FM Transmitters?

  • Thread starter hogger129
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hogger129

hogger129

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So my AUX input on my Volkswagen's radio is not working after I replaced the battery about a month ago. Dealer wants $60 just to look at it, so screw that.

Anyway, I've been using an old FM transmitter I have that plugs into my cig lighter to listen to my iPod. Only trouble is it's really staticy and doesn't seem to work very well.

I was wondering if anybody has had luck with other ones that work pretty well. I would like to spend under $60. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
 
I've never had any luck with FM trasnmitters either. Tried a few for my ipod a few years back and it was always just a hassle so I keep burning disks for playing in the car :lol: Always had the same issue with my XM Radio.
 
FM transmitters are junk. Tried one (NZ$60) to permit my iPod to play through my car's stereo, it worked once. For two minutes. While off-road. When the transmitter was in the ashtray and my iPod was dangling out, only supported by the transmitter's 3.5mm cable.

I bought a new NZ$180 head unit with iPod/USB/aux connectivity instead.

HTH.
 
hogger129
So my AUX input on my Volkswagen's radio is not working after I replaced the battery about a month ago. Dealer wants $60 just to look at it, so screw that.

Anyway, I've been using an old FM transmitter I have that plugs into my cig lighter to listen to my iPod. Only trouble is it's really staticy and doesn't seem to work very well.

I was wondering if anybody has had luck with other ones that work pretty well. I would like to spend under $60. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's probably a simple reset to get it back working again. I bought a few fm transmitters for my wife's car, and they all sucked.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=305460

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=307062

For your reading pleasure.
 
Yup. FM transmitters are terrible. I might suggest a cassette tape player. It's a cassette tape that has a cord connected to it. You can play music through that. But this is all in theory that you have one. Otherwise I'd suggest that you get a new head unit or get it fixed. I would go with the latter choice because head units mostly look terrible compared to a stock unit.
 
hogger129
Only trouble is it's really staticy and doesn't seem to work very well.
Click to expand...

Have you tried other transmitting settings? Most of the time it is interference from other stations that's the problem. If you can't get it to work then I suggest the Griffin RoadTrip. I use it myself and it made a clear connection at 100.5.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everybody. Getting a different head unit isn't really an option. It's a pain in the neck to install in my '08 VW. Apparently when I replaced the battery, it trips something in the radio, and the code has to be reset by a dealer or somebody with a VAG-COM tool, and you need the code that was originally coded into the radio's software (which only the dealer would have on file), so maybe even the dealer won't be able to fix it, without just replacing the radio. I think I may just leave it as is and keep the FM transmitter I have. If they're all junky, then it's probably not worth buying a newer one.


This kind of ticks me off that they make cars now in such a way that you can't fix hardly anything without taking it into a dealer and paying an arm and a leg, or buying some expensive tool to do it. I remember with my '95 Honda Civic, when I replaced the battery, all I had to do was punch in a 4-digit code to reset the radio. Plus to put a different head unit in it, all I had to do was slide out the old one and unplug it, instead of ripping the entire dash board apart.



Have you tried other transmitting settings? Most of the time it is interference from other stations that's the problem. If you can't get it to work then I suggest the Griffin RoadTrip. I use it myself and it made a clear connection at 100.5.
Click to expand...

I have tried that, although the FM transmitter that I own is a few years old and only goes up to 89.7 I think. Maybe I'll try to look around for an inexpensive one that goes higher. I will check out the Griffin RoadTrip. Thanks.
 
I had the same issue when I got my car. I firstly tried the cassette adaptors, but they are hit and miss - some tape players do not like then because the cassette tries to 'trick' the players into not auto-reversing the cassette. This can require modification of the adaptor, but I had no luck.

I decided to go the FM Transmitter route and haven't looked back. Do not expect crystal clear quality - you will lose some quality just as you do listening to a radio station vs listening to a CD, but its still pretty good.

My tip is spend more on one that is able to provide a range of frequencies; my one scans between 88.1 and 108.8 and finds the strongest signals in that range. Cheap ones will only provide 2 or 3 frequencies (unsually <90.0) for you to chose from, which really limits your options.

The Belkin Tunecast seems to get a good one, as is the Griffin one. Good luck!
 
I decided to take it into the dealer and have them repair it. The tech said it sounds like a coding issue which could be either $30 or $60 to fix, which really isn't that bad. Apparently when I replaced my battery, it did something with the radio coding because I didn't have it hooked up to a trickle charger. Guess I will have to do that next time I go to replace the battery.
 

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