BMW 316 1997 Radio

YourName

Just got rid of me first car, a Seat Ibiza, and got myself a BMW 316 Coupe, nice little car.

However I had small annoying problems with my radio in my old Ibiza that just annoyed the hell out of me until I eventually got a fix, like it not saving stations, reception problems, you name it, it went wrong. When I bought the BMW he had took out his own aftermarket radio and had left me with another one, I didn't mind because I had did the same with my car so I had a Sony Xplod to put in.

I only got around to fitting it today after having the car a week and obviously some previous owner has tried his hand at radio electrics and there is insulating tape all over the wires, and when I connect the radio up I get no power, eventually found the fuse box and noticed the fuse was blown, changed that and still nothing, I just want it fixed now and to have a radio in the car so I can listen to something.

Obviously I don't want to spend an arm and a leg just to find the problem which is probably pretty simple, where could I go that would check out the problem and sort me out, or is there one simple stupid thing I am doing wrong?

Oh and one more stupid question, how do I know what model the car is??? Like E36 and all that??? Its a 1997 BMW 316 (i?) sports coupe, but for the life of me I can't find out what model, on the insurance companies website when I put in the reg umber it says its a 316i but the log book just says 316???

Anybody any ideas, Thanks

YourName

Anyone any ideas???

DrZeuss

Check this site out

http://realoem.com/bmw/select.do

Enter the last 7 digits of your chassis number into serial number box, it'll tell ya everything you need to know.

97 316 = e36
Can't help ya with the radio unfortunately.

Mech1

have a look on the bonnet support struts, the gas struts that hold the bonnet open, the e number is printed on them.

a_v525

if its 97 3 series, its an e36 model.

Its a 316i. The i is kinda irrelevant, it just means fuel injected as old e30 carberrators were 316 & the new fuel injected ones were 316i

Regarding the radio, I know a fair bit about car wiring (and I'm an e36 owner too ).
Re-check the fuse as chances are if it blew before you might have blew the fuse again by trying to hook up your radio if the wires are loose/misconnected.

Check out this link & download all the manuals, theyre invaluable to any e36 owner: http://bmw.ctcms.net/bmw/BMW/E-Books/E36/

Especially check out the electrical troubleshooting manual, it has wiring diagrams. Cross-check the wire colours in the wiring diagram with the ISO colours on your new spliced loom, chances are a wire is crossed/disconnected.

If you have any other questions check out: http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/index.php Those lads know everything & the forum is a mine of useful information.

Good luck with it, e36s were a great model, hopefully youll enjoy your new purchase!

YourName

legend, thanks a million for all the help, it looks like I have a bit of work to do then, when I have the next day off work, I'll take a look and check back.

Thanks everyone

YourName

a_v525 wrote: »

if its 97 3 series, its an e36 model.

Its a 316i. The i is kinda irrelevant, it just means fuel injected as old e30 carberrators were 316 & the new fuel injected ones were 316i

Regarding the radio, I know a fair bit about car wiring (and I'm an e36 owner too ).
Re-check the fuse as chances are if it blew before you might have blew the fuse again by trying to hook up your radio if the wires are loose/misconnected.

Check out this link & download all the manuals, theyre invaluable to any e36 owner: http://bmw.ctcms.net/bmw/BMW/E-Books/E36/

Especially check out the electrical troubleshooting manual, it has wiring diagrams. Cross-check the wire colours in the wiring diagram with the ISO colours on your new spliced loom, chances are a wire is crossed/disconnected.

If you have any other questions check out: http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/index.php Those lads know everything & the forum is a mine of useful information.

Good luck with it, e36s were a great model, hopefully youll enjoy your new purchase!

The manual on that website is in another language, I can't figure out how to use the website to find out how to get one in English, do you know where another one is??? That probably sounds seriously cheeky, but them other manuals have been brilliant, however I still havn't got around to fixing the radio just yet.

YourName

I checked all the cables that re connected and the fuse, and I still have no power coming through, I had a chat with the chap I bought the car off and he said that it stopped working since he connected up a subwoofer (or something) in the boot, so I don't know what that could mean???

Does anyone know anywhere that I could go that would sort this problem for me in Dublin (Hopefully Northside), or is there anything else I could do???

a_v525

Sorry lad wasnt online in ages

The manuals you want from the link above are the BentleyBMW-E36ServiceManual.pdf and the Electronic Troubleshooting Manual (ETM)

If you have a multimeter you can check the voltage accross the terminals to see what wires work/dont work.

I live around Naas in Kildare & am free on Tues if you are about the place I can take a look for ya, otherwise Google any auto electricians around dublin I'd say theres a good few. However i'd say they would charge you a fair bit to fix it, imho you could sort it out yourself with the ETM diagrams from that website.
Chances are if he wired up a sub hes cut a cable or diverted power from the wires, that might be hard to trace but you could give it a shot. If all else fails, an auto electrician would sort it but I'd say they charge you between €40-80 just to do it

Good luck with it