Questionusually when it's out, it's as soon as i turn it on. but sometimes i can be driving and it plays fine, and when i park and turn the ignition to the acc position the sound goes. the amp still works and i get bass from the sub, but the door speakers stop playing. i wonder if maybe the internal amplifier in the head unit is bad.
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it's a 2001 chevy tahoe LT. it has onstar but it's not a bose system. one other thing sometimes when i turn the ignition off i hear a faint click coming from the dash and then the sound on the front speakers go out.
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I saw this question online and wondered if maybe you responded anymore in depth to this. I have an Alpine 9851 and have a similar problem. I don't lose power, but sometimes there's no sound coming from my speakers. I have an amp on a sub in the back, and it plays, but the other speakers don't. I can turn my truck off, wait a while, turn it on and everything is fine.
Expert: Mark Lampi
Date: 7/6/2006
Subject: Electical Car Stereo Problem
Question
I installed a new Alpine stereo deck and the new Harmon Kardon IPOD connector/display into my car. Everything was working fine for a while and then I started having problems with my car ignition. I hooked the Harmon Kardon component directly into my car's ignition for power (this was one of the recommended ways to set it up). It doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes (a lot more frequently now) when I try to start the car, all my power goes dead in the car. I open and close the door firmly and the power comes back on. Sometimes I have to do this several times for the car to finally start. When the power goes out, everything electrical resets in my car like the clock, radio presets etc... Do you know how I can rectify this situation on my own? Thanks for the help.
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I'd say either you have a factory amp on those speakers that has a bad connection or something, or theres a speaker wire that's grounding against the car which is causing the amplifier in your head unit to turn itself off maybe? Not quite sure yet. Tell me your year/make/model of the vehicle and I'll see if it was available with an amplifier. do you see the infinity or bose written anywhere on the old radio or on the speaker grills? that's a good clue as well.
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the click is probably just a relay. there's always a bunch of them in all cars and they click on and off with diferent key posistions or functions. same clicking your turn signals probably make, if not similar right?
Doesnt look like the tahoe had premium sound options so you're ok there.
does the sound always play at first and then go out sometime later, or does it not work right from the time you turn the key on?
Answerweird. If the amp in the head unit was bad it pretty much would either work or not work, I cant imaging it being flakey like that. what may be happening is that the contacts in the key switch are drirty or worn and when you move from one position to the other powere momenrarilly stops. so basically as you turn the key instead of the power going from 0 volts to 12 volts (off to on) it flutters from 0 to 12 back to 0 back to 12 as you move from position to position. this spiking may cause the cd player's internal amplifier to shut itself off because of the load it may cause.
you may actually be able to fix this with a capacitor. it would filter the spikes a little. you dont need a huge one like what goes on the amplifiers. I have a feeling (I may be wrong here so its up to you) but I have a feeling that if you put maybe 2 of these:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102508
across the red and black lines going to your cd player, it may help the problem IF its what im thinking. Personally I'd like to see at least 10,000 uf of capacitance. and 2 of these gets close, you can try 3 if you want, They're only 5 bucks each. too bad radioshack only has these in 35 volt cuz if you could find them in 20 volt they'd be higher uf. in the same size package.
ANYWAY. if my hunch is right, that your key is dirty and worn, this will help to a certain degree to filter the spikey behavior that's occuring. hopefully the load of charging them wont blow the fuse for the radio. that'll be the next thing. I wish I had a solid answer for you, but if you want, give it a try, I'm curious here.
About that click that you hear from the dash, is it only once in a while? or is it every time you turn the key?
again, sorry this is draging out into so many question and answer sessions but frankly you've got me a little stumped. which for me is kinda nice cuz usually I get mind numbing questions all the time, so dont thing you're bothering me, you're challenging me which is great!
