Audio Systems: Ford Factory Radio, ford explorer sport trac, ford stereos

Question
I have a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac with 114,000 miles. It had the original 6cd (Changer) am/fm radio. The radio tuner will not hold onto a station. It will play for a moment or two and then it will start to scan upwards never stopping on a station. When the car and weather is cold it wont hold a station at all just scan, when the car gets warm it may hold the station for up to five minutes but then it scans. If you put a CD in and try to bypass the tuner it scans through the tracks and never plays any track. Here is the kicker, I replaced it with a factory radio from a 2000 ranger,(AM/FM single cd)same problems. Its driving me nuts. What do you think?

Answer
Barry,
If this vehicle has steering wheel controls the wheel control may be the cause. If you don't have redundant controls it may just be a coincidence that the new stereo has the same problem. Lastly. does your vehicle have back seat controls, if so that could be the cause of the problem. I have repaired a few late model Ford stereos that had defective key pads and they caused all kinds of strange problems.

TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net