Technical Stilo Standard Radio / Cassette Player Issue

[Old Silver Fox]

I wonder whether anyone can help me with a weird issue that I've currently got with my car's standard radio / cassette player.

The car is a '53 reg 1.6L petrol Stilo estate. For several months now the radio has had a weird habit (normally after having driven it for some time) of 'losing' the FM signel. When this happens all of the FM frequencies continually scan for a station without success. Moving to LW or MW did result in getting a station. albeit very weakly. Leaving the car for a few hours 'fixed' the situation until the car had again been driven some distance (30 - 40 miles).

Last week however things took a turn for the worse when the radio couldn't pick up any signels at all (only giving out static on both AM & FM). Initially suspecting the aerial (which certainly looks OK) I've unscrewed it, cleaned it an reassembled it, none of which made any difference. Whilst the aerial mast was unscrewed I tried to jury rig another aerial mast, again without any change to the situation. Suspecting a loose aerial connection on the back of the head unit I've checked this, again without success. In now beginning to wonder whether there is an external signel amp fitted that may have gone down does anyone have any ideas as to what could be the issue??

PS - the cassette player works absolutely fine!!

Thanks.

 

[vladof]

I've had this problem too while driving for about 8 hours and 400 miles, listening only to CD I tried to switch to Radio but wouldn't get any reception at all. I left the car parked and next morning, it was working fine and hasn't made any problems since.

I've also had my aerial stolen and haven't noticed it was gone for about 3 days. Unfortunately it only boosts the signal with about 25% or so, cause I was still getting radio and in stereo as well, just some stations were being received worse than the others.

So I'm afraid the problem is with the radio
I've heard about issues with the FM receiver but not getting anything on any band is weird enough for me as well. Not even a hiss, nothing. The thing is the CD was very very hot so maybe something inside is heating and triggering protection mode or something.

 

[Old Silver Fox]

I too originally thought it may be heat related. However I'm now starting to think the opposite as the issue only came to a head during our recent cold snap of weather.

Going back to your comment re: when your aerial was stolen is there a signel amp anywhere in line between the aerial and head set? If you turn the radio up to full volume on AM you can hear a faint hiss. On FM (if you tune to a specific station frequency) you can also hear static. Both of these lead me to believe that the issue could be some sort of failure of signel supply to the head set rather than a failure of the headset itself.

Any ideas anyone??

 

[vladof]

There is an obious part failure in my oppinion. The faint hiss could be the effect of the radio working without that. I'm pretty sure there is no signal amplifier between the antena and the head unit. Whatever it is it's comming out of the unit.

We should wait and see what other people say but I would suggest opening it and checking out whether there are any loose parts.

If it does fail, I'm going to be looking to buy one with MP3 on it, in black.

 

[Davren]

There are some test you can do on the standard Visteon radio using the front panel buttons.
.

 

[Old Silver Fox]

Thanks Davren. I'll try out those self-checks tomorrow when I'm back in the car.

Many thanks again for your help.

 

[vladof]

Just came back from the cinema. Tried them all, everything checks out fine.

If I get the same issue I will try them again. I got signal strength 2.4 V, which should be good as the picture only states a 1.6 as being average, I think.

 

[Old Silver Fox]

My radio situation just gets even more curious. Guess what: the weather warms up and it starts working again....

I'm beginning to suspect that the issue relates to a dry solder joint somewhere in the headset. Although I'm still going to go through the self tests (as kindly supplied by Davren) this coming weekend I'm becoming more and more convinced that the headset itself will end up being scrapped.

If that does happen does anyone know whether the later version (radio / CD) headset is a straight swap for my earlier radio / cassette version??

Thanks

 

[vladof]

Straight swap mate. Just make sure he gives you the radio code.

 

[Big Black Stilo]

its likely to be the head unit. my radio was cack and when i stuck a kenwood in it was fine. i made it better by modifying the ariel input lead at the back of the headunit for the kenwood fitment

 

[Argonought]

its likely to be the head unit. my radio was cack and when i stuck a kenwood in it was fine. i made it better by modifying the ariel input lead at the back of the headunit for the kenwood fitment

surely you must use a DIN aerial adaptor anyway

...which is a bit of pain really as I'm convinced my JVC doesn't have the same firm connection as the original oem unit (tuner sensitively seems weak so suspect connection is now poor )

 

[Big Black Stilo]

the ariel feed doesnt go through the DIN

heres the thread i did

 

[volxstu]

Ipod and digital source input is the way forward.

 

[Argonought]

the ariel feed doesnt go through the DIN

heres the thread i did

So you did use an adaptor then (I meant ISO )

Must admit it's not ideal and you need to take care re-fitting the HU as it's not as secure as the oem fitting (assuming it still has a good connector).

Pretty secure when soldered though

 

[Big Black Stilo]

IIRC when i sold it i was able to score an adaptor for the JASO to fiat fitment from halfords

 

[Mike S]

I've had this problem too while driving for about 8 hours and 400 miles, listening only to CD I tried to switch to Radio but wouldn't get any reception at all. I left the car parked and next morning, it was working fine and hasn't made any problems since.

I've also had my aerial stolen and haven't noticed it was gone for about 3 days. Unfortunately it only boosts the signal with about 25% or so, cause I was still getting radio and in stereo as well, just some stations were being received worse than the others.

So I'm afraid the problem is with the radio
I've heard about issues with the FM receiver but not getting anything on any band is weird enough for me as well. Not even a hiss, nothing. The thing is the CD was very very hot so maybe something inside is heating and triggering protection mode or something.

HI all, first post from me.
I bought my stilo about a month ago, and there was an awful aftermarket stereo fitted.

All I want is the standard cassette radio so I can use my HTC desire phone for mp3 connection via the tape deck.

So I bought a second hand stilo radio/cassette deck off ebay. I did have to source the code for the radio of this site and everything worked fine for a week. Now the radio does not pick up any stations but the tape deck still works ok.

It sounds like I am having the same problems. I know the antenna works fine as I have reinstalled the old aftermarket stereo and I get the radio signal back.

Its very annoying. My thoughts are I could disconnect the standard radio to reset it and type in the code again, however I have left it disconnected for 24 hours and still the radio has not reset.

 

[Davren]

Hi, Welcome to the FF.

There's no facility to reset the radio. Once you've entered the code for a replacement radio, the code is stored in the car's Body Computer. You shouldn't need to enter any code again unless you fit a different radio.

Have you tried the diagnostics shown in post #5 above?

How did you "source the code for the radio of this site"? This is your first post on the forum.

 

[Mike S]

Hi, Welcome to the FF.

Have you tried the diagnostics shown in post #5 above?

How did you "source the code for the radio of this site"? This is your first post on the forum.

Aha, thanks for the info about resetting and I tried the diagnostics too...
All works out other than one issue. I get a signal strength of only 0.3V. It is odd that the aftermarket stereo get a radio signal using the same connector which plugs into an aftermarket adaptor.

In regards to sourcing the stereo code..apologies I got it off the fiat stilo-clubfiat.net which I joined not long ago....I thought it was affiliated to this site...I guess its not.

 

[Mike S]

Should I assume the radio is faulty then and I bought a duff one?

 

[vladof]

If only the radio is not working than it's pretty clear that a faulty is in place. You should return it and immediately test any new one bought off ebay.