I have a 2003 Infiniti I35 with original Bose Car Stereo. The issue began as an intermittent no sound problem, but it would come back again after a short period of time. This evolved to a permanent no sound problem. The head unit seems operational. It comes on but there is no sound - not even the static noise on am radio.

I checked the simple things like the radio fuses, but they seemed OK.

I called Crutchfield and the sales guy recommended gutting the whole thing and replacing the entire car stereo head unit, speakers, adapters for a grand total of $800. I hate to spend all that time and money on a car that is 23 years old. My car runs well but I am sure it is not worth very much.

The Crutchfield guy suspected that is likely the amplifier going dead which is in the upper part of my trunk. He said for a cheap solution, I could try to find an old part on eBay. But that solution might not last long though. I found a label on the BOSE AMP AMPLIFIER 28060-2Y920. I went ahead and ordered it for $50 and 10 minutes of swapping it out. It worked! Hurrah.

But that only lasted a week. Now the radio is getting intermittent no sound issues again.

I read some of the posts. It does not appear to be a simple diagnosis and fix. Is my only solution is to completely replace my system just as the Crutchfield guy said?

 

The Bose headunits are known to fail at a very high rate. Get a Metra Dash kit for $25, a Nissan Bose wiring harness adapter kit for $12 and a singe or double DIN radio of your choice and run in over OEM speakers and amps. I will sound fine (not great until you ditch the OEM speakers and amps) but you'll gain few modern features like Bluetooth etc.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/metr...ray/J7RX7LKV9F

 

I agree with you. I think the headunit is defective and is not putting out a signal to the amp in the trunk.

Thanks for info. I am going to take your advice and do it in 2 phases. 1 = only replace the headunit and see how bad the Bose OEM speakers sound with aftermarket headunit. If they are awful, then I might bite the bullet and get all new speaks as phase 2.

 

Buy the Bose integration harness that splices to the aftermarket radio harness, it will sound cleaner and better than the harness with the RCA’s

Getting rid of Bose door speakers and the stock amp is also on my to do list on my 2001 SE.

 

My OEM Bose has an amplifier in the trunk that powers all the speakers. Do I need to somehow bypass the Bose amp and just use the amp in the aftermarket headunit to power the Bose OEM speakers?

 

No, once you install the aftermarket head-unit via the Metra Bose integration harness the stock Bose amp will continue to power the door speakers. Check out the Audio sub forum, the Bose topic has been covered extensively there.

 

Thanks for the tip. I read the sticky on changing Bose HU. Super useful.