radio question

[bigpoppa81]

ive just plugged my alpine ipod cd player into my 97 318is coupe. Its got the aerial plugged in and it works. But when i drive the radio goes all distorted and when using the auto search for the radio stations it just cycles through all the numbers without finding any.

Ive racked my brains thinking how its doing this- normally it would mean the aerial lead isnt connected- but its working cos it finds 2 stations fine.

Any ideas? might sound like a daft question but did the 318is come with a external aerial? cos mine doesnt have one and i didnt know if that was cos the previous owner took it off or its standard?

[ardsam]

ah my radio doesn't work either.

Id love an answer for this.

[-Matt-]

Could be wrong but I think they use the heater strips in the rear window as an aerial. Is your heated rear screen working correctly? Sometimes the metal strips can get broken, maybe this would cause your problem?

By the way, did the radio work properly with your old head unit?

[Danstrolie]

Could be wrong but I think they use the heater strips in the rear window as an aerial. Is your heated rear screen working correctly? Sometimes the metal strips can get broken, maybe this would cause your problem?

By the way, did the radio work properly with your old head unit?

I always wondered what the car used as an aerial.

[E36 Phantom]

Could be wrong but I think they use the heater strips in the rear window as an aerial. Is your heated rear screen working correctly? Sometimes the metal strips can get broken, maybe this would cause your problem?

No, no no no no no.

The 2 vertical lines are the aerials. The horizontal ones are the heater strips. Not the same.

Bigpoppa, could be your signal booster. Located in the C pillar, I think left side. Sometimes those go bad and cause problems with poor reception for radio.

[bigpoppa81]

problem solved!

it was the connector to radio itself! it had broke, so i bent it into shape and kept it in place with some ducktape! worked a treat!

[Danstrolie]

problem solved!

it was the connector to radio itself! it had broke, so i bent it into shape and kept it in place with some ducktape! worked a treat!

I have fixed so many things by doing that in the past.