Post from Jan 23, 2005:

I have an '03 MC with the stock cassette headunit (U.S standard = boost).
Sometimes when the car has been sitting in cold weather for a day or two, the radio
is dead when the car restarts. It only happened a few times last winter,
but has happened more frequently lately (very cold here recently).
No problem with starting, battery, voltage, etc.
There are two fuses for the radio a 5A and a 15A.
If I remove and put back in the 15A fuse (the same fuse, it's not blown..
and I've also tried replacing the fuse, even though it tests OK),
the radio comes back on instantly. (sometimes the display flashes
disabled or something for a second, but then it's back to normal).
No loss of presets, etc.


Anyone else come across this?
It would be hard for me to make this happen at the dealer, and it's a small
enough problem that I wouldn't want to leave it there for a couple days
(and even then it might not do it for them) unless it gets worse.

Update from today:
Winter weather again....first really cold weekend that I didn't use the car this for 2 days,
and the stock headunit was dead (or so it seemed).

Popped the 15A fuse (#27) out and in and voila, back in business.

I wonder if there's a weak little battery in the headunit that holds a memory, as
a theft protection feature. Maybe if it loses voltage over a long enough period of time
in the cold, then it needs to be re-initialized to the VIN before it the stereo will
turn back on again.

I guess it could instead be a iffy connection in the fuse box, or a wiring
connector or module.

Anybody else have this minor problem or have any insights into the cause?

 

I have heard of things similar happening, a little different applications. Usually it is caused by condensation that has built up. It will probably be hard to pinpoint where the problem is exactly.

]If you wait until your thermostat is somewhere in the middle and your vehicle is warm inside does it still happen?

 

The last time it did this, I left the fuse alone and just drove on, and about
a half hour later, the speakers made a thump sound, and a few seconds
later, the radio came on by itself.

 

Bliksem went in for its Inspection I a month ago, and I had them address the
mysterious sleeping radio problem.
They could not reproduce the problem (car has to sit in the cold for a couple
days for it to happen), but they decided to replace the radio anyway.
Since it's a cassette model, and they only keep the CD models in stock,
they ordered one, and swapped it in yesterday. So far, so good, but it may
take until next winter before I know if it's really fixed or not.