schadenfreude

Hi all,

I seem to only be getting sound out the rear left speaker of my 951. If I remove the storage compartment underneath the radio, and push the plug that goes into the back of the head unit, into the head unit really hard, then sounds start coming out the other speakers. By rotating those 2-pin speaker plugs I have checked that all speakers work.

The problem is, I can't seem to pull my stereo out so that I can get a closer look at this troublesome plug. I've searched the archives, read FAQs etc. and the best I can find is that you need some bits of metal (like coathanger wire) to shove into those 4 holes around the outside. So several times I've shoved coathangers and skewers etc. into the holes as hard as I can so that they will go as far as they will go, but the stereo still doesn't want to come free.

Is there something I've missed / I'm doing wrong here?

Devia

Have you checked the archives? How about www.clarks-garage.com ?

Sorry, don't remember, mine was just sitting loose in the bracket, not connected to anything.

- Julie

Bhj0887

Sorry for jacking but I just put my Pioneer head unit in and it still gets power even after the key is out. Which wire should I splice to change this?

Flight_951

I only watched as my original blaupunkt was replaced with a new one. The installer inserts a U shaped tool, each end into one hole. Then he squeezes the ends of the tool together to pull the unit out. It seemed pretty straight forward. HTH

Antonio951

i had the same problem so i took mine to a guy at best buy and he had those coat hangers and at the tips of them it looked like it had tiny little hooks. They most likely wont charge you just to pull the unit out.

Bryan Welch

I had a similar problem with my 91 stereo. Cleaning the plugs fixed it, but of course I'd already removed and replaced the stereo and EQ at that point.

Anyone interested in an OEM 1991 stereo with separate EQ and cd changer? I think it's a "Lexington" and it's all just sitting in a closet right now.

MartinT

I used the U shaped tools. I picked them up from a regular large auto parts store in the UK when I lived there.

88BlueTSiQuest

Just go to an autoparts store and look in the 'Stereo department' there. You are looking for some Ford radio extraction tools.

Mouthpiece

I got my removal tool from Crutchfield. Before that I used 4 (one for each hole) six penny finishing nails. I think that a coat hanger is too thick.

Terry

sweanders

You can use pretty much anything that fits in the holes to get the stereo out. It's a tab at the end of every hole that you need to lift. Do one side at the time and and it should be fine. It's a lot easier with the proper tool though.

AndyK

Circuit city sells them (I think). DIN tools are used in most every foreign car (and Fords) to remove the radios. You jam them into the holes, and they lift the tabs on the radio mount, which releases the radio.

schadenfreude

Cool, thanks for all your help guys! I'll try and find one of these tools...

AndyK

You need TWO DIN tools to get the radio out...they usually come in a set anyway.

schadenfreude

err yeah that's what I meant

schadenfreude

Epilogue:
------------

Well, I went around to all the local auto / car sound stores, and they all denied having these extraction tools for my radio (but I had the feeling they would suddenly find them if I bought a new head unit from them).

So I had another attempt with the coathangers and with a bit of brute force from behind, managed to free the old Blaupunkt Hollywood from its cradle. After careful inspection of the head unit with a multimeter, it was confirmed that the old stereo was only outputting a signal to one speaker (and a weak one at that) even when there was definitely 12v being supplied. Pushing the socket harder into the circuit board seemed to improve things a little, but this was hardly a viable solution. Opened up the case but couldn't see anything obviously wrong. It was pretty obvious though that from the way the harness had been cut up that this had been thrown in by the previous owner (or PPO) just before the sale.

So I'm now the proud new owner of a Sony CDX-MP50, and after a bit of stripping, twisting and taping, now have sound through all 4 speakers!