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Need Help With Kenwood Car Stereo

posted 11 years ago by LucyShow
4 replies | jump to latest

I have a Kenwood CD player in my car that was already installed when I purchased the car in 2008. It is installed in such a way that the original radio was completely taken out and the CD player was put in its' place...and original owner failed to provide the original radio with the car. The CD player worked perfectly for many years without any issues whatsoever. However, starting about a year ago, I noticed that without reason, the whole system would just shut off. It would go completely blank, so you couldn't revive it by pushing the power button. Taking the face plate off and putting it back wouldn't help either. Now, it does this on such a regular basis that I spend more time in silence than I do hearing music. When this happens, it has a mind of its' own. It always comes back on, eventually. It happens at random and comes back on at random. It happens when it's hot outside and when it's cold. Though it's happened both day and night, it almost always happens in the day time and hardly ever at night. I've noticed since the weather has gotten warmer that it has been happening more frequently. This could be due to the heat or simply because the problem is getting worse. Also, every time it happens, it completely erases my the correct time on my clock and all of my programmed radio stations. I have have to reset them every time.

I really don't understand what could be wrong as it has no rhyme or reason to what it does and doesn't follow any sort of pattern. It couldn't be a faulty installation as like I said, it worked perfectly for some 6 years plus. Any ideas as to what could be wrong or what I can do to fix it? It is my only outlet to listen to music as there is no other radio in the car.

[–] NothingButTheBest 11 years ago

Might be down to dodgy wiring somewhere. If the radio is losing its memory it might be that it's losing its' power source. Do you have or do you know someone with a multimeter who can check the connections at the back of the stereo? If it's getting power whilst the radio wont switch on, it's most likely the radio is faulty.

Another issue might be a bad earth but this is unlikely if it's never been played with.

The world is your lobster.

[–] LucyShow 11 years ago

Thank you for the insight. I currently know noone who knows anything about car stereos but I suppose I could browse around to see if any auto shops could check my connections. It does almost behave like there is a short somewhere but what I don't understand is why is the pattern so random.

[–] NothingButTheBest 11 years ago

It might be due to damp or a cut in a wire etc. I had a similar issue once which caused my radio and headlights to stop working randomly, it was because the fuse box had got damp somehow. But yes I'm sure you can find someone who can check it out for you. If all your connections are good you'll know if it's the stereo for sure.

The world is your lobster.

[–] LucyShow 11 years ago

Thanks a bunch! I know literally nothing about stereos so thank you for giving me a general idea of what might be wrong. Hopefully, it can be saved because I have looked around a what they cost new and wow, even though people say that CD's are obsolete, CD players still cost as much now as they did 20 years ago.