2000 Ranger XLT Radio loses reception after about 20 minutes then fades, CD Player always works

[BillRod]

Hi All

Wife's 2000 Ranger XLT, bought in 2018.
Aftermarket older Sony AM/FM/CD player.
The last year or so the radio will only last about 20 minutes then it will lose reception and fade, kinda like driving in the mountains and losing signal reception.
However this happens every time she drives it, It is a time thing not a location thing.

My F-150 has a very similar Sony so I swapped them and the issues stayed in the Ranger, it never moved to my F-150.
When the radio fades we can switch to playing CD's without issue.
The next time she gets in the radio works great but again only for about 20 minutes, as if it is a heat related issue.
Since the CD player will work regardless of anything it seems like it's maybe not the speakers.
Since it works great each time she gets in the truck it does not seem like it would be the antenna.

Anyone have any similar issues or thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Bill

 

[drew1]

Had an similar issue in 2000 Ranger that I bought new. In 4 or 4 years the radio CD would get warm on a long trip, listening to CDs. Worked but warm and warmer. In a year or two found factory radio CD player was killing battery overnight and removed. That fixed draining the battery, so tells me it was internal to factory radio.

But there is plenty of wiring and components behind the dash that go bad. Last month this 2000 Ranger came back to me. Guages don't half work, 4wd won't engage etc. I think it is something behind the dash.