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Topic: Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit? (Read 2626 times) previous topic - next topic

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Here's the basic story:

When I put my bird away for the winter back in october-ish, my CD player (a Sony Xplod one I've had for about 3 years) was working fine.

Over the past couple weeks I've been kinda tearing into the dash, pulled out the gauge cluster etc. Just last week or so, I was doing something which involved having the key in the "accessory" position, and it dawned on me that the CD player had not come on. I pulled it out of the dash and looked at the wiring, and everything seemed to be in order...so I removed the face to see if there was something wrong with the connection there, and put it back on. It flickered on for a split second, spat out the CD that was in the player, and now I can't get any signs of life out of it whatsoever. I plan to check the wiring to see if there's any shorts, but I can't figure out what could have happened. Where I spliced the adapter harness into the CD player harness, I ziptied all the wires together to prevent any of them from getting messed up, and I've NEVER had a problem with it before.

I'm actually wondering if maybe my CD player finally bit the dust, I was having some problems with it here and there last summer where the display would just go off for no reason and come back on.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #1
Have you tried hooking it up to a separate power source, like a battery or something, to see if it will come on then?
93 Festiva L, 193k miles, BP+T/G25MR swap, T3 50trim .48/.42, SRT FMIC, Capri electronics/Rocketchip, 2.5" exhaust
bests: ET 12.86, MPH 110.25, 1.92 short
02 Subaru Impreza WRX, 129k miles
97 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport, 236k miles

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #2
Quote from: bhazard;124346
Have you tried hooking it up to a separate power source, like a battery or something, to see if it will come on then?


Same recommendation. A spare computer power supply works great, just short one wire in the 20/24 pin atx plug to ground to power it on and you have a cheap 12v psu (will be more like 10.5v without a load on 5v, but whatever).
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #3
Sounds kinda like you are haveing the same problem with the screen. Or it could be in the wiring. I think it is sony the makes there radios where the display/unit won't come on unless both power wires are hooked up. This could be you problem. Also maybe the battery is under the minimum voltage that the unit will let it turn on with.
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
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Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #4
No, haven't tried that...guess I'll have to try that sometime. I'll just try wiring it to the battery or something.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #5
Most aftermarket headunits have a fuse on the back side. Check to see if you have one and whether or not it's blown.
Temporarily Foxless? Ride the Bull...

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #6
Fuse is good, that was the first thing I checked.

Besides, I knew the fuse wasn't the culprit when it had its little flicker of power there, unless the fuse blew at that moment but I don't think so.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #7
Well, I found my problem. Apparently the factory ground in the stereo harness, which I've used ever since I put a CD player in the car, decided it didn't want to ground anymore :dunno: I hooked the CD player ground to one of the pieces of metal in the dash and voila, it works again.

Odd.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #8
I'm pretty sure when I installed my first deck (which my gf/ex-gf Ashlie still has) into my fox LTD I had to screw a self-tapper into the floorboard to get a good ground.

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #9
stupid common ground..

yeah, that too happened to me.. watch out your main power will go next man.. im runnin a new ground from the dash braces.. and memory directly from the battery and the power on is still working through the ignition.

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #10
Well if the power goes out, no big deal... I could probably tap off some of my gauge wiring for that since I kinda went overkill on that stuff anyway.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

 

Hmm, can anyone help me figure out what happened to my head unit?

Reply #11
Yeah that factory ground is a royal B*tch. And if you arc that thing it'll pop basically all of the fuses in the fuse box, it happened.
"Real cars dont power the front wheels, they lift them"
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1984 Mercury Cougar GS 5.0:cougarsmily: BBK Equal Length Shorties, BBK O/R X-Pipe, Magnaflow Magnapacks, Mustang GT Stainless Tailpipes, 18" Magnaflow Rolled Edge Tips. Turbo Coupe Hood, Mach 1 Chin Spoiler. 17"x9" Cobra R's, Falken Ziex 255/50s, and 245/45s.
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