When i bought the car i knew the radio didnt work....no biggie. It would light up and everything just no sound. So tonite i'm leaving my friends house and when i start the car i hear a sound from the speakers, like a 'pop'. So i turn up the volume and the radio is playing and i can hear it. I start driving and then it goes out after about 2 minutes. Then it came back on again and stayed on for about the same amount of time. I turned it up and all the speakers were working and sounding good like a Bose should. What could be causing it to work sometimes or is the headunit going bad like i thought it was?

 

Good possibility it's the head unit. Any other issues with it?

My original Bose used to do that, then stopped doing it when I did the aux-in mod. Now I've got the Z33 6-disc, it's a good upgrade path if you're looking to keep with an OEM Bose setup.

 

It says 'Cd Err' even thought there is nothing in it. would i have to get a new hu or is it something that can just be rewired/tightened?

 

that is VERY common for the 4th gen head unit. Mine did it. I got sick if the radio so I just put in a Pioneer Deck. Sounds better than the Bose head unit. Volume can go louder with less turning of the ****, very clear sound...and looks cleaner than the large stock unit

 

It's the head unit, same thing happened to me, then I changed all four speakers (Infities) and replaced my head unit (Pioneer P6000UB) and now it work's like a charm =)

 

so it is more than likely the headunit and not a wire touching somewhere its not suppose to?

 

i would say wire prob if it didnt display that cd err message. i would say the HU's done

 

If you're getting the CD ERR as well, then it's most likely the head unit.

You could always check the connections on the back of the radio, but it's most likely just failing.

 

thanks guys. i thought it was going out but just wanted to check with yall and make sure.

 

If its a Bose unit, they are notorious for this. The volume on/off ***** screw up and the CD Err happens. There's a guy on E-Bay who sell the Maxima Bose units with a 30 day guarantee - I bought mine from him for $115 bucks - It was cheaper than the local car stereo shop that wanted $255 to fix it and wouldn't guarantee the repair... I've had it 4 months and it still works fine...

 

The main board is mount in the bottom of the HU and the CD drive on top. There is a plugged in bus board in the middle. Likely there is a poor connector or cracked solder joint. Unplug the bus board and plug it in again. See if that fix it.

 

The car that I just purchased from my father-in-law had an issue where the stereo made a popping sound as well. This was the base stereo, not the Bose. I figured the HU was bad, and replaced it. The headunit that I installed gave me an error message when I powered it on (really frustrating after all of the work removing the stock stereo - had to drill out the screws holding it in...). I looked on the internet for this error, and eventually found someone suggesting that there was a short in the speaker wiring. I looked at the rear speakers (most easily visible from the back), and the rear speakers were so damaged that the driver had separated from the surround, and as a result of this, the wires attached to the driver were touching the frame of the speaker, shorting it out. Ripped out the wires and the stereo worked, even though I found out later that the front speakers were in similar condition, just not affected by gravity in the same way.

Hope that helps...