W140 intermittent radio problem

[Cilent1]

I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my mothers 97 S320. Her radio (factory unit) would not come on so I instructed her to input the radio code. That worked fine for a while. But when she would turn the car off and come back to start it again the radio would not be on and it will no longer ask for a code to be input. There was an instance where the radio just came on after starting the car and upon restarting it was off again and would not ask for a code. When you try to power up the unit nothing happens no antenna action or anything. The fuses seem to check out OK. The unit has remained dormant now for about 3 or 4 months.

I'm hoping someone may be able to shed some light on the problem so I won't have to travel up to Ohio (I'm in FL.) in a futile attempt to diagnose and fix the problem.

Sorry for the long post.

Regards,
-Anthony Marsh

[Cleeve]

Hi Cilent1,
You might check to see if the battery hot line for the radio is not intermitant. All else fails you can send it to me to check. If it has a problem we should be able to find it. If it doesn't have a problem we may be able to advise you as to where next to go. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

www.lajollaaudiorepair.com

Cleeve Morrison
La Jolla Audio Repair

[Cilent1]

Cleeve, thanks for the reply. I'll try to check the hot line going to the radio. Does the head unit need to be removed to do this? And is there a special tool that is required?

Thanks again, your help is very much appreciated.

[Cleeve]

Hi Cilent1,

It would be best to remove the radio and test for the battery hot line there where it goes into the radio. That way you don't miss something if a line is broken near the radio. As for removing the radio it is fairly straight forward.

Cleeve