If looking to replace radio...

Try trading yours in for a refurb at http://www.beckerautosound.com/. I've done that for an amp; or

Contact Robbie at Provost Motorsports in NJ. He has a collection (various years and models) from turning street cars into race cars.

 

I had the same thing happen once where it lit up but no sound. Disconnected & then reconnected the battery. It worked fine after that.

 

Is your radio a CDR23? In 2003 those are married to the car. There is no radio code needed.

If you buy a used CDR23 off ebay you will need to go to the dealer to have them program the radio to the car. If you get one from Becker they send it "delivery mode" where it marries itself to the first car that powers it up.

 

Folks, for all your suggestions. As recap, radio did not turn on- not even display the Porsche name. Tech pulled the radio and found out that rear radio fuse was blown. Once he replace that, the Porsche name reappeared. If one pushes the on button, it simply blacks out. Stan tried to by pass the front amp / unplug ( I guess that where additional fuse is located....no luck. Last suggestion / comment was " some one changed the battery.....I follow up with him this weekend, he remembers replacing lots of radios in early 2000's. He suggested to replace it with a new one. ..and yes it's a CDR23.

Thank you / enjoy your week

 

same exact problem here - mechanic replaced battery and when i picked up the car the radio was completely dead

mechanic replaced fuse at the back of the radio and the radio just turns on and off by itself non-stop (just says Porsche - nothing else at all) - drive me crazy, the sound it makes cycling on and off makes me want to drive into a wall

anyone confirm what's the actual cause - mine is a 2003 turbo (CDR23) with the Bose fiber optic crap -- i think i have a radio code (could be mistaken though) - though mechanic said he tried radio code (could be lying) and that it didnt work

is there some other hidden fuses or bad grounds to check?

 

Gents, this won't help the people who are already in trouble, but it may save those of you who will be needing a new battery. On many of the cars you either need the radio code or it isn't going to function if you disconnect the power. If you are DIY on your battery exchange just plug +12v battery maintainer into your cigar lighter plug. This will keep power to the radio and the ecu while you do the swap. The only real caution is to be very careful when you are disconnecting +12v at the battery to NOT touch it or the tool to ground- and have a cloth or something to wrap around the positive lead once it is disconnected- you do not want it touching ground. This is the only aspect of this that requires a lot of attention and will make installing your new battery easy and quick. As you are seeing, some so-called mechanics either lack training, attention to detail, or are just stupid.. and if they can't get something as straightforward as this correct, should not be working on your cars.

If it is just the radio code missing you should be able to get the code via your vin, proof of ownership, and friendly $$$ dealer. You MAY even find needed information online. I had a BMW with radio code needed [it had the issue when I bought the car] and was able to find a set of commonly used radio codes. I ran through the list and found one that worked. Sometimes we get lucky.

I suspect if you have blown fuses that someone did an additional naughty and you need to have your mechanic make it right. Good luck all. Hope this saves someone down the line.

 

fiber optic radios don't need a code its stored in the dme. what you can try is once the battery is fully charged start the car. then shut it off and remove the power lead from the battery and wait 20 minutes or so then reinstall and start the car again. this should reset all the parameters and possibly reset the radio to play

 

[QUOTE=john rice;4266787]
"If you are DIY on your battery exchange just plug +12v battery maintainer into your cigar lighter plug. This will keep power to the radio and the ecu while you do the swap."

This is what I did without an issue.