BMW Bavaria C Exclusiv Radio - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

DaniTDS · 14th Jun 2016, 11:34 am

Hello!

I'm Daniel from Spain and I'm new on this site although I read it quite a lot

Recently I purchased an "old" original radio for my car. It came with everything (owners book, original box, removal keys, code cards, window stickers).

The radio in question is a BMW Bavaria C Exclusive from 1989. In reality, it's a Becker BE0729. It is in mint condition and the previous owner said it was stored many years ago, as they bought it from BMW for a car that was barely used.

So, I connected it and the following happened:
-at first, it prompted me the code, entered it and the radio started, but it seemed to not get any station, only static noise. The automatic search didn't find anything. Also, the volume encoder didn't affect the volume level so I couldn't regulate it. I could even hear a thump on the speakers on every stop of the encoder.
-after some time connected and some on/off cycles, the volume encoder started working. I could set the volume all way down and (not by safety all) up. I could start to listen some station with manual search but with bad quality, and although the display showed an static frequency, you could hear stations passing by. You could hear an station and then it faded away as if you were dialing up, and then another stations appeared, and so on. All of this with no variation on the display. As that minutes passed, the signal reception came clearer and clearer to a point it was perfect and the display showed the stereo logo. The automatic search started to get detect some stations. But the "continuously tuning without change on the display" effect still persisted. Also, when switching from FM to AM at first you could hear a little thump, but then it stopped doing it. And sometimes on the switching you could see the display dim a little.

I suspect some of the effects could be related to aged capacitors, but I don't know what to do.
Should I let it connected and see if it gets better? Should I stop it and start recapping? For the volume thing I suspected on the amplifiers' capacitors but because now that works I don't know if I should touch it.
About that FM tuning problem I don't know what to do, or if it could be related to caps too.

Hope you could tell me some hints to restore this little old automotive gem.

Thank you!

PS: some pics for the curious

14th Jun 2016, 11:34 am	#1
DaniTDS Diode Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Pontevedra, Spain Posts: 8	BMW Bavaria C Exclusiv Radio Hello! I'm Daniel from Spain and I'm new on this site although I read it quite a lot Recently I purchased an "old" original radio for my car. It came with everything (owners book, original box, removal keys, code cards, window stickers). The radio in question is a BMW Bavaria C Exclusive from 1989. In reality, it's a Becker BE0729. It is in mint condition and the previous owner said it was stored many years ago, as they bought it from BMW for a car that was barely used. So, I connected it and the following happened: -at first, it prompted me the code, entered it and the radio started, but it seemed to not get any station, only static noise. The automatic search didn't find anything. Also, the volume encoder didn't affect the volume level so I couldn't regulate it. I could even hear a thump on the speakers on every stop of the encoder. -after some time connected and some on/off cycles, the volume encoder started working. I could set the volume all way down and (not by safety all) up. I could start to listen some station with manual search but with bad quality, and although the display showed an static frequency, you could hear stations passing by. You could hear an station and then it faded away as if you were dialing up, and then another stations appeared, and so on. All of this with no variation on the display. As that minutes passed, the signal reception came clearer and clearer to a point it was perfect and the display showed the stereo logo. The automatic search started to get detect some stations. But the "continuously tuning without change on the display" effect still persisted. Also, when switching from FM to AM at first you could hear a little thump, but then it stopped doing it. And sometimes on the switching you could see the display dim a little. I suspect some of the effects could be related to aged capacitors, but I don't know what to do. Should I let it connected and see if it gets better? Should I stop it and start recapping? For the volume thing I suspected on the amplifiers' capacitors but because now that works I don't know if I should touch it. About that FM tuning problem I don't know what to do, or if it could be related to caps too. Hope you could tell me some hints to restore this little old automotive gem. Thank you! PS: some pics for the curious Attached Thumbnails Last edited by AC/HL; 14th Jun 2016 at 2:14 pm. Reason: Images uploaded