Stereo died?

[S4CO]

Hey everyone,

I'm new on the forum, been lurking around since I got my 2001 s4 about two months ago. Anyways, I've run into a problem that I'm not really sure what to do about it short of taking the car to the dealer(rather not).

After hand washing my car, I take it out to do a few errands. First thing I notice is that the radio is in "safe mode". I figured that was pretty odd. I believe safe mode means that the radio has short-circuited, or the battery has been disconnected or something, so, I figured it must have happened while I was washing my car somehow. I proceeded to put in the code thinking that would solve the problem; however, while the screen did revert from saying "safe" to properly displaying the frequency of the station, there was no sound at all(and yes, I did try to turn it up ). My first thought was that the knob wasn't working, or it had a cooldown time before the stereo reverted back to normal functioning.

The second problem arose after I turned my car off, and then back on. After that, the stereo didn't turn on at all.

Does anyone know how to fix this, or what the problem could be? Is it possible that enough water leaked into the engine while I was washing the car to cause such a problem?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[S4CO]

/bump. I know it's a lame question but I don't know the answer

[j_korteS4]

fuse??

[gointoscott]

Safe Mode does appear when the power is disconnected. So if you didnt disconnect the power i would think it might be a short somewhere.

since the power isnt coming on at all i would check the fuse first. the fuse box is inside the car behind a side panel next to the drivers side air vent.

i had my speakers cut out a few times where the head unit was on but had no sound. i shut it off for 10 min then turned radio back on and the speakers worked. that happened a couple of times when it was cold about a year ago but hasnt happened since. so dont know what the problem was.

the moisture must have something to do with it unless it was a cooincidence.

i do know that our cars will sometimes leak on passenger side by wndshield if the vent filter isnt on right under the hood. (I think it was a poor design) That is located under the plastic piece at base of windshield. do you notice wetness on floor on passeger side under floor mat. If so, then yours must be leaking too and maybe some trickled accross some plastic piece over to radio? idk just throwing options ou there to check.

[S4CO]

Alright, thanks for the detailed reply Scott. I haven't checked the fuse yet(been a little busy, and hoping for an easy anwer) but I'll poke around in there and see if something is blown. And no, there is no wetness on the passenger side, but it might have dried as its been more than 24 hours now.

[S4CO]

Well I checked out the fuse to the radio and it is not blown. Is there a reason to believe it could be the fuse right behind the radio(which is a bitch to check right)?