Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
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Joined: Oct 2001
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
Ok here is a tough one for you Ford vet's! J/K! I have a 95 F150. The radio works but not any of the buttons! You can listen to the radio but you cannot change the station, adjust the volume, not even remove the cassette! Strange! I am told this can happen with Ford radios, but I am not sure if it is something more. I guess the easiest thing is to replace it, but shouldn't there be some kind of "reset" for this? I remove the fuse when I do not want to listen, but I am sure there must be some way to get it working properly again. Thanks for any advice!
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
you could tyr unplugging the radio from it's harness for a few minutes to see if there is a memory in the radio. If this doesn't work you can always upgrade to a c.d. player as I did. I have a cheapo Pioneer deck and used a universal wiring adapter to connect the wiring, and am very happy with the results although I should have bought one with a detach face though for the extra 20 bucks. I'm just too cheap I guess.
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
Yeah, I tend to replace mine with CD Players too. As for Ford's OEM Radios from the 90s I think they were designed to work for 2-3 years than absolutely fall apart. I've had 3 or 4 different ones and all of them had the little screen were the time and radio station was displayed just die. So I could change the station but had no idea which one I was on until I heard the call letters. I've also had ones were the outputs for 3 of the 4 speakers just died. And another that just one day decided to stop working entirely. I'd be real pissed about this if it wasn't for two things 1. I stopped using cassettes years ago anyways so I needed to upgrade to begin with 2. Aftermarket head units can be bought for fairly cheap now anyway.
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Joined: Jun 1999
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From: Lee's Summit MO
Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
Jensen made/makes stereo's for Ford. That should tell you something imediately. I've never heard anyone having any problems with 94+ radios, but the displays do go out on previous models. You can fix em by purchasing a $1 bulb from the parts dept at any Ford dealer. Real easy fix.
1993 F-150
1989 F-150 4x4
(http://briefcase.yahoo.com/toydestroyer1)
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Joined: May 2001
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
I thought there was a reset button on the back or the bottom of the radio. Might be worth looking at. When my radio started going out I just replaced it with a nice sony. Was worth it for me
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From: Southern IL
Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
My dad recently had a radio stop working in his truck. He has a '95 F-250HD and it came stock with an AM radio when it was new. The radio that quit working was the factory AM/FM out of my'90 F-150.I replaced the light bulb that illuminates the tuner window in the AM/FM when it was still in my truck. I always heard that you had to send your radio off to get the bulb changed. But I asked a dealer and they gave me a bulb. Anyway about Jensen CD players, thats what replaced my factory unit. I was not very satisfied with it though because it would skip all the time. Small bumps and cracks in the highway would make it skip. So I took it back to where I got it and got a Sony CD player. No problems with it.
'90 F-150 Custom 4x2 351 AOD
'93 Mustang 5.0 HO AOD
'78 F-250 Ranger Supercab 4x2 460 C-6
'90 F-150 Custom 4x2 351 AOD
'93 Mustang 5.0 HO AOD
'78 F-250 Ranger Supercab 4x2 460 C-6
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Postmaster
Joined: Jun 1999
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From: Lee's Summit MO
Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
I can't say anything nice about Jensen Stereo's either. They are pretty cheap.
I have an Alpine CD in my '93 F-150, and it is nice. I bought the alpine because of the style. The price was higher than it should be.
www.crutchfield.com
1993 F-150
1989 F-150 4x4
(http://briefcase.yahoo.com/toydestroyer1)
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
Hey, if you are going to change radios, make sure you get the new XM 'satellite radio' feature. Satellite radio will forever change our listening habits. For $10 a month, you can get 100 channels of CD quality sound, most channels without commercials. Alpine would be my choice.
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 1999
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From: Lee's Summit MO
Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
chipster: My alpines about 4 years old now. I've heard that it can be upgraded for XM technology. Heard anything about that?
1993 F-150
1989 F-150 4x4
(http://briefcase.yahoo.com/toydestroyer1)
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
Yeah, mine ('95 with electronic AM/FM/cassette) does this every once in a while (once every three or four months, maybe). Ususally I'm tipped off by the clock display staying dim after I switch off the headlights, and even after I switch off the ignition. I can clear it by restarting the engine. I've also noticed that sometimes it gets *really warm*, as well.
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Joined: Mar 2002
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Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
I have a 98 Explorer with the indash CD Player/changer head. The display light diming and going out. It's not the bulb. I've read in other posts that this is a common problem with the CD Player and that if its not taken care of, it can fry the circuit board. What a piece of crap.
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 1999
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From: Lee's Summit MO
Electrical rumor about Ford radio's?
paulcalif: Go look for a takeout of another Explorer at junkyards, ebay, and other audio websites. I bet you can find a OEM replacement really cheap.
'93 F-150 loaded and modified!
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'93 F-150 loaded and modified!
Check my Gallery