some money back! I also replaced the gauges on the Eurovan --
for some $300 -- and I note in this list that it was bad solder
connections. So . . . keep up the good work.
Mayhaps we can get a few VW mechanics to join! Mine owns the same model as
I have, so he's at least a kindred spirit, albeit expensive.
Carl
