Radio does not function - where to start?
 

My radio was working when I bought the car about a month ago. After I removed the fan to fix a leaky coolant line, it quit working. The LCD on the radio shows a time, but when I turn it on, the antenna doesn't go up and I have no sound. The antenna switch on the dash does nothing either. I checked my fuses and they all look OK. Where should I start troubleshooting something like this? I don't have much experience working on these things yet. (Radios and Mercedes!)

My car is a 1984 300TD.

Factory radio or after market?
 

There are only 4 input wires to most radio.

1) constant 12v - keep radio pre-set stations
2) switchable 12v, when key is in position 2 - turn on radio when car is running
3) Ground
4) variable 12v - part of the dash dimming circuit to dim the display.

Radio output wires - speakers wires. Antenna control wire, 12v to extend the antenna.

Wire 1 or 2 may be fused inside or outside the radio. Need to check.

If you can locate all these wires then the radio should work. If it is factory radio then the connection MUST be right as they are for Mercedes radio.

Good luck.

Thanks, I'll pull it out and see what's connected.

So, dumb piggyback question: how do you pull the radio out in the first place?

I have a "dead" Becker that I'd rather not pull the whole dash apart to get to debug...

I haven't pulled mine, but will need to at some point. A while back I did some searches on it and seem to recall finding a few posts on it with pics. Do a search on threads with the word "radio" in the title and I am sure you will come up with something. Just use the advanced search functoin for titles only.

Remove the ash tray, remove the 2 phillip screws under it to remove the ash tray frame. radio should slide out.

Note: (Do this also to remove the wood around the shifter. then slide it back and up.)

Charlie

Well, I'm happy to report that my radio issue was only an inline fuse. Thanks for the tip on removing it to check.

Edit -

Oops, I spoke too soon. When I turned on the radio this morning the fuse popped right away. I'm going to go put another one in an see if it's related to the tape adapter I had in there today that wasn't there yesterday.