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I've reviewed the existing radio threads but didn't see something that matched my particular situation so wanted to ask a specific question.
I inherited my grandfather's 96 XJ6 that he bought new. It has over 130k miles and is running great. I am having a challenge with the factory radio, however, where it will just work sporadically. Occasionally, I'll turn the radio on and it will play fine for a bit and then will gradually get quieter before going completely silent. Once it does this, it stays silent whether I am trying to play the radio or from my phone via the cassette adapter. I do hear static from the speakers if I turn them up and the face of the radio remains active. It is a non-premium sound car.
Has anyone encountered this issue before? Just wondering if there is anything simple that I am missing or the radio has gone bad and needs to be replaced.
Curt,
I had something very similar, where I would be driving along and the sound died completely and the Aerial retracted, only to power up again after some random delay. The display and the lights on the head unit always remained on. I should point out that my car has the premium sound system, so the speakers are connected to an amplifier in the boot, which is different from your system, where the speakers are connected directly to the head unit.
After some googling, pouring over the wiring diagram, and testing of the amp, I determined that the fault had to lie within the head unit, as the amp and the aerial had power and ground, and it was the removal of the "on" signal from the head unit which was the issue. Upon removing and opening up the head unit I found a component which I believe to be a transistor with a dedicated heat sink attachment (sorry , no photo) which I could touch causing the fault to manifest itself immediately as i wiggled it. Despite my attempts to resolder the connections, not my strong suit, the problem stayed the same. In the end I provided an ignition switched supply to the amp and aerial signal wire, and all is well, although it means they are always on when the car is running ( i can switch the head unit on and off normally, so this isnt an issue).
Sorry to be long winded, but you might have the same problem but only affecting your aerial, which would explain the quieter sound and crackling, if it has retracted but the head unit remains on....
96 XJ6 Intermittent Radio
