BMW Werkz banner

radio question

3K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  da_bull 
#1 ·
My 1998 E36 M3/4 did not have a radio in when I bought it. (long story) I bought a unit on eBay from a Z3 that is the AM/FM/CD. I plugged it in and after changing the 20A fuse in the box under the hood I have power to the unit. But...no sound. The display is lit, stations tune in, CD accepts and ejects. Ideas? Steve.
p.s. I plan to post some pics soon. No excuse for the delay.
 
#2 ·
A couple things to check. Most cars have 2 fuses for the radio (one for key power and one for memory power). Make sure on both of them. Next is to make sure you still have the amp in the trunk, as a lot of people remove the amp when installing an aftermarket headunit (I am assuming that someone did at one time, reason #1 for not having a radio). Hope this helps...
 
#3 ·
Good news and Bad news. There is an amp. Alpine Xploder. The previous owner was running some sort of funky USB/serial cable system with a laptop to play tunes. I picked up a factory amp on Ebay with the pig tails. The guy has cut the speaker wire plug-in off along with the power, ground and remote wires. I will splice in the new pigtail(s) and hope it works. It was a real nightmare getting the USB cables and the serial cable out of the car. Steve.
 
#4 ·
Good luck with your build, if I can help I will. Sounds like you got a good start...

da_male_cow...
 
#7 ·
Yeah those two plugs are real typical. If the eBay amp has all the plugs like you said, it should just be a color for color match, and your good to go. Nice car and :welcome to werkz BTW...
 
#8 ·
da_bull said:
Yeah those two plugs are real typical. If the eBay amp has all the plugs like you said, it should just be a color for color match, and your good to go. Nice car and :welcome to werkz BTW...
Thanks for the help. :D The stereo and amp are now working fine. I will post in another section my experience with some mods I did last weekend. Steve.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top