Well, after dropping my car off at the dealer last week to have them do the hood tsb, an oil change, and fix the short in my Bose system's speakers, I've got the car back and they claimed they could find nothing wrong. They MUST be deaf.

The entire left side of speakers comes and goes when they please. There is a short somewhere in the wiring and they go on and off without warning. I explained this to the dealership and they informed me that they "Could not duplicate customer complaint". I bit(hed and they ordered a new front left tweeter (which is completely out). Sure, that's great and all, but what about the wiring problem?

Anybody else had problems like this? How can I get the service guys to quit being so lazy and just test the wires?

TIA,
Johnny V.

 

It's more than likely the HU and not the wires. Several members have had the exact same problems as you (ask soundmike).

Then again the service techs are the brightest people either. I took my car in a over a month ago to fix the Hood Shutter at high speed and the rattling sub-woofer. The first time they said the hood vibrated because the tires needed balancing (idiots) read the TSBs. To fix the rattling subwoofer they replaced both rear subwoofers. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't there just one on our cars? The bass got better after they replaced the rear speakers but the rattling got worse.

Oh well what can you do?

 

Yep, based on your description of the problem it does sound like the HU is the culprit.

Too bad they can't duplicate the problem, i was lucky enough to have a good service manager. I just called about it, drove up to the service dept and he didn't even bother to check the radio. Just wrote down the VIN # on my car and told me to come back in a couple of weeks while they order the part.

Nissan NA should be familiar with the problem by this time, so you might want to call them up. They should be able to inform you local dealership of the issue so you can get yours fixed.

 

If this impacts front and rear channels on one side of the car only, then it is the HU. I have this problem. Still waiting for a new HU. I think Clarion may have had some quality control issues with certain parts. The problem should on occur with the CD player, never with the radio. I have found that going over bumps will cause the driver's side Front and Rear channels to cut in and out. Sometimes, abrupt braking or acceleration will do this too. Get your order in as soon as possible because Clarion has a 6-8 week backorder on the HU.

 

Oh $hit I thought I was the only one with this problem. But I guess not huh. I also have the problem with my left side going 95% out. What I mean by that is that you can only hear like the bass that would come out of them. And its only for cd's. First I thought I was burning cd's only on the right side cause I just had gotten a new burner. But I put a cd that I bought a while ago and it is only working on the right side. I did go to the dealer but it happened to be working then. But later that day I hit a bump and then there went the left side. Ill just go again cause my friend is the service write up guy.

Chris

 

As I have mentioned a couple times, my Bose unit does that exact same thing too. I brought it in to show the service department, but it was working fine just as pulled in their lot. I explained the problem to them and they had one of the service repair guys come and sit in the car. Luckily, he was smart enough to just pound his fist on the bottom right side of the steering wheel. This caused the HU to act up again. He pounded again and it went back to normal. They then agreed to order another HU. The new HU gets installed tomorrow after a 5+ week wait... We will see.

 

It seems like this is a VERY common problem. It was the headunit. I took it to three different dealers before with that problem and they could not fix it. I narrowed it down to the CD player because it would not fade out when I had the radio on and not the CD player. I replaced the headunit and VOILA, my Bose speakers work just fine now. Sound excellent...sound way better than with the stock HU also.

 

Ditto, if you can afford it you might as well replace your HU with an aftermarket.

I did so on mine and couldn't be more happier.

 

I have the same problem with mine, I'm waiting for my second headunit to come in.

 

I have the same problem on my 2k2, my HeadUnit is already on order, because about a month ago, the cd changer totally stopped working, now it's back to perfect, but the left speakers go out and stuff, so now I have to be braking pretty hard in the middle of traffic to get my sound back...

Thank God I had already ordered the HeadUnit, it should be in soon.Hopefully it will fix it.

 

Whats the HU???

Chris

 

HU = Head Unit

 

I haven't experienced any thing like this; bought my car in Dec; it was built in September. Any idea if it has to do with certain manufacture dates?

 

Dunno, i've had my car since August (Build-date July IIRC) but the problem didn't occur till about a month ago.

I'm assuming the newer cars (this year) will no longer have the problem now that Clarion is aware of it.

 

The same thing happens to me whenever I hit a bump or brake hard. I took it to the dealership and they told me that they could not duplicate the problem, they even tried to tell me that it was black market C.D.s that were causing my problembut that they would order me another head unit if the problem persisted.

 

Service Departments will make up anything to save the manufacturer money. It has nothing to do with the CD's. I have tried purchased CD's, burned ones...just about anything. The problem continued. They replaced my HU today and voila...problem fixed. I think you should print out a few of these threads and bring them to your dealer.

It is so nice having sound out of 7 speakers again!

 

Do those of you having the HU problems have the in-dash CD player or is this something that is happening with both trunk-mounted and in-dash units? I have the trunk mounted unit because I have Nav. I was just wondering if there is a difference. srm

 

Your units, both HU and changer are of a completely different design. Although this setup could also have problems, I have yet to hear of any . . . I should've gotten NAV, then I suspect I would be just fine too . . . oh well.

 

 

My BOSE is all f-ed up now too... the left side just goes in and out when I'm playing CDs... but with the radio its fine. I gotta take it in to the dealer, but I wanna make sure they can reproduce it. I hate having to go back and pick up the car saying they haven't found any problems... I'm sure its just me loving to drop my car off, and have to ride around in a piece of crap rental.. yup, that must be it.

 

That is exactly why they replaced my HU. If it isn't messed up when you are there, try a firm fist pound on the bottom of the steering wheel. That seems to allow you to simulate a road jolt. It worked in my car. Good luck!

 

I too have a similar problem, and the dealership says "there is no problem." Besides the "cutout," I have the infamous "rear deck buzz."

On a side note, I occasionally commute with a co-worker who, just this weekend purchased a 2003 Mitsubishi Montero with an Infinity stereo/CD system. I cannot believe how good this sytem is . . . the bass knocked my socks off (for a stock system) and the mids/highs were OK. Nissan is definitely going to hear from me, as I want my $$$ back. The Bose system is the worst stereo system I have ever heard. Hell, my wife drives an '02 Saturn L300, and that system rocks when compared to the Bose.

I've had my '02 E for 6 months now, and I will trade it in very soon! It's not the car I heard Maxima's were!!!

 

I have never been able to reproduce the issue by hitting the dash, radio or steering column. However, on a ride home one day, the left channel went on the Taconic State Pkwy. I was so aggravated, that I drove (very slowly and deliberately) to the dealer so he could hear the problem. I didn't even turn off the engine or the radio. I just pulled up, went inside and asked the service rep to please come out and listen to the radio. Then I allowed him to hear the problem for himself. I then pulled the CD, so he could see it was a brand new CD in mint condition. Then I put the CD back in and it played normally. I happen to know that this service rep has now replaced quite a few of these HU's since I was able to replicate the problem for him. Maybe you could do the same thing?

 

My head unit has begun to cut in and out on the driver's side...but it's very intermittant. It will do it for 3 or 4 days straight then not do it for 3 or 4 days. I am bringing the car in monday and I am worried it won't do it at all when I bring it in, and this dealership is generally a big pain about doing warranty work.

They want me to leave the car the whole day, and I don't want to wind up getting screwed over by them calling me and saying that they can't duplicate the problem...

Does anyone know a way to make it occur so I can show them?

Thanks

 

Forgot to mention..mine seems to do it with jolts in the road, but also will just cut in and out while I'm sitting parked, too.

 

I think i heard someone say that they just kind of lightly banged on the left side of the central pillar beside where the stereo was. I'm not sure though, so give it a try, if it works then you can just bang on it for the service manager.

 

I had the same problem with the driver's speakers going on and off for days or sometimes minutes. The dealer ordered a new headunit about 3 months ago and I just got it installed an hour ago, it's perfect now, so the problem is the headunit, just order a new one, wait patiently.

If you think your dealer will give you troble about ordering the new headunit, jus lie, that's what I did, I told him the CD changer only worked whenever it felt like it and that it worked badly, and I told him about the speakers too.

 

argh, I am so frustrated right now. It was doing it when I was about 1 mile from the dealership, so I was thinking, "alright, I'll just swing over and show them the problem, so they can document they heard it"

So I go over there, leave the car running outside and go inside. 3 guys sitting on their ***, and they say "oh, we can't go out there and look at it now, we're too busy, stop back another day". So I explain to them the problem only happens intermittantly, and I have no way of duplicating it except to show it to them when it happens. Still they insist, "oh, i'm sure we'll figure it out if you bring it in another time".

Argh, I am ready to kill them. I can't believe they wouldn't look at it. I just asked for 30 seconds for them to just verify that it was doing it, because I know when I bring the car in Monday they are going to say "oh, we couldn't duplicate it, so we can't do anything for you"