Radio Not Working

My radio in my 2002 325ci has stopped working as well as my battery
Do the 2 have anything in common say the battery goes will the radio stop working. Or could it be a fuse. I also got straight pipes on my car so while they were welding could something have shorted causing the battery to go and the radio ?

All your help is appreciated

Originally Posted by ZooKeeper

My radio in my 2002 325ci has stopped working as well as my battery
Do the 2 have anything in common say the battery goes will the radio stop working. Or could it be a fuse. I also got straight pipes on my car so while they were welding could something have shorted causing the battery to go and the radio ?

All your help is appreciated

check the battery

My battery is Dead. After I replace is yiu think the problem
Will be gone ? When I jump start my car and drive it my radio doesn't work is it because of the battery ?

Originally Posted by ZooKeeper

My battery is Dead. After I replace is yiu think the problem
Will be gone ? When I jump start my car and drive it my radio doesn't work is it because of the battery ?

One problem at a time.

Fix the battery issue and then we can go from there.

Alright I will be changing that tonight. Will let you know what happens

Originally Posted by ZooKeeper

My radio in my 2002 325ci has stopped working as well as my battery
Do the 2 have anything in common say the battery goes will the radio stop working. Or could it be a fuse. I also got straight pipes on my car so while they were welding could something have shorted causing the battery to go and the radio ?

Sounds like OP is more worried about his radio than his battery and that the two only might have a direct correlation...

I'm confused. If the car will not start, and you need to use jumper cables to get it going, then the battery is dead. Buy a new battery.

If the radio does not work when the car is running, then it is dead also. You need to check fuses, and be prepared to buy a new radio. It is _remotely_ possible that the battery can be so dead that you can jump the car and get it going, but the radio still does not work, but there should be widespread electrical problems if this was the case.

Your car is able to shut down non-essential systems as the battery charge is depleted. The radio is among the first things to go away. But if there was an electrical problem so great that the radio went offline, other stuff would be dead too, and you did not mention any of the other things. Normally this kind of thing would happen if the alternator was lost for one reason or another, and the vehicle operations continued on until the battery charge was depleted. As the car continues to be driven, stuff that does not need to be on will drop offline. Having said that, from the time the first of the non-essential services stopped until everything stopped is a matter of a few minutes. The idea is that the computer is needed to keep the engine running so you can get to the shoulder. The radio drops offline, then the instruments -- I'm sure the AC is in there someplace -- and finally the engine dies. Hopefully you will have made it to the shoulder of the roadway before all is lost. (I don't recall exactly, but my '97 F150 had a phased shut down that had stuff turning off with the absolutely essential systems shutting down last. I seem to remember it was about 5 minutes from the first system loss to complete shut down. I had an alternator failure that left me on battery power only, and I had to call the tow truck to bring me home.)

I doubt you have the same problems I had, but the point is that if there is a weak battery, then it is possible that the radio won't work until the car can get the battery charge back up to a minumum level. I do not think you are having the symptoms that go along with this diagnosis, but you asked if it could be true, and the answer is, maybe. You should be able to drive the car for half an hour or so to get the battery back if there is enough of a charge voltage to charge the battery in the first place. You could connect the jumper cables and see if the radio works before you start the engine and disconnect the cables again. Connect the cables, set the ignition switch to the correct position and turn the radio on. If it does not come on, then you have a blown fuse or the radio has crapped out.

If the car was welded on, the welder should have disconnected the negative battery terminal. If he failed to do this, there is no telling what might be wrong. You just have to go over everything circuit by circuit.

Thanks for your help. I will try all that to narrow down the problem as well I'm getting a new battery from bm tom so I will let you know what happens

You realize the radio is powered by the battery?

Are there any other problems? only battery's problem??

I bet the lights were left on, battery died, got a friend to give him a jump, friend connected up the cable backwards, got a big spark, realized his mistake and connected it up properly, but, did tell fess up to the reverse polarity which probably fried the radio and couple thousand dollars worth of other electronics in the car.

Lol the battery was replaced and everything is working fine. But now my alternator has gone on vacation. So I will be replacing that. While I'm replacing that is there anything else I should replace with the alternator.