[orange]

Hello everybody,

The IT company I work for has a fleet of smarts, and they work quite well. But I'm not here to lament about how awesome they are.
The radio in the oldest smart car in the fleet won't turn on, and it is a low priority issue so it probably won't ever get looked at by someone qualified. As we are located in the north of Canada, the nearest dealer is thousands of Ks away in Edmonton. I would be interested to see if anyone else has solved a similar problem, or can point me in the right direction to do some troubleshooting. It is a 2009 fortwo, and as far as I can tell has a radio 9. The radio just flatly refuses to turn on since we were having problems with this smart last winter in -40 weather. The battery was replaced around that time as well. Any help would be appreciated, as silent drives with coworkers are awkward.

 

[Huronlad]

Fuse 15 is for the radio. IIRC there have been a few failures of the factory radios.

 

[orange]

Thanks

Hi Huronlad,

Thanks for the reply, I checked the fuse and its fine. Any other Ideas?

 

[Rustedwrench]

It takes less than 5 minutes to remove the radio. You can swap like radios between 2 cars the see if the failure follows the radio and be done in 10 to 15 minutes. This assumes power and ground to the radio electrical connector test good, which you can not test without removing the radio.

 

[Mister_smart_LA]

I'm with Rustedwrench. You have a fleet of smart 451's, just remove the dead one and give it a try in the other smart. It literally only takes about 5-10 minutes to R/R each headunit.

 

[smark]

Orange, I wouldn't bother doing the switching of the radios. If the radio dead, its dead. Check the fuse first. If it's okay. Pull the old radio head out. Take a volt meter. Do a test. See if your, getting power, from the radio wiring harness. A good 12 volt source. If getting power. That radio is bad. Not worth fixing. The radio 9's are nothing but large paper weights. Not worth anything. See if you can find a used one off eBay. Cheap. You can acquire a brand-new aftermarket unit. It will be a much better unit. Check out Crutchfield Audio.

Good Luck.

 

[avacodo]

do any of you guys know how to take the radio out

 

[jwight]

do any of you guys know how to take the radio out

Which car do you have - 450, 451 or 453?

 

[vadsoom]

do any of you guys know how to take the radio out

For the 2009 451 mentioned in the first post, first, pull the button bank and remove the screw at the bottom that holds the radio surround. Next, pop the radio surround out and up. Once it’s off, there are 4 corner screws that hold the radio to the dash that need to be removed. With the radio partially out, the electrical connectors on the back can be released.

Does this help?

 

[Weavman]

I have a 2013 Smart fortwo pure with the single DIN radio with the tray below it. I tested every single fuse in the fuse box they were all great which is a good thing. I decided that it must be the radio that has the issue. So way I go yanking, old and sticky but I got the radio surround off and a tray out. I was getting ready to yank the radio and put something else in and noticed in the back of the radio there is a 10 amp fuse, the larger size not the mini. I pulled it and lo and behold it was blown. Put a new one in problem solved. Thought I would share this as these little dudes get older.

 

[TheChemist]

Thanks Jeb, great post. My maxi 10 amp sitting inside the back of the stereo was blown indeed. You saved me a lot of searching and checking.

 

[EmilioSanchez]

I have a 2013 Smart fortwo pure with the single DIN radio with the tray below it. I tested every single fuse in the fuse box they were all great which is a good thing. I decided that it must be the radio that has the issue. So way I go yanking, old and sticky but I got the radio surround off and a tray out. I was getting ready to yank the radio and put something else in and noticed in the back of the radio there is a 10 amp fuse, the larger size not the mini. I pulled it and lo and behold it was blown. Put a new one in problem solved. Thought I would share this as these little dudes get older.

Thnks Jeb my smart fortwo 2013 had the same problem. Thanks that I read this ítem and took the radio out en surprise it Washington the fuse in the radio. E. Sanchez ( Puerto Rico)

 

[EmilioSanchez]

Thnks Jeb my smart fortwo 2013 had the same problem. Thanks that I read this ítem and took the radio out en surprise it Washington the fuse in the radio. E. Sanchez ( Puerto Rico)

It was the fuse. In the radio.