Odd problem...fixed itself? (lol)

1TONK5 · 07-08-2008, 04:23 AM

Vehicle: 2001 Alero 3.4/auto/97k miles/completely stock

Cliffs:
After a sudden hard-braking incident, radio malfunctions for the duration of the trip home. Get home, restart the car, problem vanishes.

Full Story:

This morning at about 1AM I was cruisin home from the girl's house. I'm in a construction zone with lots of redirection and whatnot so I'm takin it easy under 30 mph when a Ford Superduty Dually pulls out from a parking lot on my right side to directly in front of me. I jab the brakes on quickly and firmly and come to a safe stop. The road is rough, and there is some gravel here and there, but the car doesn't do any sliding or notable banging around. The only exception in this event is that I've never applied the brakes so forcefully in this car before.

Anyways, he freaks and stops his leviathan cruise liner across my two lanes of traffic. I wave him on (hastily) to move his rig and he eventually complies. I don't notice until about a quarter mile down the road that my stereo isn't on anymore (completely factory setup). I rolled the volume up and nothin happens. I left it on for the time being and noticed that the speakers are crackling intermittently. The speakers seemed to only crackle when slowing to a stop from 30+mph (but not just creeping around a parking lot). This isn't any music, just a popping as if I was dragging live speaker wires across the terminals of the speakers. After leaving the radio like this for about 5 minutes and checking to see if the same thing happens for a CD, I turn the radio off for the remainder of the drive.

The car drove home just fine, no other issues to speak of. ~20 mile drive and made a stop at Whataburger when I got near my apartment. I park it at the pad, turn it off for 2-3 minutes and then makes sure it restarts. Fires off no problem. AND the radio functioned just fine. Turned it on and there was no hint that it was ever malfunctioning. I haven't bothered to drive it up to speed again yet, but I don't really know what to think of this.

Sorry for the long read, just trying to be thorough. Has anyone experienced something like this?

lonnie · 07-08-2008, 07:48 AM

I know my factory radio when I got the car worked fine then after a month it would skip with brand new CD's in it. If I hit the dash it would play no problem. These factory units are notorious for problems..just add this one to the list.

zzyzzx · 07-08-2008, 09:36 AM

I have to agree with Loonie that the factory CD units are flaky.

1TONK5 · 07-08-2008, 10:08 AM

Would you include the radio play in these problems? I drove it again this morning. Worked fine (both radio and CD) for about 5 min then randomly went out. It would come and go randomly. I suppose it may be about time that I got off my butt to install Alpine I have layin around.

Thanks for the replies, fellas.

lonnie · 07-08-2008, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1TONK5

Would you include the radio play in these problems? I drove it again this morning. Worked fine (both radio and CD) for about 5 min then randomly went out. It would come and go randomly. I suppose it may be about time that I got off my butt to install Alpine I have layin around.

Thanks for the replies, fellas.

Yes they are very sometimesy. It would work fine some days and others it would give me absolute hell. Replace it ASAP. I still keep the factory one so that if I wanted to sell the car I would have something to put back in the hole other then that it is garbage.

1TONK5 · 07-18-2008, 04:30 AM

**Update**

Well I feel like a dummy. I was throwin a CD player in my 4Runner today, so I go to get the tools I keep in the back of the Alero. I open the trunk, and much to my surprise, I see my floorjack sitting upright with the lower half of the handle propped up under the speaker terminal. It was also making contact with the sheetmetal...causing a direct short. That must be what happened when I hit the brakes hard the other night. Removing the jack handle aleviated all my radio problems. Wow. haha

lonnie · 07-18-2008, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1TONK5

**Update**

Well I feel like a dummy. I was throwin a CD player in my 4Runner today, so I go to get the tools I keep in the back of the Alero. I open the trunk, and much to my surprise, I see my floorjack sitting upright with the lower half of the handle propped up under the speaker terminal. It was also making contact with the sheetmetal...causing a direct short. That must be what happened when I hit the brakes hard the other night. Removing the jack handle aleviated all my radio problems. Wow. haha

odd indeed