I posted this in electronics too.

I have an odd situation. I have had my car since 2000 and installed an Alpine 9813 soon after I bought the car. What I am going to describe is something I recently discovered but may have been an issue for awhile since I seldom drive the car when it was very cold out.

in the morning I turn the car on and the stereo does not come on. I drove to a couple of stores (5 minutes) and still nothing. I then turn the heat on high for a couple of minutes and the stereo come to life. I drove back home and put the car in the garage. I checked it a few times during the day till about 9pm and the stereo turned on. This morning I checked and nothing.

This has happened a couple of times now.

Since in the past I have not driven the car when it was below freezing this might not be new. My guess is if I turn on the car when it is warmer the stereo will work.

Anyone heard of a situation like this? I may just leave it as it is since I typically don’t drive it when it is very cold out.

thanks,

jim

 

I can't think of anything that would be temperature related to cause that issue. Are you sure it isn't a loose power connection behind the unit ?

 

Jim,
there's likely a thousand or so connections in your stereo.
My simple guess is your have a cold solder joint among one of them.
When it gets cold, it contracts creating an open circuit, when it warms it closes.
It could also be subject to road bumps creating weirdness as wall.
In theory one could bench test it with a can of freeze spray.
Myself, I wouldn't go driving my car when it's cold.

 

You know everything shrinks when it's cold, Jim.

 

Can you get to any of the wires without pulling the stereo out? If you can the next time it happens try wiggling them around see if anything happens, the cold could just be a coincidence.

 

thanks, thought of that too, but p, it would not explain why it would work sitting in the garage after driving it (and checking periodically, but then not work in the morning after a cold night.

I can try to get a hand behind the unit but it is tight.

thanks

 

Time for a new radio. This one has served you well. There are much better products out there since you installed yours. There may be future issues with it down the road so why bother.

 

Let us know what you find out Jim, I'm curious as to what it is. I had a somewhat similar occurrence on a CRX I owned. A couple of times when it was really cold my headlights would do the same thing they would not come on until the car warmed up, I never diagnosed the problem.

 

i agree it has. However, since i seldom drive it when it is really cold, if it works fine in moderate and warm temperatures i will probably just leave it alone.

i also have the modifry dci for the Alpine so i can use the dash controls. I would like to keep that capability.