When it rains, it pours. Have a '93 GMC 1500 Sierra. Yesterday, the radio went out. But, not the typical "check the fuse" thing. It still works, I mean it turns on, lights up, volume and all the other controls work, it just won't pick up any radio stations. Speakers are fine, fuses are fine.....it's almost like there is no antenna connected to it. I crawled all over the insides and couldn't find the wires to check or get up in the dash enough to see if the connections were loose. Got any ideas??? Then, the floor lights went out. The dome light still works, but those two little lights on the floor don't. Fuse is good. Jeesh, maybe I should sell? Does anyone know of a company that makes after market stereos that are dash mount for that truck? That system has always sucked, maybe it's time to upgrade. I just haven't seen a system that replaces the indash model. Wonder how they get that thing out.
Truck eletrical problem
- Thread starter Schmoe
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I've replaced a number of "factory" in dash stereos with aftermarket units and mounting kits from Crutchfield. They include the mounting kit and wiring harness adapter specific to your vehicle for free or for a very nominal cost. Check their website; the URL is exactly what you would guess it to be.
Also, did your floor courtesy lights go out right after you were rooting around behind the dash looking for your radio problem? Maybe you dislodged a ground wire or something.
Also, did your floor courtesy lights go out right after you were rooting around behind the dash looking for your radio problem? Maybe you dislodged a ground wire or something.
Thanks!!! Got some options. I have been at a crossroads as I want a better stereo but don't want to fool with it and I'm too tight to have someone do it. The problem I have with the stock stereo is...no bass. I ain't talking rattling your molding off type of bass, but something I could feel a little (I'm a drummer, got to FEEEEEEELLLLL the drums). Think I'll try and salvage what I got. One question: I had a sneaky feeling that I had lost the antennae feed. So I looked in the engine area to see if I could find the lead wire. I couldn't. Couldn't even see the base of the antennae. Do I have get to it from the bottom of the front right tire? Take of of the plastic wheel well and access it that way. There is that clip that was mentioned, but it looked like a fuseable link. Could I take the antennae off and the base off and then pull the wire throught the hole to check the connection?
Figure out what the problem is first, then go from there. A new head unit isn't going to make any significant difference, other than that it will probably have better custom equalizers to tune what little bass power the head unit can put out. That might be enough for your purposes though. You have to add a sub and an external amplifier for real good bass. The best head units (the ones that say 200W or 50WX4) put out around 20 watts TOTAL sound power (20WX4 means 20W per channel, but only one at a time, so that's 5W per channel if 4 speakers are going), and that's usually at fairly high distortion (~1% THD, 20Hz to 20kHz). Marketing at its worst! So they don't put out much more power than the factory units. New speakers will improve the bass a little too, but the biggest gains in speaker replacement are in the treble since most factory stereos have no tweeters, and you've got to have tweeters for good sound.
With a $15 dash mount kit and a $10 factory-to-aftermarket wiring harness an aftermarket deck should look fine and install in under an hour, less if you've had the dash apart before.
Geesh, I just realized I spelled electrical wrong. OK, found the connection inside the hood, pulled it apart. Sure as the crow flies, it is covered in the tell-tale corrosion white powder. Cleaned it, WD-40'ed it. Turned on the radio and I got tunes. BUT, it's a country station, so I hit my presets, the SAME station. I een hit the scan button and again, the same station. No matter what I push or scan, it's the same station. Wow. Whasssup wit' dat???? I even switched to AM, hit scan and nothing. Down here in Oklahoma, there are tons of AM stations. Switched back to FM, same country station. I'm really confused now. I guess there is no if/ands or buts, the thing has died on me. Any other suggestions? I wouldn't need to disconnect the battery cables to "reset" the whole thing, would I? I mean, could that possibly help????
Try disconnecting the battery. Thats the easiest way to kill power to the radio. Even though you cleaned it, there could be corrosion inside the cable. Where the cable plugs into the receiver, they like to corrode there too.
Never fool with anything electrical on a car/truck without disconnecting the battery, you can damage the electronics. Also the button may be sticking. The were the worst radio's CHevy ever put in a truck. So many of them turn to junk in no time.
[ October 08, 2003, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Mike ]
Never fool with anything electrical on a car/truck without disconnecting the battery, you can damage the electronics. Also the button may be sticking. The were the worst radio's CHevy ever put in a truck. So many of them turn to junk in no time.
[ October 08, 2003, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Mike ]
I just fixed my 1992 with this problem.
Its the antenna lead. They corrode under the hood. Look inside the fender by the antenna and you will see a connection clipped to the finder, pull apart. If there is any indication of white power etc, corrosion has taken over. My cable was a corroded even where it went into the receiver (CPU) just above the gas pedal.
fyi
The radio receiver is under the dash above gas pedal, thats just a control head in the dash.
You need the black base for the fender, nut that holds this in and the lead cable to the stereo CPU, you reuse the mast. Its a very common problem that happens to just about everyone sooner or later. Some replace the stereo when its just $30 worth of parts.
When I went to the dealer parts and said I am having radio problems, no reception. The guy just walked over to the shelf and grabbed these parts. They had them taped together as a set.
I have the parts info right here;
15591183 Nut, Radio antenna List $4.00
15573236 Cable Assembly List $13.50
15963441 Cable Assembly List $12.42
[ October 08, 2003, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Mike ]
Its the antenna lead. They corrode under the hood. Look inside the fender by the antenna and you will see a connection clipped to the finder, pull apart. If there is any indication of white power etc, corrosion has taken over. My cable was a corroded even where it went into the receiver (CPU) just above the gas pedal.
fyi
The radio receiver is under the dash above gas pedal, thats just a control head in the dash.
You need the black base for the fender, nut that holds this in and the lead cable to the stereo CPU, you reuse the mast. Its a very common problem that happens to just about everyone sooner or later. Some replace the stereo when its just $30 worth of parts.
When I went to the dealer parts and said I am having radio problems, no reception. The guy just walked over to the shelf and grabbed these parts. They had them taped together as a set.
I have the parts info right here;
15591183 Nut, Radio antenna List $4.00
15573236 Cable Assembly List $13.50
15963441 Cable Assembly List $12.42
[ October 08, 2003, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Mike ]
check the positive battery terminal, if it is corroded, that may be the cause of the problems.
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