1991 Radio malfunction

Appears all the time after car is started. Will not turn off while car is running. All controls / buttons do nothing. CD player was removed prior to this happening. Antennae is disconnected in the trunk because it would extend every time car is started and only retract when car is turned off. It's all lit up (sic) but doesn't function. Cap failure?? I don't usually listen to the radio but use the cig lighter as a charge point for the cell phone.

That's FUBAR. Time for a new head unit.

DocL said:

That's FUBAR. Time for a new head unit.

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Haha - FUBAR - haven't heard that in awhile - yea, radio is a SNAFU unit.

Wilmans electronics does a nice retro fit. http://www.willmanselectronics.com/

^^^ What Brian said. Get your checkbook out.

^^^^^^
What Brian and Wavey1 said. Checkbook time, but they do an AWESOME job on the retrofit, and you get all the latest Bluetooth features.

DocL said:

That's FUBAR. Time for a new head unit.

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To paraphrase DocL, it may only be FU and not a complete FUBAR :smile:. If you are going to consider the Williams option, the head unit is coming out of the dash so it would not hurt pull it apart and do the capacitor check and look for damaged circuit board traces. There is a thread on Prime about 6 to 12 months old describing taking a non functioning head unit apart and repairing the traces and replacing failed capacitors.

My head unit just started sounding like no volume and static and only shows am and fm as source. I did talk to Darrel at Williams and it sounds like a sound plan.

I have one I took out of my 1992 8 years ago. resionable offer its yours.

Thanks for the offer. Do you think there is any concern for the radios just going bad due to time? I don't drive this car more then 100 miles a year and I had to replace all the amps now the radio. Do you think your radio could had gone bad while on the shelf? Thoughts?

IASM said:

Thanks for the offer. Do you think there is any concern for the radios just going bad due to time? I don't drive this car more then 100 miles a year and I had to replace all the amps now the radio. Do you think your radio could had gone bad while on the shelf? Thoughts?

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It certainly could have - at the shop where I work it is becoming more common to take electronic control modules purchased from the OEM out of the box, code them to the car, and find them faulty. An even worse problem is that some of the OEMs didn't even bother to keep the software for their modules. This will be a real problem for the restoration of cars from the eighties and beyond. If you are interested in reading more about this, Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car had an article in a recent issue.

You may also want to take a look at these guys:

http://www.carstereohelp.com/

For a few folks I have sent them to him after getting a reference, spoke with them, and they do good restoration. Pricing is about $200-300 for a restoration.

HTH,
LarryB

do they restore them to work like the original?

Larry Bastanza said:

You may also want to take a look at these guys:

http://www.carstereohelp.com/

For a few folks I have sent them to him after getting a reference, spoke with them, and they do good restoration. Pricing is about $200-300 for a restoration.

HTH,
LarryB

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nis350 said:

do they restore them to work like the original?

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If it starts out original, it will be restored as original.

I've had similar experiences with my '94 Miata OEM Pioneer Sensory Surround System (MSSS). Sent it off to a place in Virginia, but parts no longer available. If the circuit boards were damaged by the leaky capacitors, supposedly there's no fix if the board is no longer available. Are we saying carstereohelp can fix even NSX (and others) head units thusly damaged?

And very, very late to this thread: is it even remotely possible that the OP can remove power to the head unit completely (not just turn the ignition switch to off), say, by removing the fuse or disconnecting the battery, to jump-start the radio back to life? (Really a total shot uneducated in the dark.)

Update
I sent my unit in to Williams for the upgrade and should be done early September. He did indicate that parts for the conversion could get scarce and he didn't have a secondary plan. I did buy a radio removed by a fellow enthusiast but only the cd portion functioned and poorly at that but it does make sound so it will serve for the month I need it. It did work fine when he removed it so there is concern that these things will go bad just sitting on the shelf.
I did pull power prior to removal to se if it would work but no go. Williams did test and indicated a no sound condition.
Will update after new install with thoughts.

Installed today and it sounds as good or better then new. Blue tooth connected to my phone and read a usb drive not problem. Picks up radio stations good. I put the usb connection in the ash tray. It is a good solution to give a stock look while providing the latest interface. Even the screen color matches.

Welcome to the Willmans conversion club. It's so nice to have the modern conveniences while driving our near-antiques.

IASM said:

Installed today and it sounds as good or better then new. Blue tooth connected to my phone and read a usb drive not problem. Picks up radio stations good. I put the usb connection in the ash tray. It is a good solution to give a stock look while providing the latest interface. Even the screen color matches.

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Do you have a picture of the new screen? When I look at the website all I see is one that doesn't match.

I have been in analysis paralysis on what to do since my stopped turning on last year... I don't want to lose the original look, but it sucks not having a radio.... My preferred path would be to find a hidden solution that operates via an App. I know there are some that exist, but I haven't found a fully functional radio with AM/FM/XM. I am starting to come around to the Williams solution.

I tried to take a picture but the screen just shows all orange. I will try to take a picture in the daylight.