Need diagram of Becker Europa Cassette radio

[tyl604]

Becker is sending me two replacement lights for the Becker Europa Cassette radio. Tells me the cassette has to come out to replace one of the lights and warns me it is tricky.

Does anyone have information or a diagram of how to remove the cassette from the inside of the radio?

By the way you can remove the faceplace on this radio without even removing the radio from the car. Just use a very small screwdriver to push the tabs on the left or right of the face and it will come out. One of the lights goes in here (the easy replacement) and I did not find this out until I removed the entire radio.

Thanks for any help.

[Jeremy5848]

I've not read any threads here that go into detailed descriptions of the inside of the Becker radios. Although I'm sure that it is possible for the home mechanic to do this job, if Becker says it is "tricky," it may be worth asking a professional to do the job, even though it will cost you (and I hate paying for stuff I can do myself also). Most good car audio repair places can remove cassette units easily as repair/replacement of those units happens fairly frequently – moving parts and all that. It might even be a good time to have the cassette unit overhauled. Although that job will cost a bit, the lamp replacement will be effectively free. Worth thinking about anyway.

Should you decide that this is a job your really wanna do, you should be able to find a car stereo forum like this Mercedes forum somewhere on line. People there may be able to give you some advice, point you at sources for repair manuals, etc.

BTW, what kind of car is this radio from?

Jeremy

[tyl604]

Jeremy - my bad. It is an 81 300SD. Good idea about looking for a Becker forum. I just do not see how hard it could be to remove the cassette but Becker says "Don't do it." That's how I messed up a perfectly good (27 year old) vac pump for my door locks; opened it up to take a look and it never held vacuum again.

[barry123400]

A schematic or wiring diagram will not help your cause. You would need the complete service manual for that radio if it exists. That manual would spell out how if indeed the removal of the cassett mechanisim is really difficult to get the bulb. In electronic fabrication the germans had some funny ideals on occasion.

You could get the same radio out of a junker at a yard and practice or at least see if it is feasible for you to do it yourself. Other than the two above mentioned items I would farm out the hard bulb change. If there is a becker forum in english unless you speak german might be worth a try as previously mentioned.

I stopped repairs on car radios long ago when I found it took far too long to get into the problem area. Before that era emerged access to the problem area was usually only a couple of minutes or so. It just became too time consuming. Stacked electronic boards and hard to get replacement parts where the last straw for me.

[tyl604]

Barry - my experience with the 300SD is that it is engineered to be worked on easily; lot of thought went in to making repairs as easy as possible for the mechanic (me). Assumed the same was true for a German Becker radio. Since this one is so old - 1981- before computers, etc. perhaps it does not have the stacked elements that you dislike and is a fairly simple radio. I am surprised that the middle lamp replacement would be so difficult.

On the other hand do you know anyone in Atlanta who might replace the lamp?

Actually I would enjoy tearing into it but fear it might never work again - like my vac pump. That would not be good. But I am tempted.

[barry123400]

Originally Posted by tyl604

Barry - my experience with the 300SD is that it is engineered to be worked on easily; lot of thought went in to making repairs as easy as possible for the mechanic (me). Assumed the same was true for a German Becker radio. Since this one is so old - 1981- before computers, etc. perhaps it does not have the stacked elements that you dislike and is a fairly simple radio. I am surprised that the middle lamp replacement would be so difficult.

On the other hand do you know anyone in Atlanta who might replace the lamp?

Actually I would enjoy tearing into it but fear it might never work again - like my vac pump. That would not be good. But I am tempted.

Your geographical location is near or in a principal American hub city. I would get an old copy of hemmings motor news and check the guys out that repair european car radios. There may be one close to you.

Becker one of the oe equipment suppliers to mercedes is not mercedes. At least becker probably did not build the cruise control amplifiers for them. When becker states caution is required to change that bulb it does mean something. How much it means is only guesswork. It might even be simple for any electronic service guy. Time has moved on as well.

Now european versus north american and japanese electronic design and layout were a kettle of different fish in that radios era. Most north american service guys would stay away from european stuff. Companies like phillips used to even try various bribes to get guys like myself to service their equipment.

At that time we were overrun with work and if you repaired some problem in a lot of european product another unrelated one would surface like a submarine a few weeks later if not earlier. You could count on it. Phillips colour televisions and colour television studio cameras designed to north american standards but built in europe where a good example.

Today is entirely different and electronic goods like that would be viewed as a profit centre by service guys if markatable at all. The Japanese and other oriental countries dominate this total area not by price only but more as a default by us and the europeans.

It almost appears we never learn. A simular fate may be in store for our old north american automotive companies. Ford motor company stock is down around 2.00-3.00 range now. If they survive a guy would make a killing. I probably will have a serious look next spring at the state of the company. This price at present indicateds the bettting is almost certain they are gone.

Too big a gamble to buy right now. The first whiff I get of a government determination to really help them survive I will buy in. The amount of money the governments have already given them is not enough. It will take a pile.

You should be able to get an old radio out of a wreck especially in your area for next to nothing. Nobody wants an old becker radio except guys like us. They are really surplus.

Your area is very familiar to me from the twice yearly trips to the Atlanta salvage yards and my favorite yard. That was Sellers auto salvage in Tuscallosa just south of Atlanta before mercedes put their plant in that town. . My five ton diesel truck would go from eastern Canada to there and arrive home with the fuel tanks full for less than five hundred dollars. It would cost that to fill those tanks once today. The local people were extremely good to me as well. How time changes things.

[Jeremy5848]

My experience with mechanical radio stuff comes from my small collection of antique radios, including some amazingly complex tuning mechanisms. Messing around with things like that is risky if you've never done it before and don't have a complete set of instructions. I like the idea of finding an identical (similar?) model in a junkyard and "practicing" before tackling yours. Then again, it may not be that difficult for someone who does it every day. I recommend at least asking a shop what they would charge to replace the bulb. (It does sound strange that so much is required just to replace a bulb but Becker would know their own stuff.)

[tyl604]

This is getting interesting. Becker is sending the lamps but says the center lamp is soldered in instead of being in a lamp holder. Says the entire cassette and plastic holder(?) must come out and I will melt the plastic holder if I am not careful with the soldering iron. Offered to do it for me for $65. Said if I took it out and messed up, I could send it to him and he would still fix it for $65. So I think I am going to take it apart.

BTW I saw a two or three year old ad for this radio on one of the posts for $35 so I may be just wasting money. However I have not had radio lights for years and this is about the only thing on the car that does not work (excluding the crazy tach).

81 300SD