fezz

driving down the road and all of a sudden the alpine starts to cut out, then no more sound - both radio and cd. The unit is powered, everything operates, face opens and closes, accepts and rejects the cd - just no sound. if i hit a few bumps it sound is back then out again. Where is the loose connection??
what do i have to remove to get at it. when the sounds comes back - all speakers are working.

Cyrus951

Your speaker wires/harness are loose.
Pull the deck out and check for problems.
Alpine tech support can also help.

Techno Duck

Take the radio out and check all the speaker wire connections. I had a similar problem but it was due to a bad wiring job on my part, one of the four speakers stopped working. Not sure why all would stop at once other than a problem with the headunit internally or a loose wiring bundle. How old is the deck you are using?

fezz

checking it now, thanks

PCMAX

I have exactly the same problem with my CD/Radio. It cuts out at random, stays off for about 3-4 seconds, and then comes back on. It will do it whether I'm on a rough or smooth road.
Please let me know what you find when you pull your radio out.

fezz

ok, i can see this is going to be fustrating - p-car with no radio

the radio has been flawless for the last 13 months.
the car has been in the shop for two days - i have no reason to believe anything happed there - the guys are first rate. timing belt re-tension, brake hoses, full bleed, and re-attach one wire on transaxle for back-up lights. nothing to do with the radio.
when i picked up the car, i drove away with the radio playing for about a mile - then it sputtered and went intermittent - now it is basically out.

i just finished pulling the radio and checking out the harness connections. the alpine harness is spliced into the car harness - each wire is spliced and wrapped with tape - they all looked tight.
the power splices all look fine - i never had AM reception - i see the little black wire running with the antenna is connected back into the car harness, but not sure to what.

i tried it again - when i first turned it on - heard static for a few seconds - then it went out. I jiggled all the wires with the unit on - nothing.
where else can connections be loose?
assuming the connections between the alpine harness and car harness are good - where are the other points between the unit and speakers to check?
do i need to check for current at the speakers?
do i need to pull new wire?
will one speaker out make them all out?
what am i missing?

fezz

update:
need some help with what these wire bundles are.

Factory Manual says I should have:
1= Positive (+) and ground (-) wired via ignition
2= Constant Positive (30)
3= Antenna Connection
4= Antenna Amplifier
5 and 6 = Channel Left, Channel Right

This is what I have for a car harness and How it is hooked up:

1= 3-wire group - NOT USED
red/white
red/black
brown

2= 2-wire group - NOT USED
2 small red/black

Battery Power to Radio via small red/white from car harness
Ignition Power to Radio via 2 green/brown from car harness
Ground to Radio and Antenna Booster via 2 fat brown from car harness (is this why I have no AM?)

Left and right channels from harness are correctly wired to radio

What is the regulator shown on the wiring diagram that switches the positive lead to the speakers?

Radio powers fine except no AM
and now of course no sound
what do I have to do next?

fezz

i've been studying the wiring diagram
most of this is wired right

the antenna amplifier is wrong - it is currently connected to the ground
either the available red/black or red/white will have 12v - i will check in the morning
i will also check the speaker channels from the harness splice

i still dont know - and can anyone help with the switched positive speaker leads and just what the "regulator" is?

edit - the regulator is the fader switch - which i am not currently using.

i think it is the unit - i wish i had a test unit

fezz

update
car power and speaker wiring is fine
99% sure amplifier inside the alpine unit is fried, especiallly since it fizzed and buzzed as it died.
i checked the speaker wiring with a battery, like i found in the searched threads, neat little trick.

alpine unit blew amp after almost 4-years, why?? heat - especially in that spot.
all-in-all i'm kinda glad it happened - i can hook up the antenna amp properly now - it was wired to the grounds
it should be hooked up to the power antenna wire on the receiver where it will get switched 12v.

until i decide what receiver i want, i will be rockin with a portable player and headphones.

iloveporsches

I believe that is illegal.

Techno Duck

fezz, if the headunit is fried, take the oportunity to buy another deck and clean up the wiring. The previous owner of my car really hacked the **** out of the wire harnes. It took me about an hour of peeling a ton of electrical tape off the wires, retaping them neatly and then using crimp caps.

theedge

Get another Alpine

fezz

duck,
no doubt, there is some clean up to do. the good thing is that all the splices are soldered, the bad thing is that the wires are tangled up a bit.

edge,

but the silly thing is I just might

as for the headset

fezz

i still have problems
i thought the old alpine blew its amp, everything behind the headunit checked out fine when i tested it. so i have a new alpine unit as a replacement and put it in.

it powered up fine and i have sound - as soon as i started driving and car bounced around - just moving down the driveway - the sound started cutting in and out. WTF????

this all started when i left the shop last week - is it possible that the hookup for the reverse lights on the tranny has anything to do with shorting out the speakers - the lights were not working and one of the wires on the tranny was not connected - this is the only thing electrical that was done at the shop.

otherwise, is this some other loose speaker connection? my left rear speaker does not appear to be working. do i have to rewire these speakers???
help

fezz

found short

as i was opening and closing door, latch contact would make speaker sound. So, i started pushing on rear left speaker - thats where the loose wire is - its grounding out against the body.

i guess it get to try popping out the side window now - what fun

i dont know why it didnt do that earlier - guess the backup light thing was way wrong. but, who knows what the PO did.