Becker radio works but it's lights don't

[rickjordan]

I recently bought a 1983 300TD, which has it's original Becker "Europa" radio. The odd thing is that even though the radio works, nothing lights up except the word stereo, in red. I test drove the car during the day time, so I didn't notice this at the time. This is not a digital radio. Per the original owner's manual, a digital radio was optional at the time. This radio is "old" style push button presets with large black knobs for volume and tuning. Any ideas on what to look at?

[G-Benz]

My 93 300E has the digital unit, and it works, but I have noticed that there are "shadowy" areas in the backlighted display, due to burnt out bulbs. I am told this will occur over time, but since the unit works, I don't plan to crack open the console just to replace 30 cents worth of bulbs!

Your unit may have suffered the same fate. I say live with it, unless you want to send it out for refurbishment. I believe there is a thread about this somewhere here.

[rickjordan]

I scanned through several threads but didn't see anything related to my problem. It is definetly a strange problem.

[JHZR2]

Id like to know the answer to this as well...
Do the europa radios have an illumination wire like the grand prix radios do?

Thanks,

JMH

[MeeM]

The old Becker radios may have an illumination wire. I'm not too sure about this because I haven't seen the rear of these old units.

Look for a Becker plug behind the radio. The plug looks like

. · · ·

and the labels from left to right are: ground, ignition, illumination, constant.

Becker stopped using this connector back in 1994. It was used in the 80's, but I'm not sure whether it was only for the digital units.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mk

[jabstick420]

reviving this thread since I am now trying to figure this out.

basically, I have the grand prix electronic, but would like to switch to the older radio with turn knobs. The plug on the older units is _ - -

There is a pin missing at terminal 3 "illumination"

reading another site, it seems that the older radios had illumination drawn from the ignition wire.

So, I guess the simplest solution is a jumper from terminal 3 to terminal 2.

anybody had this issue trying to go to an older radio...?

[tyl604]

Not sure I agree with the illumination wire theory. My '81SD has a Becker stereo/cassette radio. I took it out and looked inside. It actually has tiny light bulbs for light; they can easily be replaced (if you can find them; I did not try that.). Let me restate - I remember that the red stereo light was definitely a small light bulb and I think the others were the same. I am only certain about the stereo light.

[jabstick420]

I emailed with a guy who sells the vintage beckers with the 3 pin connect instead of the 4 pin "L" shaped common on the grand prix electronic models.

he said it should work the same and the harness plug is the same. just missing one pin. his explanation was that the 4th pin wasn't necessary since station memory is not used on models with the push button analog stations.

I will update this when I get my replacement radio.