Greetings all, I'm having a radio issue on my new to me F430. It all started a few days ago immediately after I took my 2006 F430 Spider for it's first car wash. I had immediately noticed that the stock HIFI radio had stopped working. Music would intermittently come back on and when not working would make a static sound (or a sound as if someone was tapping a microphone). The next day the music no longer comes back intermittently and it now only makes the static sound previously mentioned but with the volume turned all the way up I could hear the music very muted. The head unit itself seems to be functioning fine. I did some research and figured it was likely a blown amp and not sure if this was related at all to the car wash or was just a coincidence. I figured I'd just keep the stereo off and have the amp replaced eventually but wasn't a big deal as listening to the radio wasn't that important to me. Today I went to a local get together and noticed after I had parked and gotten out of my car that the radio was still making the static sound (or a sound as if someone was tapping a microphone). During the whole drive I had the radio system turned off so is possible it powered on itself when I turned off the car? The head unit also seemed to still be powered up (keys out the ignition) so I put the key back in and powered it off again which seemed to fix the problem. When I got home the same thing happened where I powered off the car and I heard the static sound while I was grabbing something in the trunk. I went back inside and powered up the car and turned it off again. For now the radio seems off with no sound coming out the speakers and red light (I think it's the anti-theft) blinking. Anyone ever heard of anything like this and/or know what it could be? Should I take it to a Ferrari mechanic or stereo shop? I'm leaving town for 2 weeks and worried that the stereo could come back on the drain the battery while I'm gone. Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advanced.
Hi Kevin, On my 2003 360 Spider (now sold) the ignition key will have to be in position 2 to be able to turn on the stereo system. On my current car 2006 F430 Spider (all stock stereo HiFi system) I noticed that I can simply push the head unit power On and it will turn on the head unit & ASK amp even if they keys are not in the ignition (power is hardwired to the 12V source). I am assuming this is by design. Anyway, based on that, my guess is in your case your head unit is going bad and its turning on the ASK power amp intermittently, or the trigger wire to turn on the ASK amp is working intermittently, or wiring behind the ASK amp or wiring behind your Becker stereo is messed up. I recommend checking your stereo wiring. I wish you live closer to me. We can unplug my head unit and my ASK amp and try it on yours and see if the problem goes away (then its bad Head unit or bad ASK amp.) FYI, I plan on removing my head unit soon and ASK amp and all speakers and will be upgrading it to something better. I will post my original Becker stereo & ASK amp for sale here and also in eBay if anyone is interested. Dan
