xtmphan

Hi,

The Bose Head Unit just stops working completely on my 93 GXE. I would appreciate any pointers to repairs and/or troubleshooting guide for DIY.

Thanks in Advance.
Tri

disgruntled

iTrader: (7)

People have had success in removing the head unit, opening it up and resolder or reflow any solder joints they see, but overwhelmingly, people will advise you to dump the thing and go with a cheap aftermarket.

bhunter

iTrader: (3)

If it comes and goes it may be a problem with the power wire going to it. See if you can reroute a power wire to the head unit and see if that cures the problem. Most places have a hard time repairing the Bose units economically and reliably. If it is not the power problem, replace it all.

GREGB287

my advise to you is if your going to take out that head unit just to check the power wire you mineaswell change the whole HU. all you would need is the wiring harness.

BML94GXE

iTrader: (1)

i got mine fixed at a place for liek 100 bucks, my brother found it online and you mail it in, they fix it and send it back. I;ll get the info from him and put it up later tonight

xtmphan

I would appreciate this info so I can fix mine asap. Sometimes you don't realize how important it is until it is no longer there....;=))).

I would like to fix it rather swap out a different system.

Thanks In Advance.

BML94GXE

iTrader: (1)

i never got a hold of my brother last night, but i just talked to him and he is gonna send me the info after he gets off work

ghostmax

iTrader: (4)

once upon a time, i fixed my double-din bose hu by sending it to http://www.davescoolstuff.com/. he fixed the power problem, but he was unable to fix the tape unit which was destroyed by a leaking capacitor. moral of the story: beware of the items on ebay as i received the hu totally inoperable (but that's another story).

disgruntled

iTrader: (7)

I don't know guys, it seems to make more sense economically to buy a new HU, a new HU can be as low as 80 bucks, and the repair cost + shipping back and forth will usually go over that price, not to mention the amps will not last that long, so if those decides to blow, then you will have a much larger lost..

ghostmax

iTrader: (4)

i replaced the bose long time ago with aftermarket. it's definitely the best thing to do and not so difficult.

shredhb

Welcome to the club. I was debating back and forth whether or not to fix my Bose system that went out. It costs $75-$80 per amplifier and more for the HU so I went with replacing my entire system. I just did this last week and am very happy with it. It was easy to do by myself with all of the info on the internet (including this site!) regarding removing the system and wiring the new speakers. My total cost was $330 with an Alpine HU and front and back Alpine speakers from Crutchfield. Good luck!

BML94GXE

iTrader: (1)

you can just buy a new headunit and get the amp conversion kit. Basically what happens is you buy this conversion, i got mine at bestbuy, you buy your new HU, wire all up and your good to go without replacing speakers, or pulling out amps, etc. look in the audio forums, its in there many times. and all that will cost you is 40 bucks plus a HU of your choice

bhunter

iTrader: (3)

That is one way you can go but I tried that and think the conversion kit doesn't work all that well. The kit costs about as much as one pair of speakers. Just fork over the money for the other pair. It is more work though, especially the fronts. I've done two conversions and it's not all that bad.

BML94GXE

iTrader: (1)

Well it work perfectly fine for me and was well worth it. You just have to know what your doing when you rhooking it up because it comes with diffrent ways to hook it up which affects the end result.

shuck

The only reason I don't like the aftermarket HU option is it makes your car ripe for theft. They best part about a stock stereo is that no one wants to steal it. I always think it's best to keep the stereo looking as stock as possible for that reason.

The Bose system is pretty good and it's nice to not have to worry about it getting stolen. Does anyone on this board offer to do the repair for cheaper? I imagine it's not that tough - I might just break out my soldering iron myself this weekend to do mine.

disgruntled

iTrader: (7)

shuck does have a point, but still, it is no better than buying a cheap after market unit for the following reasons:

1. The stock system did not prevent theft for some members on the .org simply because of the BOSE brand.

2. You can remove the faceplate with after market units, without it, the system is almost useless.

3. Thieves now a day knows the difference between a 50 bucks CD HU sold at pepboys versus brand names, remember, it is the brand name they are looking for.

4. If the thief is THAT desperate, who will stop him/her from breaking in the car, ripping out the stock HU and sell it for like 5 - 10 bucks, enough for a baggie.

As for the adapter, my two cents is that it is not worth the 50 bucks simply because the amps are prone to failure, and the reason that some are having good luck is because of the later car models i.e. 94 GXE, maybe the amps haven't reached it's "amp failure" age.

After stating the above, a budget for a system "upgrade" could be as low as 50 bucks (no new speakers), or 100 w/ new speakers. Or it could be as high as you want.

For those who can do the repair themselves, take that route. For those who cannot however, do look into the aftermarket products.

Side note: Matt (blehmco) does electrical repairs, so maybe if you can inquire him about the price.

Phew that was long!

ghostmax

iTrader: (4)

If you bypass the amps and let the HU drive your speakers, you don't have to buy that $50 adapter. Just buy the one that connects your new HU to the existing Bose harness (about $7). Then you need to bypass your amps (I think directions are on Craig B's website).

twinkle

iTrader: (1)

Some of the older blakput HU's look VERY stock in our dash, granted they are only tape players, but I recall they control CD changers, and are a whole lot more reliable then the bose, I THINK someone, or a few people on here had them.

wiseguy

I've been through this and so has my sister. We both sent our malfunctioning
units back to Clarion in California where they fixed them for a flate rate of
something like $125 for the AM/FM/CD/Cassette units. It's been a while,
so I don't know if they still provide this service or whether the price is the
same, but you might give them a call and see if they still do this sort of
thing.

According to Bose, "The radio/cass unit can be serviced through Clarion
Corporation in Gardena CA for ~$125. Please contact Clarion Corporation
directly for repair information at 1-800-347-8667."

Heard bad things about "dave's cool stuff" somewhere, but YMMV...