Thats odd... Neither of my VW's (Jetta and Rabbit) have this problem both with an F700 and the Metra Adapter. It sounds like a grounding problem. How exactly is radio wired into the VW's wiring?

I got a adapter from bluespot.co.UK for my be caravelle..

Thats odd... Neither of my VW's (Jetta and Rabbit) have this problem both with an F700 and the Metra Adapter. It sounds like a grounding problem. How exactly is radio wired into the VW's wiring?

not entirely sure. it's some kind of plug and play adapter, but i do not know the brand.

I have this adapter in both of my cars http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/PAC_C2R_VW.html

It provides all the signals the radio needs (parking brake, reverse wire, etc.) without splicing into wires. If instead your installer went with the cheap/old school option of tapping into wires that could possibly create issues.

Has your unit been hardware bypassed? (parking brake does NOT need to be applied to access all menus and video playback)

Is it only accessories that affect the rear of the car messing with your reception? (ie. rear window defogger, reverse lights, rear windshield wiper. As opposed to the heated seats and heated washer nozzles/mirrors.)

Test every accessory thoroughly. There has to be something common between all the symptoms that makes your car perform differently than mine.

Also do your steering wheel controls work with the new radio?

yes there is a bypass.

the heated options (including the rear defogger) do not appear to be affecting the unit. oddly enough the power accessories do not either, such as the windows and door locks or sunroof. what does cause issues are the hvac blower motor and wipers, and when the car is an any gear but park and drive (this is a DSG model).

the steering wheel functions no longer work after the install. i did not have the retrofit hardware required to make them work.

That actually makes a lot of sense. The only accessories causing the problem are the one that have motors. Motors make lots of interference if there's a ground loop. I'm thinking one of two things is the problem or it could be both.

One: Its almost certain that he tapped wires instead of using a CANBUS adapter he may have grounded the radio's ground, the parking brake wire, and the bypass wire to different spots. Maybe the radio to the vehicle adapters ground and the parking brake/bypass to the vehicle's chassis. Also If you have an XM module installed its ground could also be attached to the vehicles chassis.

Two: Where he tapped the ignition wire could be causing electrical interference through the antenna. Since now you have the antenna amp connected to the ACC wire this could be a source of dirty power.

Did attaching the antenna to the ACC wire at least fix your AM reception?

That actually makes a lot of sense. The only accessories causing the problem are the one that have motors. Motors make lots of interference if there's a ground loop. I'm thinking one of two things is the problem or it could be both.

 

One: Its almost certain that he tapped wires instead of using a CANBUS adapter he may have grounded the radio's ground, the parking brake wire, and the bypass wire to different spots. Maybe the radio to the vehicle adapters ground and the parking brake/bypass to the vehicle's chassis. Also If you have an XM module installed its ground could also be attached to the vehicles chassis.

 

Two: Where he tapped the ignition wire could be causing electrical interference through the antenna. Since now you have the antenna amp connected to the ACC wire this could be a source of dirty power.

 

Did attaching the antenna to the ACC wire at least fix your AM reception?

attaching the antenna to the ACC wire did not fix the AM reception, but there was improvement in the sense that it wasn't total static, and i could hear faint voices (ie. "ghost whispering") if i turn the volume up high.

i do not have the XM module, nor the bluetooth. was hoping to do that latter later but this is stalling things.

The unit already has bluetooth built in.

I would pose this problem over at http://www.vwvortex.com there are people over there many times more knowledgeable about these cars then me and someone probably has experienced this before. My instinct tells me that your first installer may have done something with the wiring causing interference. Without being able to see exactly what he did its difficult to diagnose. The only difference between your install and mine is the use of the CANBUS adapter instead of tapping wires so im almost certain that the tapping of wires is the culprit. The use of your reverse lights causing goofiness makes this even more likely since the installer would have tapped the wire going to lights to provide the reverse signal to the radio.

I am having this same problem. I am thinking it is the cheap antenna adapter I picked up on ebay for $2. It has a very long metal housing and does not look like the Metra I bought from Crutchfield 7 years ago form my 2001. It does have the power wire and I hooked it up to the blue / white wire.

Even if the F serries only puts out 300ma, it should work fine. I can assure you the amp in the VW antenna DOES NOT draw more than 50ma. It is only one very tiny op-amp transistor.

In my previous VW I had the Metra adapter and it worked fine. I used the power antenna wire from my Kenwood KDC-X917 and was able to listen to all AM with no problem.

So I am going to order a new antenna adapter from Crutchfield and see if that resolves the issue.

The unit already has bluetooth built in.

sorry i meant the bluetooth options on the steering wheel do not work.

The unit already has bluetooth built in.

 

sorry i meant the bluetooth options on the steering wheel do not work.

none of the steering wheel interface adapters (to date) can pass the bluetooth make/break call buttons.