Radio doesnt work when its frosty

We have recently purchased a 2004 911 C4S Cabriolet, which we are pretty chuffed with as its our first one. But when we get a hard frost the radio doesnt work, the screen comes up, but theres no output from the speakers and if i use the phone, the person can hear me but i cant hear them. I did call the local porsche centre who had a look at it and wanted to take it for a couple of days to check the wiring for faults, but i thought it would be better to let them have it when it actually not working, but as the garage is across town and murder to get to, ive never managed to get over there. After i have travelled the 20 odd miles to work and then its been stopped for a wee while it works perfectly. I just wondered if anyone has had a similar problem, as its very frustrating sitting in traffic with no music. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Hmm. Personally, I'd take it to an audio specialist rather than a Porsche dealer in this instance. It could be the power amp on the way out, the C4s has this as standard, or the Bose specified.

My '04 C2 Cab did this when it had the original CDR23 in it..........it would work after a couple of mins and repeated attempts to turn it on......the OPC said it was a feature.......of course as you said they could not replicate the fault as it worked perfectly by the time I got there. Since I've had the PCM2 it has never been an issue though. Might just be something you have to live with unfortunately unless you upgrade the head unit.

My old 996 Targa sometimes did the same thing in the cold weather. I just used to hum til it came on. Guess it has got something to do with a connection breaking as the metal contracts in the cold - but then again what do I know

I imagine the radio is porsches original fitment as its the sat nav too. I did get a porsche warranty with the car, but im not sure if the radio is covered, i know the phone system isnt. I did think a trip to an audio specialist would be the next step as i thought it may be a track on a pc board which contracts in the cold. Anyway we have only had the car a month, so this little problem is a tad annoying, but i shall phone some audio repair shops tomorrow. Thanks for the advice so far.

As you've only had the car for a month, why don't you take it back to the place you bought it from and get them to fix it....or did you buy it privately and put the warranty on it afterwards? I am fairly sure that the warranty doesn't cover the stereo and I'm fairly sure that it says something along the lines of "for the sake of clarity, the PCM unit isn't covered". My CDC-4 is playing up...very annoying. Sometimes it doesn't see the disks and just says "Loading...." for ages, but doesn't do anything. Sometimes it works, but only sees a few of the disks (random ones)...all original CDs, not computer generated ones (eg. burnt from iTunes). I have to keep removing the magazine until I can get a few of the CDs recognised. Sorry to jump on the thread, but wondered if anyone has had this issue before?

We did buy it from a garage, and they put the porsche warranty on it as part of the deal, but thats where it ends unfortunately. The porsche folk and the garage kinda fell out over the costs and it got a bit complicated, so the purchase wasnt as pleasant as it should have been. Anyway rather than waste time by going back to the garage who will hum and haw and keep the car for a few days causing me an inconvenience and find nothing wrong with it, id rather wait for a frosty morning and forewarn an audio shop of my intentions and turn up as i do think its something to do with the radio, but i just wondered if anyone else had suffered the same problem.

Oh dear, I can see your problem.. Personally, I would take it back to the garage to fix as they have an obligation under sale of goods act, but I can understand your view definitely. Out of interest (and without naming and shaming), if you don't mind saying, whereabouts in the UK was the car bought from?

I just think my time will be wasted going back to the garage, ive spoken to a local garage and theyve told me that it hard to get porsche diagnostic information for their laptops, so i will try and audio place first, although ive a good idea it may be the amp. All i will say is im up in Scotland as i dont want to slag either of the garages off, however had any of them given me cause to slag them off i would have no qualms believe me. It was a problem between them, but it meant we waited nearly 5 weeks to get the car and we were getting frustrated.

Ok, thanks for the info....so other side of the country to me then! I was interested, because there's a local Indy relatively close to me that has had very hit and miss views posted about them. I was going to by a car from them, but was put off by the reports. Won't name and shame though.

Hi Mine does this too although I'm just living with it at present. Bryn

Hi Bryn, Do you have the phone module also, as im beginning to think the problem is stemming from that now. If it would fail completely then at least the problem could be found, its just so annoying. Regards Auds

The car has a CDR23 with a Parrott hands free kit. I am not a mobile user and haven't tried to make or take calls. However "PHONE" does flash on the CDR23 screen at random moments and this temporarily mutes the CD (fraction of a second). It is much less of an issue on FM. I now make sure the CDR23 is switched to FM when I turn off the ignition as that seems to make it start more reliably next time. Doing this, it now seems to start work about 19 times out of 20. If it doesn't come on in the morning, giving the on button a long press sometimes seems to help - or perhaps it's just my imagination. I did also search the forum before Christmas and there are quite a few posts describing more-or-less similar symptoms.

Nope, mine had no phone module and still did this - it is simply a feature of the CDR23 from what I have been told.............................by the OPC

Right the latest update is that ive spoken with Porsche technical, and they have looked into the matter. Basically he told me that this has been a problem in the past and some Porsche garages have replaced the amp under warranty, however as mines is not under warranty, i would have to pay to have a new one fitted, IF its proven the amp is the problem. So what i have to do is wait for it to play up and drive over to have their diagnostics check it out. I havent yet asked how much a new one is!! but i did mention the car was only a few months out of warranty and surely if its been a problem in the past then shouldnt it be a matter for recall, but he said the garage i take it to will decide whether they do it as a good will gesture or charge me full whack!! Anyway once ive had it checked out i shall be back to let you know the result.