I've been working on my punch-list for a month now. Getting the dead Becker working is one of the last things on that list.

Driving to work this morning...sitting at a light....all of a sudden the Becker comes on, by itself, and commences to hissing and popping through the speakers. Goes off for 3 minutes, comes back on for 1 minute...nothing I do changes this routine.

The thing does this for the whole 55 minute commute. Not a peep out of it the previous 1,500 miles.

When the thing was "alive", the antenna would go up or down via the dash switch (never worked before). Would not work when the Becker turned itself off.

Any idea what in the world is going on? Do I need a Priest

edit: I should add that none of my work to this point involved the stuff behind the radio. I did open up the HVAC blower box to pull some junk out of the squirrel cage and started pulling the Becker out last week, but stopped short cause of interference with the wood.

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2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)

The Becker seems to want to come to life unexpectedly, more often now. Given that I am about to drive the car 600 miles, that will be rather irritating given the volume of the hissing and popping (I have it faded to the rear, but it is still loud).

I guess I will look at the fuses to see if I can eliminate power to the radio without affecting other stuff...

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2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)

Just unplug it from behind the radio. It's a four pin plug. Should take maybe 10 min...

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Unplug it?

Why not just turn it off?

You just need a new radio ... or an exchange with Becker.

It's 23 years old, after all. Have any 23-year-old working TVs at your house?

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Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

I have one that I built from a kit in about '85. Not quite 23 years, but closing fast. Of course, the picture quality is not quite as good as the $100 Target special I recently bought.

Funny, in 600 miles of driving the past 24 hours, the Becker was "on" for a total of maybe 2 minutes!

Someone asked "Why not just turn it off?" None of the controls on the radio affect it, either when it is off, or "on".

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2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)

So, this hasn't happened to anyone else?

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2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)

I may have a similar problem. The battery in my 1982 300SD goes dead in a few days. I checked the current draw and it registered a very good 0.02 Amps. But I noticed that after a few minutes ( key off--just battery hooked up) the draw increased to 1/2 Amp, and there was a slight hum in the speakers. When I removed the #13 fuse, the battery drain immediately goes to 0.02 Amps. Replacing the fuse and the draw stays at 0.02 for a few minutes, then pop back to 0.47 Amps.
I think it sounds like a dead becker.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Well, the Becker has not made any racket in the past 500 miles. Maybe because now the anti-theft alarm is arming itself and going off whenever I open a door!

I was shaking my head at one point over the German's use of vacuum instead of electrons. Now I wonder if they should have used vacuum to control the alarm and the radio

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2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)