Intermittent Stock Radio

[PaulZ]

Twice now the radio in my '99 Ranger has died out, only to come back on it's own. No lights, no clock, nothing. It's the AM/FM with cassette and CD player above. The first time it came back on it's own while driving, the second time after being parked overnight. I checked fuse 29, the only fuse I found listed for the radio and only the radio on it.

Just wondering if the circuit is connected to anything else, if they are known to die eventually or if there is something else to check next time it happens.

TIA

 

[dvdswan]

Either the radio is dying or you have a loose connection at the radio.

 

[superj]

my radio finally died so i put an aftermarket in. my son kept telling me it was going out while he was driving it but it never happened to me. than it started happening to me. its easy to swap out though

 

[RonD]

Yes, most likely the power supply inside the radio is dying, most common way any car radio dies

When it comes back on from not working does the clock reset to 12:00?
If so that's a full power loss to radio, like unhooking the battery
That's from a separate fuse/wire that has full time power to hold clock time and radio presets

 

[PaulZ]

Thanks guys, Well I have been waiting for it to happen again so I can see if the clock changes time but it hasn't happened again. Will report back if and when..

 

[PaulZ]

Yes, most likely the power supply inside the radio is dying, most common way any car radio dies

When it comes back on from not working does the clock reset to 12:00?
If so that's a full power loss to radio, like unhooking the battery
That's from a separate fuse/wire that has full time power to hold clock time and radio presets

Well after a week or so it acted up again yesterday. While driving, it came on briefly for a few seconds then back off. The clock did not reset back to 12:00, nor keep the correct time, but apparently just lost the minutes while it was not working.

 

[RonD]

Internal radio issue, swap it out

Not much point of a clock in a vehicle that stops keeping time when key is off, lol, so its NOT part of any circuit design, that in itself would be enough to swap it out, the fact you can no longer listen to the radio either would be the more irritating reason to swap it out

 

[PaulZ]

Internal radio issue, swap it out

Not much point of a clock in a vehicle that stops keeping time when key is off, lol, so its NOT part of any circuit design, that in itself would be enough to swap it out, the fact you can no longer listen to the radio either would be the more irritating reason to swap it out

Thanks Ron. Last radio I took out of a vehicle had two knobs with nuts underneath lol. How does it come out? To avoid rewiring I suppose I would have to get another '99 Ranger or Ford radio of the same type (AM FM casette with CD above). And hope it works OK.

 

[PaulZ]

Looks like I have this fixed. A little embarrassed to admit it but for the good of mankind:

I was under the hood the other day for something else and noticed the positive 'fix-it' battery cable adapters was corroded. This picture is after I cleaned it. These were on the truck when I bought it a couple years ago, along with a new battery. Anyway so after cleaning, the radio has been working fine. And after I bought the little tool to remove the radio. At least I never got a chance to use them.

It seems odd to me though that the only manifestation of this was the radio. Still started and everything else was working fine afaik. There are two big cables, maybe one goes to the radio lol.

I've gone to side post batteries on most everything but I'll suffer along with this setup as long as the battery lasts.

Thanks again guys.

 

[PaulZ]

Well after working for a few months, my radio has gone flakey again, guess it wasn't the battery cable. So with it not working today, I pulled it and check the 3 power wires and ground, all good. Must be the radio. Got on ebay with the part number XL2F-18C868-BB, there are many radios that look the same (am fm casette cd) but with slightly different part numbers. At least one ad says they interchange with my number. True? I don't want to deal with changing the plug.

Mostly I just miss the clock..

 

[rumblecloud]

Just went through a similar issue and was pointed to Crutchfield
They offer different wiring set-ups that plug into your existing stock wiring which can then be wired to the new units wiring set-up. Comes with complete directions, online and phone customer service should you run into a problem.

The unit I ordered will arrive here on Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, check them out and see what you think. I was surprised that the unit I got includes all the latest features (hands free, CD, USB, remote, removable fase, etc), The price was the same as the local Best Buy and it looks kinda stock --- and it has a clock

 

[superj]

i just bought the wiring adapter from walmart and put an old sony xplode that was in the garage into the truck. rock and roll is back on the radio

 

[Ranger850]

i just bought the wiring adapter from walmart and put an old sony xplode that was in the garage into the truck. rock and roll is back on the radio

Awe man, those Sony Explodes were the shizznit when they first came out. My buddy had a Panasonic Flip Face that fried. He replaced it with an Explode ( his 1st SONY CD player ) and was surprised at how well it performed. He basically eliminated his EQ and Crossover with that one unit.

 

[RainjerBill]

Pardon for dredging up an old post, but it relates to my issue...

The factory stereo/cassette unit in my 1998 Ranger XLT suddenly stopped working. The clock stayed lit and was accurate, but no other functions on the radio worked. I didn't diagnose anything at the time, just bought a new aftermarket unit as well as four upgraded speakers from Crutchfield, with overall better sound and more "modern features" to which we've grown accustomed. It came with an adaptor plug for the speaker connections, as well as the stereo unit's power requirements.

Fast forward a coupla months, all was well, fully rocking down the road. Now the Crutchfield unit has stopped working, meaning no functions, but again, an accurate clock. Otherwise, just like the factory unit, it is stone cold dead. No other changes were made. The plug at the back is secure, no corrosion evident.

The unit is receiving a constant 12V as indicated by the clock functioning. Any hints as to where I might find a power supply issue, like a separate fuse I might be missing?

TIA

 

[ekrampitzjr]

You're likely to find a small cylindrical glass fuse on the radio circuit board if you take the radio apart. This is for Ford factory and aftermarket alike. That type of fuse likes to fail in such a way that one end of the wire inside the glass comes loose so that it keeps making intermittent contact and allowing things to work off and on. Unfortunately, you might also find that the fuse is soldered in place and you would have to melt the solder to remove the bad fuse. The glass will still be clear if the fuse failed in this way.

If the glass is cloudy inside and you can't clearly see the wire, then the fuse did blow from too-high current.