docjackson1

the real overall problem is the friggen most system. they make it impossible without spending big bucks to upgrade. i was going to switch my xm ready alpine receiver from my c4 to my tt, but now i had to add an xm addapter to the cdr23, which makes it almost impossible to use the am part of my radio.

Curvfun

My CDR23 failed in my new '03 Targa just an hour's drive from the Dealer. It would go off then come back on. All settings were erased. OK, I'll just turn it off and listen to the car. It would then come on by itself. Took two weeks to get it replaced on a brand new car.

I'm on the second one and it's defective. Different problem, but defective nonetheless. A third one is on its way.

This problem is obviously a serious one. There are problems reported with these radios in every 996 forum.

Is there some pressure we as owners can put on Porsche to eliminate this most irritating problem? We pay big money for these cars only to have them fail in areas we know can be reliably engineered. Think about the amount of time we customers are wasting going back and forth getting these radios installed and reporgrammed, installed and reporgrammed, etc. because of this substandard reliability.

Shouldn't this be unacceptable?

My 2¢

LAJ_996

this really is horrible
you can't even change it out yourself
because of the most set up

LAJ_996

this really is horrible
you can't even change it out yourself
because of the most set up

LAJ_996

whoops
but this brings up a good question for me

how do you edit/delete post?
i can't seem to find in the help section

Poursha

Here's one that I have:
While listening to CDs 2 - 6, if I press the button to select CD 1, nothing happens. If I then press the button for another CD (other than CD 1 or the one I'm listening to) it goes to that CD. Then I can select CD 1 and it works fine. Turn off the car and the same malfunction happens.

So I took it to the dealer. They swapped out the radio, same problem. Swapped out the CD changer, same problem. Went to a new car on the lot, same problem. Swapped out the radio in the car on the lot, same problem. They said they believe it's a problem with the radio (CDR-23) and reported it to Porsche and will let me know what Porsche says. That was a month ago, haven't heard anything...

Mabuhay

Any news on this?

Jim (CIA PCA region)

Mine failed on the way home from the dealer, too. The radio still worked, but the CD player stopped on the second CD.

The next radio had trouble handshaking with the instrument cluster, so it would go into PROTECT mode. It happened on a 2,000 mile trip. I wasn't happy, to say the least.

The third one had low volume, and I got the dealer to change that one out, too.

Finally number four works fairly well, and has been going for the past 3 years without major incident. Every so often it'll have trouble resuming on a CD from where it stopped, and it also has a tendency to rattle the disk when you open the door. Still, compared to its predecessors, it's golden.

redridge

wow.... when you start seeing itzkirb.... you know itz old.

jsmirand

My 2003 CD-23 lost volume (but not power) a few months back. The radio display appeared fine, but no sound came out of the speakers.

I isolated it to a loose amplifier fuse by the left footwell. In my case the fuse wasn't blown, it was just slightly loose. I pulled the fuse out, re-inserted it and the problem went away.

Peter 642

Resurrecting this one because it "just happened to me." Car on, 80's rock playing from CD player. Car off....car back on, no 80's rock, no nothing. Power, function perfect.

Taking these posts to mean (1) this is really common; (2) usually can be fixed by simply getting out, locking/unlocking car, and trying again; (3) might be covered by after-market warranty that I own, but might not and radio would be replaced with new stock radio (carp).

Assuming I want a working radio, replacing stock radio with real radio won't fix the problem, unless I also change out the amp, is that correct? Thanks.

jeneric996

Correct. We have the MOST connection (fiber optics) between the headunit and amp. You cannot just replace the headunit and expect it to work with the factory Bose amp; the aftermarket headunit will not plug into the Bose amp. You could install an aftermarket headunit and then run wires from the headunit to the speakerout wires of the Bose amp, thereby bypassing the factory Bose amp. However, the sound quality will not be good. I went another route.

My amp died under warranty years ago and the dealership installed a new one. The same thing happened again this year; headunit looked like it was working but no sound, just some popping noise every 5 to 15 seconds. Since it is now out of warrany, Porsche wanted about $650 for a reman amp and about $850 to $950 for a new one plus labor.

I brought a cheap Alpine headunit with ipod connection (CDA-105) and a nice 5-channel amp (Alpine PDX-5) and installed it myself to the factory Bose speakers. I had to get the factory Bose connector so I didn't have to cut the factory harness. I then added a Bluetooth connection and changed the factory subwoofers with Aurasound/Mcintosh. Slightly better bass than before but not perfect. I'll probably upgrade all or some of the speakers with Focal or Morel.

So for about the same price as just replacing the amp with a new one, I now have more, cleaner power with iPod and Bluetooth.

RF5BPilot

As others have noted, the system is sensitive to fuses & connections. Being digital, once the components get confused, it often requires a reboot (turn the car off/turn back on). Switching to the radio, then turning the unit on and off can sometimes revive it without having to shut the car off.

Mine used to have problems on a fairly regular basis. I started turning the radio off before turning the car off. Only turning it back on once the car was running. No more problems.

HiWind

Having this type of problem and thinks its as quoted above by Jim CIA re handshake to cluster which I just had fixed - I guess not quite fixed maybe the case. Do the 04 996 radios have codes that you need to put in? I read something about the radio would need to be on for about an 1-1.5 hrs with the ignition in stationary mode (does that mean electrics on pre ignition? Or radio on with car stationary?) for the Protect to come off. Once it does come off there might be a code that is asked and it will be 5 digits - any one able to confirm that?

C4Scott

I've lived with this same issue for 5 years on my 04 C4S. It comes and goes