04 LX Radio Problems
 

I spent hours reading posts about problems that are similar to mine but none were exactly the same and none had solutions so I thought I'd give it another try. About a year ago my radio (with a single disk cd player, six speakers) started making loud popping noises and would go quiet. The face would look like everything was ok but no sound would come out of any of the speakers. At first I could turn it off and on again and everything would be fine...until it happened again. Then the pops started happening more frequently and again the silence. As the frequency of these occurrences increased so did the amount of time the radio would remain quiet. It got to the point where it would go days and weeks of not working and then, usually just after starting the car, it would come on again out of nowhere. I finally decided that the radio had something wrong with it, possibly the amp, and I bought an exact duplicate of mine from eBay. I watched several You Tube videos on how to remove the radio and swapped them out. However, when I turned the key for the first time with the new radio in, same thing. The face looked like everything was fine, I had to reset all the stations, the volume indicator moved as it should when I adjusted the volume, everything looked fine but absolutely no sound. Something that struck me funny was that it never asked me for the code. Anyone have any idea what it might be? Even if I could use a part out of the new radio to fix the old one then I could validate spending $175 for this radio. Any advice of help would be greatly appreciated.


Jeff

The shop manual has a lengthy section on diagnosing No Sound Display Normal. Shop manual can be purchased for $22 from automanualsource.com.

It sounds like the mute function might be the culprit. One possibility might be muteing from the steering wheel is accidentally being triggered. I'm assuming you have steering wheel controls.

good luck

Thanks for the information on the shop manual, I'll be getting one soon. However, I don't have steering wheel controls nor any way to mute the radio that I know of. I wish it were that simple. Thanks for trying.

Since replacement of audio system did not affect problem, it suggests an external to audio system problem.

Circuit diagram in manual shows a connection from Relay Control Module to Audio system. Not sure what this does, but there are tests for relay control module in the manual.

Failure of the antenna amp might also cause symptoms; signal too weak and noise suppression kills any audio output.

good luck

Thanks again. Could you please tell me where the antenna amp is located? Maybe I could try fiddling with that until I'm able to get my hands on the FSM.

The antenna amp must be part of the antenna coil assy behind the LR pillar trim. Wiring schematic calls it antenna amp. It has a yel/grn power feed to the amp.

good luck

This may be a stupid question, but since I don't see an antenna, a traditional one at least, should I assume it is integrated into the rear window or are all those lines the window defogger? If the latter, then where is the antenna?

Circuit diagram says window antenna. That's why they need an amp probably.

good luck

correct, antenna is in the rear window and has an external amplifier.

Thanks. Now to figure out how to get the trim off to get to the amp. I have a friend in the body shop and paint business. I'm sure he'll give me some pointers. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until I get back from vacation next weekend. Thanks a lot for all the help.


Jeff