We've had the polo for 4 years, and the radio has always been tempermental. Every few weeks it would randomly cut out with a 'pop' and be completely lifeless for anywhere between a few seconds, to a few days, before magically returning to life.

Recently it went dead with an almightly 'POP' throught the speakers, louder than ever before and has now been dead for weeks.

When you press the on/off button the display gives a flash of blue (as if its powering up) but then returns to blank/off immediately. This shows there IS power to the unit (+ the red backlights on the buttons are always illuminated as normal when the lights are on!!)

I've checked the fuse on the back of the unit and its fine, and given the wires a wiggle, but nothing!

Any ideas guys?

Cheers

Time for a new radio?

Given the intermittent nature of the radio, before replacing or repairing I'd check your wiring for shorts and loose connections, including the speaker wiring, especially to the speakers in the front doors.

Edited 18 March, 201214 yr by Missing Lincs

Tried plugging in an old Kenwood HU I found this afternoon and it works fine, defo the Standard HU blown something!

Harness adapters a bit dodgy on the KW one or I'd leave that in!

You need this

Ah yes, thanks mate. That might come in handy.

Had a look behind the standard unit and there's not much room in there for harness adapters etc though!!!

If you take out the plastic storage box below the radio you can 'help' the wiring into place and tuck the adaptors and connectors away. When everything is nice and neat, just pop the box back.

If you take out the plastic storage box below the radio you can 'help' the wiring into place and tuck the adaptors and connectors away. When everything is nice and neat, just pop the box back.

I'm posh, I have a CD changer there I know it comes out though, thanks mate.

i had exactly the same problem with my 2000 polo

i replaced my original radio with the after market one that we found in my dad's Mk2 16v GTi golf

works a treat

have a look on my profile

Thinking about it I think this is another common problem on the polo (1 of the MANY) as both of the OE tape decks that I had in both my previous and my current 6n2 have decided to go bye bye. One just refused to work the other was demanding and wanted the code put in ever three minutes, so I pulled it out while we where driving and it is somewhere in oxfordshire now. :biggrin:

I'd rather have an OEM unit in there than an aftermarket one, but I realise that I cant just buy another unit from ebay without the code, so is there a way of generating a code for an ebay bought unit? I don't want to be paying dealer prices just to match the unit to my car.

If someone knows please drop me a PM!

I've actually got a working BETA unit at home with the original manual complete with serial/CODE card intact. It was removed the day I bought my car, cleaned, and then stored!

Needs a new home.

PoloD.