help needed: car radio keeps losing presets

ergo

this may be very easily fixed or maybe not

I bought a second hand 98 Renault Clio down in Wexford a few months back, the thing is, every time I tune in all the presets, they all disappear and it goes back to the default presets every time I turn the engine off

is there any special trick to get the presets to stay in the memory long term?

here is a picture of the radio in question



as you can see there are 6 buttons in the lower row

Down / Up / M-S / LOS/ AMS / BND

any help would be much appreciated

Stephen

Sounds like the radio is not wired to the car's electrics properly. Probably just a case of swapping two wires.

zod

There has to be power going to it always to keep memory

I'd say the constant power source is comming from the ignition .. hence when you switch off .. it forgets

ergo

thanks for the tips

am now thinking that this is also related to problems I'm having with the battery

replaced the battery about a month ago and was having no problems until last week when it decided not to start at the 1st attempt but after maybe 5 attempts started OK; so not completely dead but something dodgy going on

I think I need to get someone to have a look at at for me, cheers

crosstownk

Sounds like it could be wired wrong. But if all was well before you had battery trouble then its possible that when you start the car the battery may be struggling resulting insufficient current to supply the constant +12v for the radio's memory.

colm_mcm

that radio looks like rubbish anyway,

byte

colm_mcm wrote:

that radio looks like rubbish anyway,

It does, though it has one redeeming feature..

It has a CD in jack on the front which could be used with an MP3 player instead!

cantdecide

good stereos are cheap nowadays. don't iPods have an fm function now as well as the jack??

cantdecide

Stephen wrote:

Sounds like the radio is not wired to the car's electrics properly. Probably just a case of swapping two wires.

good stereos are cheap nowadays. don't iPods have an fm function now as well as the jack?? if you do want to keep it, most looms give you the option of having your radio wired to the ignition so you don't need to have the key in to use the radio. a decent car stereo shop would probably swap it FOC if you didn't want to have a go yourself.
my advice would be to leave the stereo in the car and swap the bloody lot!!!!

can i get a AMEN!!!!

ergo

crosstownk wrote:

Sounds like it could be wired wrong. But if all was well before you had battery trouble then its possible that when you start the car the battery may be struggling resulting insufficient current to supply the constant +12v for the radio's memory.

no, this radio thing has been a problem since the day I bought it, only subsequently has the battery been a problem, am wondering is the radio causing the battery trouble

colm_mcm wrote:

that radio looks like rubbish anyway

that photo doesn't do it justice!

well, it is a '98 Clio for God's sake, don't want to spend more than the car is worth, and the main good point is the CD/mp3-in jack

RoundyMooney

ergo wrote:

no, this radio thing has been a problem since the day I bought it, only subsequently has the battery been a problem, am wondering is the radio causing the battery trouble

Sounds like the battery to me. Swap it for a new one and you may well solve both your problems. Cold starting may not be a problem now, but when winter comes again you'll be glad you speculated the 40 or so quid a new battery will set you back.

ergo

RoundyMooney wrote:

Sounds like the battery to me. Swap it for a new one and you may well solve both your problems. Cold starting may not be a problem now, but when winter comes again you'll be glad you speculated the 40 or so quid a new battery will set you back.

after about a month when I had a couple of problems starting it I got a brand new battery put in (the second hand dealer down in WX who sold me the car subsequently covered the cost of this)

the radio has always had this problem (well, since I've had it)

the initial problem with the old battery was on cold mornings but the other evening (now with new battery) I drove it half a mile down the road , parked for 5 minutes and when I came back it wouldn't start until about the 10th attempt about 5 minutes later but it did start .
the new battery has never(not yet *touches wood*) required a jump start or a push but a couple of times has taken more than a few turns of the key to start but sure we'll see what happens

John R

ergo wrote:

after about a month when I had a couple of problems starting it I got a brand new battery put in (the second hand dealer down in WX who sold me the car subsequently covered the cost of this)

the radio has always had this problem (well, since I've had it)

the initial problem with the old battery was on cold mornings but the other evening (now with new battery) I drove it half a mile down the road , parked for 5 minutes and when I came back it wouldn't start until about the 10th attempt about 5 minutes later but it did start .
the new battery has never(not yet *touches wood*) required a jump start or a push but a couple of times has taken more than a few turns of the key to start but sure we'll see what happens

If it starts after 10 tries then it may not be the battery that is the problem.

Anyway, the radio loosing it's presets is because it does not have a permanent power supply, it is wired wrongly. Not sure about Renaults but in some cars the switched and permanent power wires are swapped.

Kimbot

Yup the red and yellow wires need to be switched over and your sorted!!