Electrical (sound) troubleshooting

[lparsons]

The stereo on my 95GT just stopped making sound this week. The unit itself seems to work fine, but no sound comes out.
I suspected maybe a blown fuse caused by a short, but I just checked all my fuses and they're all fine.
No sound is coming out anywhere at any volume. The deck itself is responsive as normal. Its a 4speaker setup so I doubt I managed to blow all my speakers simultaneously - especially since I was listening to the news at the time when the sound stopped.

Any ideas what I should check for next?

 

[1TallMF]

Even the 4-speaker system has an amp, and if it goes tits-up, you will get no sound from the speakers. I think for the non-mach systems, the amp is in behind the dash. Might want to make sure the ground cable didn't come loose or anything, but the unit itself might have fried somehow.

 

[lparsons]

Well, thats news to me. I didn't think that a basic sound system would have a factory amp. You say its behind the dash - which side of the car is it on? I was just crawling under the driver's side checking fuses, so I suspect you mean its over on the passenger side. How big is it?
Could you explain what it looks like (or better yet point me to a picture of it)?
thanks

 

[1TallMF]

I haven't bothered to look at mine, but I've been told its in the area behind the actual radio bezel. But thats earsay. Don't take my word for it. I am however 100% sure that there is an amp, I've got the same 4-speaker basic system, and found out the hard way. I was installing my kenwood deck and went with what the instructions said and didn't connect the 12V wire for the amp turn-on (blue or purple, I forget). There was no sound whatsoever even though the deck seemed to be working fine. Connected the amp wire and everything worked fine.

 

[lparsons]

Hey man I didn't mean to imply that I don't believe you. I just didn't expect a factory amp. But then again my last car before this one was a 78 mustang II, which had a factory 8track, and two 5.25" speakers in the doors.
I understand sound systems are a little more complicated now...

 

[lparsons]

Searching around google for information got me this response:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i... preferred to listed to my engine, anyways :)

 

[xkuntrycowboyx]

the amp is mounted to the tranny tunnel basically, right behind the stereo bezel it like 5'' x 5'' ...you might try pulling the radio and lookng to the right back in behind there... there should be two connectors or where harnesses connect... on black and one gray, make sure one didn't get unplugged somehow. i think the grey one is the one with all the speaker wires,a dn the black one holds all the power to the radio and what not... you're amp might not neccessarily be bad. also if those are connecte... check the conections on the amp make sure there's no open ended plugs back there not pluged in. the amp, in hard to get to spot at the back side. towards the firewall of the car should have two plugs going into it, oneone right and one on left. check all those connections before you do anything

 

[xkuntrycowboyx]

Center Bezel Removed PICin this pic it would be back in the dash straight in front of the shifter on the floor... middle.... if that all makes sense.

 

[xkuntrycowboyx]

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1504786033081307191uxZMNs


or try that link

 

[lparsons]

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1504786033081307191uxZMNs


or try that link

Thanks for the pic! Looks like I'll be pulling out the ol' Haynes manual when I get home to start tearing all that apart.
I haven't pulled the stereo out of this car before - based on your picture it looks like the center console and the center bezel both need to come out. Is that correct? Or can I leave the center console in and just pull the bezel?

 

[xkuntrycowboyx]

pull the plastic around the shifter, it pops out. then you need ford radio keys, to get the stock radio out pull it. there's a support of the center console to the front of the car held by a screw, remove the screw, and the entire bezel will pull out, it's held by clips. not a hard job.
no, center console stays.
if the amp is bad take it out, put in an aftermarket deck, bypass the amp, and you'll get better sound anyways

 

[Nagash01WS6]

pull the plastic around the shifter, it pops out. then you need ford radio keys, to get the stock radio out pull it. there's a support of the center console to the front of the car held by a screw, remove the screw, and the entire bezel will pull out, it's held by clips. not a hard job.
no, center console stays.
if the amp is bad take it out, put in an aftermarket deck, bypass the amp, and you'll get better sound anyways

Yep... I removed mine because of the excess wiring in there that was useless.

It sits on the trans tunnel, directly in front of the ABS unit. There are a couple screws on the sides of the dash that hold it in. The power for it comes out from under the dash, little two wire connector.

 

[lparsons]

Here's an interesting follow-up problem that I suspect is related.

My wife and I just returned from visiting friends & family over the holiday week. Our cars were parked at home the entire time while we were gone (we flew). When I returned, my battery was dead. Absolutely, 100% dead. No power anything. I then cleaned off the terminals and proceeded to jump my car from my wife's car - a slow process as her car is a 1.8T VW Jetta.

However, I noticed something odd when I went into my car to check and see how it was going - I have sound again. I hadn't had any sound from my stereo in over a month, and suddenly after the battery drained to zilch, I have sound again.

I suspect that these are related problems, and that I ought to yank the factory amp soon. I envision a situation where the factory amp somehow rose from the dead and proceeded to drain the battery over the course of the week. Does this sound plausible? I checked and none of my lights were left on, nor did my oddly dysfunctional power driver's seat do anything dysfunctional. I can't think of any other good explanations for the dead battery.

 

[lparsons]

In the unlikely event that anyone is watching this thread, it appears that my electrical problems were all rooted in the battery cables in my car. Not sure why such obscenely cheap and flimsy cables were used in this car when I bought it (were the OEM ones cheap and lousy?) but when I cut the ends off and bought better connectors for them, then reconnected to the new battery, life returned to normal.

 

[The Green GT]

Well, thats news to me. I didn't think that a basic sound system would have a factory amp. You say its behind the dash - which side of the car is it on? I was just crawling under the driver's side checking fuses, so I suspect you mean its over on the passenger side. How big is it?
Could you explain what it looks like (or better yet point me to a picture of it)?
thanks

Its on the floor under the radio. Right infront of the shifter.

 

[markandjay]

sometimes an amp can lose current or ground and freeze up ??? I don't understand but I have saved folks tons of money that anyone else around here would have stolen from them. I have seen alpine, mtx, coustic, and factory unit amps quit for no reason. First thing you do if this ever happens is to take the wiring off the amp let the amp sit about ten minutes then dishcharge positive ground and remote into each other with little jumpers remove jumpers reinstall. also good for buying a nice amp cheap for parts that does not smell and just "quit working"