147 Radio Gremlins

Started by Garibaldi, May 12, 2013, 08:56:43 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Garibaldi

Hi Guys,

Does anybody have any suggestions?

I arrived home tonight, switched off my 147 and locked it. A few hours later my daughter arrived home and told me the radio was on. I hadn't had the radio on all day.

Occasionally it will come on by itself when I start the car even though I may not have had it on the day before.

Is it haunted or is this just another Alfa mystery?

Cool Jesus

#1
Had a quick search on the web for you, seems a new unit might be in order  :'(
There was one suggestion of leaving a cd in the unit? Poster stated he left the car for a few weeks and the battery wasn't flattened and the radio seems to have behaved itself. Are you aware of the 20 minute setting in the menu, which keeps the unit on after ignition turned off? I have a spare head unit off a 2005 147 if the above doesn't work.
I hate finding threads with no resolution posted. Speaking of which I better tidy up a few of mine  8)
Present:
* '76 Alfetta GTAm 2.0 (project)
* '03 147 2.0 TS
*'12 159 Ti 1750 TBi
===================
Past:
* '10 159 2.2 JTS
* '89 164 3.0
* '98 Spider 2.0 TS

shiny_car

Quote from: Cool Jesus on May 13, 2013, 02:34:13 PM
There was one suggestion of leaving a cd in the unit?

^^^ This. It is an uncommon fault, but a fault none the less, that you are describing. Leaving a CD in the slot is meant to be a solution.

All reports of people adding the CD on alfaowner.com forums (UK) say it works.

:)
Giulietta QV TCT . 1.75 TBi . Magnesio Grey - Black
GT . 3.2 V6 . Q2 . Kyalami Black - Red
75 . 3.0 V6 . Alfa Red - Grey

Garibaldi

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Cool Jesus, thank you for your kind offer of your spare 147 head unit. I will try leaving a CD in the unit and see how it goes.

Garibaldi

Great news, leaving a CD in the unit has worked.

gtv19

Hello fellow Alfa drivers, I think it might have been me who posted the news about the cd trick. I had suffered that intermittent radio phenomenon, some time ago with my 156Ti. Somehow I found that leaving the cd in the changer averted the problem(does this only occur with an Alfa? Got to love em).
To be on the safe side I had a replacement radio ready for order thru the dealer, but did not go to the trouble. the subsequent purchaser had the same issue and inserted cd and again fixed the problem.

Good luck,I hope it is that simple for you.

Laurie
current,
alfa 3.2gt (q2)
159 2.4 Diesel Ti sportwagon
147 twinspark manual
past

105 spider (modified)
alfetta gtv twin spark
156 Ti selespeed x2
1.8gt`s 3 of
Alfetta sedan (sprint car)
105 series spiders(2)

Alfapride

I have had similar experiences with my 147 original radio, sometimes it turns itself on randomly and the FM station names do not always line up - for example 106.7 read as 'mix fm' on saturday haha. I noticed sometimes as well that the cd player will not read discs (even new ones). Due to the asthetics, it's a shame to replace the unit with a aftermarket unit. I noticed online you can buy replacement cd/radio players (maybe they are NOS) - whilst they are not as advanced as some newer players it's nice to have the original out there should you want it.
Alfa 33 16v
Alfa 116 Giulietta
Alfa 116 Alfetta GTV
Alfa MY2004 147 TI
Alfa MY19 Giulia Veloce

Thevak

It worked! CD in did the trick.  Another happy alfisti!
1970 GT Junior 1300
2002 147
1988 33 1.7EI

extraball

my radio came on everytime I started the car. I know turn it off before turning the car off. Now it doesnt come on when I start the car, which maybe helpful in this situation.