Sorry to post this. I am sure it's in old posts, but I can't search the board for some reason.

Anyway, my radio in my 94 GXE has become intermittent. It sometimes makes a "pop" sound the the tunes die. It will sometimes fade back in. It does this both radio and CD.

Any ideas? I don't want to put much $$ into it, but want the tunes back. Do you think I should pull it and have it repaired, replace it with one from a bone yard or just put in an aftermarket unit?


Thanks!

 

A bone yard swap would be the cheapest bet, if you're looking for ease of replacement, a similar functioning unit to what you had before, and stock look. You might also want to look at some online sources such as ebay and http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalNisMax0.htm especially if you have a bose unit.

With aftermarket, you can get something brand new, and also have some upgraded features you won't find in a refurbished or bone yard unit such as different bass/trebel settings between radio and CD, mp3 playback, CDR/RW playback and the like.

It sounds to me like there's a power problem. Check the wiring to make sure it's working right, heck it might even be worth to check the wiring harness and make sure it's not something dumb like loose. If those are fine, then it's most likely internal and really not worth having fixed.

 

As a reminder the radio harnes stays the same up to 94, 95 and up is different (dam shame too I have a 95 bose unit)
if you choosa to go aftermarket thaen I'd recommend changing the speakers at the same time.
Unless you use the adapter (not wiring adapter but amp adapter) which is like $50

 

i have an extra bose head unit w/cd that came out of a 90se unit works fine my amps were bad . djwhiz0001@aol.com

 

Maybe my head unit is ok if there is a separate amp. I assumed the amp was built into the head unit. Is there a separate amp? If so, where is it located.

Again, thanks.

 

there are 4 seperate amps.
1 at each speaker.

 

Hmmm. Well, if it goes "pop" and they all go dead, that sure sounds like it must me the head unit. Grrrrrrrr

 

Mine did the same thing...POP and then no sound...sound comes back after a while. The interval got longer and longer. it's currently on a 2 month cycle...every 2 months it comes on for about 2 minutes. When it does come on though, it sounds good. So, I'm sure it's my head unit.

Finding one in the bone yard will be tough. These go for good money on ebay...usually around $100. I got a 95 bose unit from ebay, and should have it here in a week or so. On the advise of internetautomar et al, I will wire up some harnesses and see if it works. That way I keep the stock look and don't have to rewire everything.

There is some mysterious talk about fixing the head units too, but it seems to be a black art. Something about opening up the unit, and checking for broken solder joints around the power whatevers. I took mine apart, and didn't see any bad solders. eh.

Good luck,
matt

 

Blose problems are easy:

Buy better/new aftermarket head unit. Buy replacement door speakers or buy a bigger component set and amp(s). Wire everything up. Enjoy problem free and higher quality sound for many years to come

 

That's assuming you have a bose unit. The bose units use 1ohm resistance as opposed to the standard 4 ohm that basically all car audio uses. This means you can't use an aftermarket head unit on the bose speakers, unless you get an adaptor as mentioned above. If you don't have the bose system, you won't need this adaptor, so there won't be a problem putting in an aftermarket unit. The regular system has an amp for the rear speakers, so this will need to be bypassed in order to install an aftermarket unit, or you'll end up with double amplification in your rear speakers. I know this because I've got the same thing happening in my Maxima, so the head unit is faded towards the front. But it's working fine for now, therefore I've left it until I decide what I want to do with the stereo.