drewstair

I have been having problems with my radio for a while now and I can't figure out what the problem is. When I turn on the radio, it only stays on for half a second and then turns back off. It started out by working for 30-40 minutes and then shutting off, but gradually degraded to where it is now over a few days time. It fixed itself for a few days a couple weeks ago and was working fine for 2 days and then started gradually going out more often again. The chimes in the car for when the door is left open and such are also sounds very weak. They don't really ding, they just kind of make a clunking sound. Also every once in a while the clock will come on only half as bright as usual and I have to turn the car off and back on again. So far I checked the fuse for the radio, pulled out the radio and checked the rear connections and also checked the engine grounds. I am not sure where the ground wire is behind the stereo though so some info on that would be nice. Does anyone have any ideas on what may be going on? This is on a 91 SE. Thanks

Rodrv6

I'm not real sure about the radio or chime, but the dim clock is a common problem and probably isn't related to the other things. If you do a search for "clock", you'll find some good writeups on how to fix it. It's quite simple and usually involves resoldering some connections on the circuit board and possibly changing some capacitors.

blackonblack

Believe it or not, it might be a sign your alternator is about to go bad. My radios (factory BOSE and Newly installed Sony) shut off whenever a deep fat bass note was hit. The lights went dim and suddenly in a cold rainy night my car died. Got a boost and drove the next day to Strauss and replaced the Alternator twice! No more radio shut off and dim clocks.

phat

Sounds like your alternator is about to die on you. you can do a simple check. With the car on, and the door open, turn on all the lights. Does the door chime sound different. If you can, also check your battery and connection. Make sure the battery connection is not corroded.

drewstair

It doesn't seem to me like its the alternator since everything seems to be working fine otherwise and this has been happening for a quite a while now. The headlights come on as bright as ever and the car has always started fine. I am gonna take it down to AutoZone now for giggles since I don't have much else to try today. I will post what happens. In the mean time and more suggestions? Thanks

RosenKen

Read the other post about this. Do you have a Bose radio? Does the radio display stay lit up while the speakers go out?

drewstair

I took it down to Autozone and everything checked out. Looks like a loose wire. When I turn on the radio the button lights go out (if I have the headlights on) and the station shows up, but then go back out. The wierd thing today was that after doing the alternator test, the radio started staying on for a few minutes at a time.