Ladies and Gentlemen, could somebody please help with my radio issues, 1993 300e original radio, when in radio mode makes popping and crackling sounds, has a lot of statics. I know with the older cars you normally would have a condenser by the distributor , is there any remedies for this problem cause i would like to keep it original and is thre any way i can mak it play mp3 formats?
danke shoen in advance

I believe you can pay Becker to add an aux input to their older radios but honestly I've found it much better just to get a new head unit in almost all cases. This would give much increased functionality along with newer electronics and far superior audio quality. As for the static and popping, a lot of times the center console fader can be to blame, but the car is almost 20 years old with 20 year old wiring and multiple amps, wiring faults could be just about anywhere.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

the dealer could not give me the code for my radio. too old (1987).

i am shopping for a new one

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

^^What Tom said. When I bought my '88 CE 9 years ago, the first thing to go was the old radio. Now sitting on the shelf in the garage and a 12 cd magazine sits in the trunk. I did not upgrade the speaker system. Good enough for me.

The stock speakers are actually very good on w124s. I'm definitely an audiophile and when given a good clean signal from a decent amp/HU they really shine. Supplemented by a well tuned subwoofer it is a very good system. New wiring required though, the old audio wires are not good.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

While we're on the subject, when I bought the car the radio mast switch worked. I don't remember if the dealer or Circuit City (remember them) told me they had to disconnect it and have it work off the radio power switch. I had the car at the dealer for some electrical cabin glitches then I had the radio replaced soon after. I forget who disconnedted the antenna switch, but I think it was the dealer. Any thoughts why the did that??

I rather liked not raising the antenna in areas of strong signal.

I upgraded the head unit and ran the stock setup with a powerful amp and a separate sub and amp. The stock speakers sounded just fine as tbomachines alluded.

I didn't upgrade the speaker wiring either, as I was able to splice into the existing bundle. No problems there either. The only wiring upgrade was heavy gauge power and ground wires for the external amps.

Not sure why you would be getting noise from the radio and not from the cassette or CD, unless the antenna is introducing noise from being poorly grounded.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

The radio is dead, time for a new one. My 1993 failed in the same way - no reception, but tape player worked OK (no CD in that car).

I replaced it with a $120 Sony headunit that includes radio, single CD, iPod connector, USB input, and - my favorite - a remote control. It is wired directly into the dash/parcel shelf speakers, bypassing the console fader. I retained the stock trunk mounted amp driving the front door "subs." The trunk mounted amp uses line level inputs. With a 124 wiring diagram you can tap into the existing inputs and the turn-on signal from the head unit as well.

hello folks , thank you for the quick reply, i will still try and make this old thing work, problem now is- i can hear the antenna motor running up/down when powered up/down, but the mast is not responding which i suspect may be due to broken plastic in the mast QUESTION = is it possible to replace just the plastic thingy inside or do i have to spring for a complete antenna?

popular chinese proverb says "man who run in front of car will get tired and man who run behind will be exhuasted"

Probably it can be fixed. There are two big white plastic gears (tm) inside the antenna which are coupled together by a torsion spring. A common failure mode is for the plastic drive bits on one of the gears to fail. Replacement big white plastic gears (tm) are available on ebay or from a vendor in LA that specializes in Hirschmann antennea. Unfortunately, I cannot currently recall the name of said vendor...

Odd....the dealer was able to get mine without issue (1991)


What radio do you have in your 300E?
http://web.mac.com/dakota/Becker/1432.html
(As tbomachines said it is usually the fader switch) Mine usually works but sometimes does what you are describing.

I don't know how good the speakers are in the W124 but i've gotten some good comments on the speakers (Only the 1991 w126s had this sound system)

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

At least on the older w126s, the speakers are pretty crappy. Not really surprising since they're 30 years old at this point, but any serious audiophile will create a parcel deck that will accomodate new speakers.

w126 custom back deck how-to!

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Next PA meet i'll sit you down in my car and power up the CD changer.

__________________
1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."