I bought a used 2008 VW Beetle the other day. The car has Sirius factory installed and has the weird Sirius globe / AM-FM Antenna on the roof of the car. When I hit the SAT button, I get a message saying CHANNEL 184 . . . UPDATING . . . CALL 888-539-SIRI, but there is no sound coming out of the radio - dead silent.

I called Sirius to activate the receiver. They told me to tune to channel ZERO to get the ESN. The radio will not change channels off of 184 and the UPDATE message. The Sirius Rep said they thought the Sirius startup subscription was probably started by the Dealership when the vehicle was first sold, and the previous owner did not cancel or renew the subscription so now it is stuck on 184 and the UPDATE message. He said if I could get the ESN "some other way" they could try to hit it with an activation to see if it would work. The problem was, he had no idea what "some other way" was to get the ESN.

Does anyone have any idea where the Sirius module is located on a 2008 VW Beetle so I can check to see if the ESN is written on the box somewhere?

It's killing me to drive this car and have to listen to AM/FM!!!

PLEASE help me . . .

 

I'm having the same problem with my new '08 Beetle. Like you, I don't what else to do. Please let me know if you find a solution. I want to try satellite radio, too!

 

I stopped at a VW Dealership the other day and asked what was going on with this Sirius module. They had their tech look at it and he said the module needed to be "reset" or replaced. I had to schedule an appointment for this Wednesday morning, as the module is installed UNDER the rear seats of the vehicle. They have to pull the rear seat to get to it. I'll let you know what happens on Wednesday.

 

beige beetle -

I took my Bug into the VW Dealer on Wednesday. They hooked up the radio to a diagnostic computer - the Sirius module would not communicate with the diagnostic. They concluded that the module was dead, and ordered a replacement. They just called to say the module was in, I'm scheduled to go back Monday at 8am to have the new module installed.

I learned something else while I was there - my AUX Jack on the dash does not work. I asked them to look at that as well. They told me that with the 2008 Beetles, if Sirius was installed, then the AUX Jack does not work, even though it is installed. I find that to be suspicious at best but at this point I'm stuck using an FM Transmitter so my daughter can listen to her iPod from the back seat. Has anyone else heard this? Was I just fed a line of BS?

 

New Sirius module was installed on Monday - and I got a 3 month trial subscription to go with it! No charge for the module replacement.

The AUX Jack is still not work . . . going to have to live with an FM Transmitter I guess.