Radio won't power on??!!
 

Hi all!!

I'm new to the forum, my girlfriend just bought my dad's 2005 Cooper. He and his g/f have had it since about 20k, just under 100K on it now. It was driven almost daily until feb this year, she put it in storage to avoid driving it in the crap NY weather. I personally parked it in the storage unit and the stock HK stereo was working fine. We pulled it out friday and the radio will NOT power on. The next day, after a thorough washing/detailing it worked fine!! This am, no good again. I pulled it apart and determined the all fuses are good (two in the panel and one on the deck), I broke out my test light and determined that I get power from the "ACC on" pin, and the illumination when the lights are on in the harness but not on the "Battery" pin. I also pulled the plug for the amp and tried those and found NO power at all in any pins though I'm not sure it I was supposed to. Where does the power go from the panel to the plug?

I'm at a loss....Any ideas?

A couple hours after posting that, we got in the car and as a joke she pushed the power button on the radio and viola!!, it turned on. It flashed on and off a few times and then stayed on. There has to be a loose connection somewhere but I have no idea where....

Any Mini expert help would be greatly appreciated

Man, I'm getting no love on here!!!!

Still having radio issues. The power to the h/u has been continuously cutting in and out.
For the past two days it hasn't come on at all.

Is there any way it could be being affected by water? The first time it came back on was after a car wash and its rained real hard for two days and now it's out. Any relation??

Someone HAS to have had the same issue. I can't be that special

Can't help you on that though. If you have the HK system just remember the amp will not power up with an aftermarket head unit. So you might need to buy a hu and an amp.

Did you take the car to a stereo shop? The could be able to diagnose your problem, I don't think that you have a bad amp but who knows!! I hope you don't because that's a 800.00 part it could be a bad head unit wire harness, water could affect the Body control module but I don't think that is linked to the HK head unit, if you get water on th BCU you will have more issues than the just the HK HU. I hope that you can find help soon

Intermittent power could either be the harness, or an internal short in the HU.
Only way to check is to test the plug when it's not working. HU power is not dependent on the amp, so that's not your problem.
Intermittent problems are a b!#@%.
OEM HUs are cheap enough, but parts swapping is annoying as a practice.

It's not the amp. If the HU isn't lighting up it's not powered. Check the connections and fuses and GNDs for corrosion.

Thank you for the responses and I apologize for the long delay...

After a solid two weeks of no radio, I took it all apart again and wiggled wires and broke out the test light again.

I have zero power at the constant power pin on the wiring harness, I do have power at the "key on" pin at the harness. The ground is also good at the harness.

At the fuse panel, I DO have power for the constant and the fuse is good. So, it has to be something in between the panel and the radio plug. Does anyone know what is in between or where to begin looking?

We've done two weekend trips including a 4 hr traffic jam with no music, its getting old....

Solutions
 

I changed my stock hk hu just because the volume knob was extremely sensitive and was tired of trying to turn it up high and low. If you want my hu I can give it to you for $50 or maybe less. I went with a new sony deck and bypassed the hk amp by using this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Power+Pa...9803&st=alpine amp&cp=1&lp=4

I heard if you take out the stock hk amp it'll cause some issues with the ECU so I left mine in and did the bypass. The amp puts out good power enough to power the stock subs. I've had it for a couple months now and no blow outs yet. I'd go to amazon and have best buy price match it. It'll be $30 off of what bestbuy is selling and then have them install it for I think $100 should only take them an hour. All in all I spent $300 for a new aftermarket hu/alpine amp/installation.

WDS is here. Needs Java, Adode SVG viewer, British language only. Search for N9.

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/

Whoa! The wds is crazy!!!

This may take me a while to figure out

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction joylove!!

wolfpack, thanks for the offer but the hu works fine, its a definite loos of power between the fuse and the radio connector

If ya want a good connection to test at. Use the main dash harness connector on the drivers side footwell. Its connector X-15. Its clipped to the lower side of the fuse panel. Its the main connection point for all dash electronics to the main body harness.

I know its almost a year later but I have the exact same issue. Started with intermittent powering on/off of the radio before it went dead. The illumination still works so it seems to be something with the power getting to the head unit (bought a replacement assuming it was a head unit issue, no luck). Checked all fuses, all good. Replaced radio fuses just in case. Were you able to figure out what was going on? Any help would be much appreciated.

In short, I haven't had much luck. I managed to get my constant power back by running a new wire and splicing it in. It worked for a while but now I have an issue where the deck is all lit up and functioning as it should but I get zero sound. I'm assuming it's now an amplifier issue. I've been periodically looking for a used one but even at $250+ (which is way cheaper than a new one), it's hard to drop that kind of cash with no guarantee that it will solve the problems.

It's a really frustrating issue. My wife drives the car about 90 miles a day and between no radio and all the other little squeaks and rattles and noises I'm concerned for her sanity, haha...

My best advice is to explore replacing the amp, I know it sucks but it sounds like that's the problem

Assuming a build date of before 2005 Jan

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/r...000016963.svgz

Fuse F27 is the battery and connects to Radio, CDC and Amp.

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/r...000015676.svgz

All green text is a hyperlink. Works best in IE and you'll need to add the website address to the java control panel security settings to run the Java.

Where

RT Red
SW Black
GN Green
BR Brown
GE Yellow
WS White
VI Violet
GR Grey
BL Blue

EDIT: I see all the text has disappeared. Search N9 and F27. All green text is a hyperlink, including branches and connectors, and can be clicked on in IE and eventually arrives at a photograph or technical drawing showing the location.

So I know this is an extremely ancient thread but I have been having this same issue.

As stupid as it sounds... I took out fuse 27 tested it (it is good) and put it back in the car feeling like I am still chasing my tail. All of a sudden the HU is working... Something is sketchy with the connection. I'm going to put a new 15 amp in there and finish wiring the new head unit (replacing it because I though it was bad) and hopefully that will be the end of it.

Hi dennyc,

I just bought a 2nd mini cooper R56 and have the same issue as radio intermittent On & Off by itself. I did the same ways as of you did checking the fuse and the terminal connection for the supply.
My foreman advise me to change a new battery yesterday and currently the radio is ON again...will monitor whether is OFF again by itself. Foreman said that mini cooper or BMW car have sense to cut off power supply that is not important so that the car is able to start during start up

Hello, I see this is an old thread but maybe I can get the info I need from you all. I've got a 2009, R56 with a dead radio. My questions...

Has anyone ever fixed their radio by replacing the fuse in the back?
What kind of German genius makes that fuse a 10A when the fuse box radio fuse is a 20A?
Aside from the slim hope that this design engenders, what's the point?
If I buy a used radio will it plug and play or does it need coding or other shenanigans?

Thanks in advance.

What kind of German genius makes that fuse a 10A when the fuse box radio fuse is a 20A? .... what's the point?

Maybe because the optional HK radio pulled more juice?????

One of the nice things about the GEN1 as compared to later MINI .... the radio is a standard DIN size so you can pretty easily replace with just about anything you'd like .. you are not locked into the factory head unit. GEN2 and beyond the radio is integrated into all the other dash displays and replacement becomes a MUCH larger issue . . .

​​​​​​​A replacement 'same' radio should plug right in ... I don't remeber and 'security code' for the radio in my GEN1 or later cars . .

​​​​​​​my 2 cents .... and I am clearly NOT an audio guy . . .

Thanks Capt.

HU problem
 

Hello friends, through tough times our MINI's put us I also have a problem with the HU. I drove 50 miles and suddenly clock stopped at 10:40 and the music played on aux but not on radio frequency. Turned the car off but the HU stayed on. I disconnected the battery and the HU never turned back on. Lights on the buttons is working but radio doesn't turn on. Anybody have a clue what's the problem. Thanks in advance.