Stereo won't turn on, sometimes comes on randomly

[SoFreshSoClean]

I am the new owner of an 07 GTI. The previous owner has it wired for an amp & subwoofer, which he removed prior to sale. He said the radio worked fine for him on the way to meet me for the deal, which I believe.

When I drive the car, the radio won't turn on. At all. A couple of times it has turned on by itself while I was driving, and I could play radio, etc just fine. Then if I shut the car off and restart, the stereo won't turn on.

I pulled the head unit and checked that all the connections are secure, and there aren't any exposed wires. The splices he did for the amp/sub are all secure.

As per suggestions in threads I found in the search, I pulled the fuses for the stereo in the inner panel (#17 / audio system) and the main fuse panel in the engine bay (#19 / audio system, navigation). They look fine, but pulling them both at the same time didn't fix the problem.

Can anyone offer suggestions on how to fix this?

Thanks,
SFSC

 

[ASCI_Blue]

Is it a stock stereo or an aftermarket?

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

Stock

 

[ASCI_Blue]

I'm assuming at this point that the stocker in an 07 is the same as an 06. If you go to the car, leave the key OUT, will the stereo turn on? Our cars have retained accessory power through the databus so we can listen to music without the key present.

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

No, it won't turn on in that scenario. No time display, either. The only times it has come on is when I've been driving for a while and then it will come on and display the time. I can then play the radio, etc but if I turn the car off and turn it right back on the stereo won't come back on.

 

[ASCI_Blue]

was this sub and amp kit attached to the factory stereo? this is starting to sound like some kind of short.

do you have access to VAGCom? this would help greatly.

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

It was spliced into the factory stereo. I took a look at the back of the unit, and all of the splices are still there, and they look solid.

I will buy a VAGCom unit. I see a few different options online. Can you link me to the best one to get? Thanks!

 

[ASCI_Blue]

Our car requires a specific thing. If you've got Bluetooth or whatever the wireless one is, that's cool. Mine is an older wired version. Software should be mostly the same iirc. What I know is I paid I think $250 for mine.

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

Ok, I'll dig into that deeper.

I think you're right about it being a short. The head unit came on last night, so I put in a cd and drove around for a while with no problems. When I got back home I turned the car off, then turned the key to Aux and the stereo came back on, but the screen was flickering, as if there was a short in the power to it.

Will VAGCom be able to help diagnose where the short is?

 

[ASCI_Blue]

As far as I know, no. On that front Vagcom is pretty useless. At best it may say something like short to blah, but where in the wiring the damage is it won't help.

 

[chrislejano]

I just had the same problem with my 08 r32. Radio would not come on or it would come on by itself when I would be driving. We found the problem was the radio itself. Something internal. They wanted $200 to fix it. I didn’t think it would be worth it so I ended up getting a double din Kenwood. Unless you have the factory Navi I don’t think it’s worth putting to much time into it, just upgrade it. If you were in the so cal area I would take a look at it for you. But your kind of too far. Good luck

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

Thanks Chris. I'll try an upgraded stereo and see if that fixes the problem. I'm still not sure what kind of VAGCom to get, so a new head unit seems like a good place to start.

It does seem like it is the head unit itself because the other night I heard a weird buzz coming from the speakers even though the screen on the HU was black, not even a time display, but the buzz sound went away when I hit the power button on the stereo.