By Jason Truscott on Friday, September 07, 2001 - 12:46 pm: Edit

I have a '96 disco with the cd player. When I turn the radio on the display turns on and off with a regular frequency. Kinda like a digital clock when you lose power then turn it back on. It gets no reception but I can hear a faint crackling sound from the speakers even when the display goes out. The fuse is good and it seems to be getting constant power to the radio. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jason

By Shane C. (Qsiguy) on Friday, September 07, 2001 - 09:12 pm: Edit

The first thing I'd check is each speaker lead. If a speaker wire is shorted to ground or together that can occur. I'd pull each speaker out one at a time and use an ohm meter to check for shorts in each speaker lead. Put your meter on ohms and place one lead to ground then check each lead. Then check resistance between the two leads. It should NOT be 0 or the leads are shorted. Also, is your battery fully charged, or more simply, will the engine start? A low battery condition could do that too. Is the radio stock?

By Jason Truscott on Saturday, September 08, 2001 - 01:22 pm: Edit

The radio is stock, the battery is fine and the truck starts without any problems. The problem started intermittantly and now continues on a regular basis.
Jason

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 06:45 am: Edit

It's a Pioneer head unit ...be glad it works, period.

By Mike B. on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 04:09 pm: Edit

Sounds like 1 of three things: 1. Bad Power, 2. Bad Ground, or 3. Bad Radio. I'm a shade tree mechanic, so see if what I say makes sense.

I'd pull radio out to take a look at it. It is held in by two small allen screws on either side of the radio. Remove the two screws and it is supposed to slide right out (although I haven't removed mine yet).

Check and clean all of the connections. If you are lucky it's just a loose connection. Next, I'd put a meter across the leads to see what kind of power is coming across. It should be in the 12 to 13 volt range.

I know this is wierd, but I'd leave the radio laying out with a meter hooked up and I'd watch the voltage on the hot lead to see if if fluctuates when the radio is acting up. If so, it's a power or ground problem.

I hope this helps!
Mike B.