New member needs radio help

[CRUZTAKER]

Luckey Gene needs our help.
His post was buried in another unrelated thread.

I moved it here.
BTW: I have no clue as to what is wrong.


*radio problem (Lucky Gene)
Hi, I'm new here. I just purchased an 03 with 34 thosand miles.It is out of warranty. I really love the car. Although the strangest thing happens with the radio. It is am/fm cassette CD in the dash and also a changer in the trunk. The radio with suddenly stop playing and I hear static as is there is no antenna, but the CD and tape will play fine. Then a little time will pass and the am/fm will play again. Any thoughts on how to solve the problem? thanks for your help an advice

[LUCKY GENE]

*radio problem
Hi, I'm new here. I hope this is in the correct location for advice on the site. I just purchased an 03 MM with 34 thosand miles.It is out of warranty. I really love the car. Although the strangest thing happens with the radio. It is am/fm cassette CD in the dash and also a changer in the trunk. The radio with suddenly stop playing and I hear static as is there is no antenna, but the CD and tape will play fine. Then a little time will pass and the am/fm will play again. Any thoughts on how to solve the problem? thanks for your help an advice
:help:

[LUCKY GENE]

THANKS very much for your help , I did say I was new here!:)

[sweetair]

The only thing I can think of is what has happened to me and others. Every now and then upon start-up my radio has static/muffled sound. I restart the car and it is gone. The restart process acts to reset the radio. This has not happened in a while for myself. Not sure if the CD was working or not. It was always in radio mode when it happened. Good luck.

[2ndMDRebel]

Vicky's Marauder would lose volume from FM stations at times, no real static just the volume would fade out to nothing. My Vic's radio did the same thing but on the AM side. Both would still lock on the stations fine and play tapes/CDs all day long with no problems. Her's was replaced last month and mine last week (I love extended warranties!) and our radio guy said this is a common problem with these.

We didn't get any static like you are having, is the radio locking on the stations or does it "search" if you scan?

[LUCKY GENE]

>>>We didn't get any static like you are having, is the radio locking on the stations or does it "search" if you scan?<<<

No scanning of stations. The am/fm will have static as if the radio antenna is unplugged. the tape and cd will play fine. The am/fm will sometimes begin to play for awhile then stop . This occurs when stopped or driving. Other than this problem I really enjoy the MM. :-)

[mdskiing]

Me too! My AM stopped working a while ago! Any clue on an easy fix? How about an upgrade solutuin to the radio?
MD
Tampa

[cyclopsram]

Get in the back seat and wiggle the in window aerial connector, and also in the trunk behind the spare tire...those connections get corroded..and temp sensitive...RAM

[Smokie]

Welcome aboard, my thoughts are, the antenna connection at the radio may be loose or the connection at your rear window. Also look at the antenna built in to the glass to see if there is a break in the wire.

If all this checks ok, I supect you have either a bad tuner or a bad solder connection inside your radio.

[LUCKY GENE]

Thank you all, for the information.
drive safe.:thanks:

[stryker]

:eek: !Heeeeyyy! I have this disgusting problem too with the radio of my new Panther when I'm playing cd's no problen but when I change for radio !Nooooooaaaaarrrrggghhh! it starts the static untill it lost reception and stays mute.


STRYKER.:burnout:

[fastblackmerc]

Could also be the head unit. I, as well as many others on the site have had strange problems with the radios. After the head unit is replaced all is well.

[stryker]

:cool: Let me understand, when you say "Head unit" you mean to replace the stock Radio for an aftermarket one?


STRYKER.:burnout:

[stryker]

:cool: ¿Can anyone of the MaRaUdErErS here can respond to the last post I put above? Thank you everybody.


STRYKER.:burnout:

[swc69]

I have the same problem and looked into this previously.

There seem to be a decent number of people that have problems with the 'head unit', FM reception just goes away. The lucky ones had the radio replaced under warranty.

So when fastblackmerc was referring to the 'head unit', he was talking about the actual in-dash radio itself.

If you are getting static on FM, it might well be a bad antenna connection. If you get nothing (it just sounds like its been muted) then it is probably the in-dash unit.

I really don't want to replace my stock unit with an aftermarket head. Does anyone know what I could expect to pay for a unit at a junkyard? Also, what other vehicles have this same unit? Grand Marquis & Crown Vic? (I assume). Any others? My wife has a 2002 Explorer and it is different, but I figure Ford must have used these units in more than just the Panther cars.

Thanks!

Steve C.

[mcb26]

Had the same problem. radio replaced under warranty. I believe it's a cold solder joint on the pc board, no easy fix. That means the components on the board make contact intermittently, When you try to probe the joint, the probe itself makes contact and the joint looks ok. :rasta: Not that kind of joint.

[swc69]

I was meaning to ask if anyone had ever diagnosed the exact cause of the problem.

For those of use that are electronic hobbyists, repairing the thing would be easy if you know WHICH joint was bad (of course, that's the hard part).

I suppose I'll take a stab at it before I spend $100's on a replacement, athough I suspect that if I remove it and stage it on a workbench the darn thing will work perfectly.

Steve C.

[fastblackmerc]

:cool: Let me understand, when you say "Head unit" you mean to replace the stock Radio for an aftermarket one?


STRYKER.:burnout:

No, you replace the stock head unit with a repaired stock head unit. That is if you want to keep the stock head unit.

[Ozz]

My radio would just go fuzzy in FM... If I changed the station, the same station would play behind the static regardless of frequency.

I replaced the head unit and the problem is gone.

I read elsewhere on this site that there is some problem with the earlier cars that was later corrected. The only choice if you are out of warranty is to pony up for a new, rebuilt or take-out unit. I asked where to get a new radio a few weeks back and had several offers from MM.net members. I ended up paying $100 for one.

Check out my post in this forum and PM one of the people that mentioned having one for sale. I got mine from 'Fordnut' so his is gone...