QuestionAfter starting my car one day last month, the front top interior lights would not go off. I thought i had a door open but after checking every door and opening and reclosing 10 times, still the lights would not go off. Finally, the lights went out then a few hours later the radio just turned off and stopped working. Also my factory remote starter that is controlled by the push of a button on my key ring would not start the car either. (I had that same problem with the remote starter repaired a year and 4 months ago. 5 seconds after hitting the remote start button the car would attempt to start but never was able. It just cranked over a few times. They ended up fixing that problem with the factory remote start and it was covered under my extended warranty but not after a lot of bitching.)
Back to my problem/question- Two weeks later without a radio to listen to and after checking the fuse box below the steering wheel and noticing that the 25 amp fuse was blown, I went to Pep Boys Auto store to buy a replacement fuse thinking I would resolve the problem. To my disappointment, as soon as I tried to stick a new 25 amp fuse in the slot, it popped and blew immediately. I tried this 3 more times and all the fuses kept blowing. At this point I figured I would bring it to the dealer for diagnosing and with the hopes that my extended warranty would cover any possible problem.
I dropped the car off and after waiting a day, I called to ask them what the problem was. They advised me that it was a "dead short in the rear subwoofer". and to call my extended coverage insurance company to see if this is coverend under my policy before they would commence any work.
Of course after spending a half hour reading all the fine print and exclusions etc. etc. in the extended policy , it stated that speakers are not under warranty. My question is this- Can a "supposedly" dead short in a rear subwoofer of a 2002 lincoln navigator cause the whole factory stereo receiver and 6 disk cd player that is in the center console not to work at all. There is absolutely no indication of power and nothing turns on.
Any insight would be well appreciated. Sorry for such a long winded question but i wanted to give as much info as possible in order to help diagnose the problem accurately.
AnswerHi Robert,
Unfortunately, the bad news is, yes, a short in a subwoofer can kill the deck. Especially if it's a factory deck, and any subwoofer amplification is done in the deck, or if it's a self-powered subwoofer. Many decks have a circuit fault interrupter that will detect that there is too low (or no) impedance across the terminals, and disable the output, but others don't have that, and as a result, too much current passes through, returns to the deck, and fries it.
For what it's worth, based on the cost you'll likely be looking at for replacing the deck and/or factory subwoofer, you'll probably pay less for far better stuff if you replace with aftermarket.
Good luck,
Justin
