Hey guys,
My wife and i just acquired what I thought was a great deal on a 2006 S with moonroof etc in BRG metallic with white. The car is pretty tight mechanically, no rust, 'mushrooms", a few stone chips and that's about it. Anyway, it has 93K so I went ahead and did the Inspection II service for 100K for piece of mind. Mini of Burlington VT did it, and being an old home garage mechanic, IMHO they did a great job at a reasonable price and we're terrific guys.

Now to my issue: I have a no power issue with the stock radio (Not a KH system). I went ahead and ordered a replacement thinking it was dead, the replacement stock radio arrived when I got back home today and I tried to power it up and nothing. Same as the one I had the issue with. I have power and ground in the harness connectors #15 and #12 respectfully, I’ve checked and double checked the fuses, and nothing happens at the radio end. The power button on the radio(and all the rest) do nothing. Nothing comes on, no lights at all. I also hooked up a code reader/scanner to the OBD and it will check and go through the systems but when it comes to the radio, I get “no communication”. My guess is somehow the car ECU or whatever idiot computer system has disabled the radio. I’ve searched forums ad infinitum and can find no solutions. Got any ideas? Any of you tech geniuses? Is there a way to “reset” the car to turn the radio back on (reaching here) ? This happened the morning after I had the Inspection Service II done but the radio worked fine all the way home on the drive (40 miles). I’m at wits end trying to figure it out and leaving for Montreal for the annual Grand Prix weekend on Thursday afternoon with my brother so I guess I’m going to be stuck with an iPod and bluetooth speaker in the backseat for the weekend. I've got a plea into Mini Burlington, but may not be able to get in before the race.

Appreciate any feedback or ideas you have, this old mechanic is lost.

 

First off, Welcome to the MINIacs!

Now for your radio... Are you using the same KEY? If you have two keys try the other key.

Sorry, not much much of a idea, but it could be the issue.

Have fun at the race.

Motor on!

 

Thanks head Weasel (love the moniker!) I am using the original key. There is a possibility a chinese aftermarket key (which I do not recommend) screwed it up when I programmed the key but that's a longshot. I'm going to try resetting the ECU this morning and see if that does anything. The car is just not "talking" to the radio at all. Fingers crossed.

 

Well the engine reset procedure which made the car sound great (thanks) did nothing for my radio issue. Any help out there. Methinks it's some sort of module not communicating, I dunno.

 

All car radios actually have two 12v sources. A constant and a switched. It sounds like your switched (only on once key is turned to accessory) is not working for some reason. I'm not familiar with Mini's wiring color codes but I would start there. Once you figure out what wire it's supposed to be, you can take a jumper wire to the back of the harness and jump from the constant 12v to the switched terminal just to test if the head unit is working or not. FYI, the head units on these cars were the same with or without HK system.

 

Thanks very much silence! I'll give it a shot. Methinks you're correct it's the "switching" possibly car not talking to head unit for some reason. Thanks!