tl;dr: The car had a ton of electrical issues recently and the dealer resolved most of them, but said my radio is ruined. I replaced the radio with a "known good" unit from Ebay and it's still not working. Is there a control module or something between the fusebox and the radio harness?


The longer story...

Car:

• 2012 R60 S AWD 6 speed
• 83k miles
• standard "Mini Boost CD" stereo (not HK; no usb/bluetooth; no nav)
• fuses have all been checked and look good, including the fuse behind the unit itself

The battery was disconnected/reconnected and started showing electrical issues, eg: no power to radio, windows stuck, headlights not turning off, doors not locking, etc. I brought the car to the dealership for the recent auxiliary water pump recall and to have the FRM probed for malfunctions. The FRM was the culprit and they replaced it at no charge because the warranty had been extended to 125k

Their service told me that everything was good but the radio was "fried". Attempting to avoid a $1700 replacement (parts & labor), I found a unit on Ebay. I was able to do a basic smoke test and power up the radio on the bench with a DC power supply. It accepted a CD just fine. However, after plugging it into the harness and speedo cluster, I get no activity from the unit and it won't accept a CD. Additionally the display below the speedometer appears to be off/dead as well.

At some point in my FRM discussion with the dealer's service department, they mentioned the radio being on "a totally different module". However, I can't find any information on this mysterious module.

At this point, I just want this vehicle out of my life but I feel like it's going to be a hard sell without a stereo, clock, etc. Any hints or feedback that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jared

 

Check newtis.info for wiring info. Could be broken wire or something left disconnected since they did the work.