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OEM changer and head unit mystery

3K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Rainman 
#1 ·
I'll try and keep this short and would appreciate ANY advise as I'm stumped. 1995 325i with Alpine changer and head unit. I bought the car with the OEM head unit and BMW/Alpine changer which owner had put in. Radio display is shot and owner replaced the battery the day before I picked it up and doesn't have the code. Owner told me the changer worked but I never actually tried it. With no code and bad LCD I take that one out and chuck it. I get another radio on ebay and when I hook it up and hit the radio/cd button all I get is "no tape". I never get the changer to play. I figure I must have gotten a bad radio but think it's unlikely since the thing is in perfect shape. Ok, I get another Alpine C33 radio - same thing.
I check continuity on the cable front to back and everything is ok. Gotta be a bad changer right ? I send it back to an Alpine service center and it comes back with a note " no problem found". My friend also has a '95 (with one of the C33 radios from me). I had him come over, hook up the changer, same thing. Gotta rule out the cable at this point since it's two of them in different cars right ? I call up the repair center and ask how they test and the guy told me that they hook it up to a head unit and actually play it for a couple of hours. For some reason the changer doesn't recognize the head unit. Does anyone know of any wierd issues ? I'm almost positive I looked at the model number of the old unit in order to know what to get in it's place. I know the 2 new ones looked exactly the same.

Summary: 2 head units, 2 cars and cables, 1 changer that has been bench tested. Help !! I don't know what to do at this point. In the meantime, I bought a whole Blaupunkt setup and can't even test in my car anymore. The changer is in perfect shape and I would like to sell it to my friend or on ebay.

thanks,
Bob

- that wasn't short :)
 
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#2 ·
I think the C33 unit is for the 96+ cars and is not compatible with pre-96 changers. Even though the head unit may look similar, it's not compatible because of some tech changes in the way they communicate.
 
#4 ·
can't remember exactly...though you'll hear from a lot of forum members on this. There is a way to hit a couple of buttons on the player to find out which model is which...and of course there's always surfing the net...
 
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