I have owned my 79 ford for about 15 years. Th same problem has come up with every radio I've ever had in the truck.

I'll put in a new or new to me radio and it will work great. After a few months however it will begin to have trouble picking up radio stations, and every time I adjust the volume it will give a little static sound and the volume will drop to about nothing. If I bump and play with the volume **** it will usually come back, but I can never turn it up very loud at all.

I have had twin post radios with manual tuners, twin posts with digital tuners, even aftermarket din sized c.d. receivers. For awhile I even had a factory Volvo radio from the late 70's in the truck. Sooner or later the problem returns with ever stereo I put in there.

Any Ideas?

 

Check the impedance of the speakers. Make sure all of them measure between 3-5 ohms. Also check the antenna chasis ground and the radio ground itself.

Was the truck originally common ground? If so did you re-wire/replace the speakers?

If all of the radios had analog/rotary volume controls I would point to that as the static/volume culprit.

 

He said he has tried aftermarket CD players so they wouldn't have a rotary volume ****. My guess would be a speaker wire is shorted somewhere near the head unit and when he is bumping the unit he ends up undoing the short.

 

True True - but most newer aftermarket CD players DO have rotary ***** - but they are usually digital and not suspect to noise from dirt/age. But..... some of the $39 flea market specials have ANALOG volume ***** with an LCD display - ELCHEAPO!!!

Still scratching my head on the intermit. reception problem......?!?!

 

I have replaced all the spreakers at some point and time, including running new wire because I didn't trust the old factory wire. Granted, they were not the best speakers, but they were better than the dry rotted speakers that were in the truck. Road gear in front (remember those) and some pioneers in the back.


The current c.d. player is a Sony Explode unit. Probably about 5 years old now, but it never cause me a problem in the car I pulled it out of. It worked fine in the truck for a few months, just like the rest of the radios. I get the volume problem when I play c.d.'s also

No matter what Icomponets I change the problem seams to return, or never go away at all. I want to say it is an electrical problem. I am still using the factory switched hot wire, but the rest I have ran myself incuding the constant power, ground etc. It seams I change them about everytime I change radios. Could there be a problem with the factory wire?

This is an old beater truck I rarely drive, but I would like to figure out what the problem is, so I don't repeat it on the 78 I am restoring.

 

I suspect there is still a problem with one or more speakers and/or the wiring. Check the impedance of each speaker (3-5ohms) while disconnected. And make all of your connections with solder or butt connectors (no twist and tape!!). And since the switched B+ is still factory try running a new one just for kicks. Id also try a new chasis ground and make sure the antenna is mounted securely and has a good/clean chasis ground as well.

Im really thinking that the internal amp is shutting down/muting due to a bad speaker or connection/pinched wire. In most cases that will produce the static and low output you mention - and may also be confused for bad reception since you cant hear the station clearly.

 

I'll check that out this weekend, and let you know if I find anything.

 

I tried to figure out my radio problem this weekend. To eliminate any speaker or antenna problems I removed the stereo and took it into the garage.

I hooked it up to a fully charged battery on my workbench and the hooked up two pioneer 6 x 9's I have in some truck boxes. I made sure no other wires were touching anything. The stereo powered up fine and I put in a c.d.

I noticed that if I turned the volume **** slowly it would either stay the same or actually increase. If I tried to turn it up at a normal pace it would either stay the same or actually go down. I did notice however the static sound was gone. I had the same difficulty trying to turn the volume down.

The c.d. player has a detachable face so I took it off and used contact cleaner to eliminate any connection problems. I waited for everything to dry out and the problem was still there.

This is the first radio I have had in the truck with volume level display. The older twin post radio's you just crank the **** until it was loud enough, or didn't go any louder.

That leads me to think it is the same problem that has plagued me in the past, but without any display I didn't know what exactly the volume was doing when I cranked the ****.

Could there be some kind of electrical problem causing damage in the radio's themselves. Some interferance, or maybe voltage spikes?

 

Not likely. If you happen to have another radio around try the same test(s). If you are having problems on the bench then its a problem with the radio - hate to say it. Sounds like you have been through a number of second hand/mis match radios - Id recomend buying an inxpensive one NIB and see how it goes.

Other than that - you have an older truck - with altered wiring - all we can do is guess.

 

i had this problem happen to my 78. i wired my sterio directly to the battery with an inline fuse and i quit having problems

Matt