Posted on 05/23/2010 1:34:37 PM PDT by library user
First off, thanks to everyone who gave advice on a previous car thread.
I'm trying to help a friend fix an FM radio issue with his Dodge Neon (1996).
I spent 20 minutes or more googling for an answer, to no avail.
AM radio works fine, but when you use seek and scan to try to find FM stations, the numbers keep going, without finding any stations. And none of the presets work anymore either.
If anyone has had this problem before, do you know if there's a way to reset something to get the radio to pick up stations in the area?
Thanks a lot for any tips and suggestions.
The problem here is identical to this forum post from 2006 below, but unfortunately there's no replies to it:
http://www.trustmymechanic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9151&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
Usually the case if the unit isn’t getting a physical connection to the antenna, assuming all other things are all right.
Are you sure the antenna is connected? If you are in an area with a lot of AM stations, sometimes you can get some AM stations even without an antenna. FM signals don’t travel as far.
It sounds like the FM antenna got disconnected from the back of the stereo.
Try to get access to the back of the stereo unit (may require pulling it from the dash), and check the FM antenna connection.
$39.00 at walmart will fix the problem.
OK, I’m going downstairs right now to check the antennae. I’ll be back. Thanks.
What ya have here is a broke radio.......no good answer , just bumpin the thread to the top !......:o)
Id say ant or ant ground is lacking
I have 2 Dodge vehicles. The radios in both are flaky. They work sometimes. Most of the time they are completely dead. The clocks don’t work either. Not good. ;0(
AM uses a coil or loop antenna, which is usually internal. FM uses the external antenna. Check the cable at the radio and the antenna.
Fix?
Who knows for sure.
Mostly for me it gets better when I unplug it in back and let it reset.
I wonder if he is trying to tune the Air conditioner instead of the radi
Sounds like the vacuum advance tube connecting the whosit valve is loose. Go to advance auto and ask for a left handed muffler bearing. That might do the trick,,,,
Just kidding...it sucks when the radio conks out. Good luck.
o
Thanks for your reply. I’ve never pulled a unit out before. Does it come right out, or do you need tools?
1996 Dodge Neon? Scrap that piece of sh*t.
The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram,
and Max, invented and developed the first automobile... See More
air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the temperature in
Detroit was 97 degrees.
The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford’s office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him
that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting
innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.
Henry was curious and invited them into his office.
They refused and instead asked that he come out to
the parking lot to their car.
They persuaded him to get into the car, which was
about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and
cooled the car off immediately.
The old man got very excited and invited them back
to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the
patent.
The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2
million, but they wanted the recognition by having a
label, ‘The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,’ on the dashboard
of each car in which it was installed.
Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-
Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the
Goldberg’s name on two million Fords.
They haggled back and forth for about two hours and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.
And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show —
Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max — on the controls.
AM is not so finicky as FM regarding the ground and resulting reception.
Disconnecting the battery will reset the presets, but it sounds as though the FM antenna isn’t connected.
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