cd head units are frying, are they toast or is it the truck?

[Krafty]

In my 89 I had an old kenwood cd deck all wired up and working for about a month, one day it just stopped emitting sound, it loads up and starts the tracks and plays through, but no sound coming out of the speakers. I then put in my alpine cd/mp3/ipod deck out of my tbird that is only 2.5 years old, had it in the 89 for about 2 months and this morning that same thing happened, pulled it out and started the wiggle test, sound came on, then put it back it while playing, turned the key off then back on, and No sound again. same with the old kenwood deck it would randomly start playing again and then cut out again. i've wired up lots of decks in my time but i've never had a vehicle fry 2 decks in less than 4 months.

any ideas?

I've checked most of my speaker wires and they are fine, I've had a speaker or two cut out from shorting but not all of them at the same time.

 

[miesk5]

yo K!

This seems to happen.. I know others have had unit failures periodically too

I did a search; & found similar head unit failures in other makes.

Alpine CDM-7861 Car CD Player Problems Aug 18, 2004 ... the point where it would mess up at random times. ... large bump/pothole the cd would sometimes start playing a static sound ...

Alpine CDA 9811 is playing, all lights working, - FixYaJul 3, 2009 ... Questions and Unsolved Problems for Alpine CDA-9811 CD Player ... In most cases, the audio comes back on after a random amount of time

Can only guess at one pssibility; a bad alternator diode sending ac Voltage? see http://www.omitec.com/en/support/waveforms/

 

[Seabronc]

Could be grounding also. Does it have a wire connected ground or is it just depending on the mounting bracket contact? Speakers need a good ground.

Good luck,

>-

 

[Rons beast]

Could be grounding also. Does it have a wire connected ground or is it just depending on the mounting bracket contact? Speakers need a good ground.
Good luck,

>-

The Sony in my 96, occationally, "skips" and I smell that hot electric smell. (you guys know what I mean)

Could it be from the same causes?

 

[Rons beast]

Could be grounding also. Does it have a wire connected ground or is it just depending on the mounting bracket contact? Speakers need a good ground.
Good luck,

>-

The Sony in my 96, occationally, "skips" and I smell that hot electric smell. (you guys know what I mean)

Could it be from the same causes?

 

[Krafty]

I don't get that hot electrical smell, the speakers don't randomly cut out, its just all of the speakers are working or none of the speakers are working. on Friday after 3 hours of driving with no sound, I stopped at a bank and when i turned the truck back on the sound has been back ever since.

so I don't know, i just think its odd that there is a pattern between the very old deck and the 3 year old deck.

the aftermarket deck in my brothers camero has been in there since 2002 and is still working fine.

 

[Seabronc]

I suppose it is possible, but since it is the same for both units, I would suspect something external to the unit. A fried unit doesn't start working again. Probably a wiring thing, possibly with the line supplying the 12V. You could try hooking up the 12V + and - from some other source. There are normally more than one 12V connection, one for main power, one to indicate the lights are on and sometimes a courtesy light 12Vcircuit connection.

Good luck,

>-

 

[miesk5]

Seabronc; isn't the radio ground behind instrument panel to passenger side of the radio in those years?

 

[Krafty]

So I figured it out today. while playing around with wires connected to the head unit, (cause the problem started again Wednesday) I pulled apart the connections to one of my door speakers, and my sound came back. so I narrowed it down to which speaker and traced the wire and what not all the way to the speaker.connected it at the deck and had no issues until I plugged the wire back into the speaker. so I just disconnected the wires to that speaker completely, and hurray I have tunes again.