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Radio is not working ..

101K views 23 replies 17 participants last post by  Pnygal 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I just started my car and my radio is not turning on.

On the display, it says Mustang and has a temperature for the outside.

Not sure what's going on.

Any help?


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#2 ·
Maybe call your dealer and ask the service department if they have any ideas to try??
 
#3 ·
I've seen my 2012 do this but I just hit the I/O button and it comes back to life.

I am also curious is to why this happens or is it a feature that we are accidentally hitting?

Would be awesome for someone to shed some light for us on this topic.
 
#9 · (Edited)
OK, so after nearly 2 years of fighting this problem, I think I finally have figured it out (though Ford continues to say it's not a problem and that they can't diagnose it, or it's because something was done to modify the stereo... pick your set of excuses). So, enough crabbing and on with what's going on:

In it's infinite wisdom (insert sarcasm), Ford has left the power outlets to be on even when the car is turned off. Now this means that ANY item you leave plugged in is going to drain the battery (even a simple USB power adapter has a continual drain). What causes the MUSTANG and non-working radio to start is a draw on the battery beyond a certain level (some here mentioned 4 hours of a GPS, I've had it after several days parked with just a USB power adapter plugged in).

Now the fun begins because, best as I can figure it, there is a reset routine that requires a certain voltage to be maintained for a certain time and then suddenly everything starts working. First, I'd suggest the attempts above at disconnecting the battery for 10-15 min (negative first), and then be sure fuses 39 and 3 are good. If this doesn't work (like it didn't for me), on to the next step.

Sometimes just driving at highway speeds for 60-120 min will fix it. More reliably I've found that giving the battery a trickle charge over night, then driving at highway speeds for 60-120 min is the most reliable (unfortunately just the charging isn't enough to do the reset).

Yes this is at total PITA and such a design fail in my opinion, but it's better than the $600+ alternative of replacing the stereo (yes the dealer will try to sell you a new one, saying that's the problem). Next step for me is to change the wiring to the outlet I use for USB power so that it turns off with the ignition (there's a reason this worked so well starting from Henry Ford's first car).

OK, a bit of griping but hopefully some good info that all those dealing with this can use to avoid big expenses in the future. Best of luck!
 
#10 ·
Hello. I am also getting the word Mustang on my radio and I've checked the fuses and drove it for an hour an a half. still not working. I disconnected the battery for the winter and hooked it back up today and drive the car for the 1st time since October. Anyone have any other ideas??
 
#11 ·
I don't know much about this subject, but the post above yours suggests that the problem seems to be voltage related. I would try charging the battery and then repeat the drive cycle again.
If the radio still won't work, I would then have the battery and alternator tested to rule out the possibility of the charging system somehow being the possible cause of the radio fault.
 
#12 ·
******* Engineering At It's Finest!!!

I had the radio in my 2012 V6 start doing the Clock flashing and nothing else would work except to eject the CD. This problem started for me when I took the car out of storage in the spring. Driving along and then there was a loud static sounding pop and everything stopped and the clock was flashing alternately with the radio station. I got the car home and after power off and back on, nothing, so I pulled the fuse and that fixed it for a few more weeks and it did the same thing but the second time all it took was to shut the car off pull the key, open the door and it would work again for a while until a week ago. After this nothing I did would clear whatever was wrong with the radio. So up with the hood, tried the shorting the capacitors trick and still nothing. Then came the unpleasant part, time to tear into the dash and pull the radio out to see if I could find anything obvious. I should mention here that I will exhaust every available resource before replacing most parts on a vehicle as I don’t like parting with my hard earned money for something stupid unless I absolutely have to and besides I like the radio that is in the car so I wasn’t about to go to the aftermarket/junkyard/dealership for this. Anyway, I started looking on different forums and found that others had this problem too but no solution was offered other than the aftermarket/junkyard/dealership advice. Well, let me tell you I found a solution which we’ll get into in a minute and you will not believe what it is.
So carrying on, I had to get at the radio. To do this you’ll need a 7mm socket, a flashlight, some kind of soft material prying tools and an unbelievable amount of dexterity in your fingers!!! There are a few videos on You Tube concerning removing the radio but none of them mentioned a few key pieces of advice. First, disconnect the negative battery terminal to kill the power to the radio or disconnect the battery completely if you like. Pry the console up from the rear behind the cupholder and inside the rear storage compartment first. It will come up from there with some gentle pressure and carefully lift the rest up moving forward until you get up to the shifter and the last clips will let go and just lift straight up and back. You will have to twist the console out of the way. The videos I saw were with automatics and the console comes right off for that but I have a manual which has the shifter boot attached to it. This makes the job a little more difficult but not impossible. You will also have to unplug the connector for the trunk release/traction control/hazard lights. Pretty simple so far but just remember that all of the connectors you have to mess with have spring loaded retention clips that you have to press on the pull out the plug. Two screws on the bottom will allow you to remove the entire front panel. My pry tool couldn’t get the necessary angle to start from the bottom but I was able to remove it from the top without causing any damage to the foam dash.
Now the radio is exposed and you will see the screen and the CD player part (some people were calling it the head unit but I don’t know if that’s right or not). There are four screws holding it in that have to be removed and now the fun begins. There are three things on the back that have to be pulled out before the CD player comes out. There are two plugs, wide and narrow, and the antenna wire. It took me an hour just to get the first plug off( the widest one) and another half hour to get the others before I figured something out as over the course of troubleshooting, I had the infernal thing out about 7 times. The antenna wire is the shortest and should come out first. I couldn’t get a good grip on it because there isn’t much space at all but I found that I could grab the radio housing itself and pull on it with a moderate amount of effort and that will pop off. Next is the narrow middle plug which gives you a little more space from a longer wire so I had to hold to spring part down with my finger and pull on the radio and that came out. Lastly, the final wire had enough slack that I was able to near fully get at the wide plug and get it unhooked using both hands. I also need to mention here that you should wrap some cloth around the console as there are sharp edges on the unit and I scratched my console a bit while pulling out the radio.
Now I had the radio on the bench and decided to take the top of the housing off. No surprises. 6 Screws and it popped off fairly easily. One of the forums I was into mentioned something about bad solder connections or excess flux left over from the manufacturing process that can cause issues over time. After looking inside with a magnifying lamp, I found what looked to be at least one issue. You can see in one of the pictures what I mean just to the right of the round part, that doesn’t look right. My brother happens to be a mechanic and very good with soldering said he would try touching it and any other areas with a soldering iron. While I had to wait a couple of days to have him do that, I continued to see if I could fix it myself. I sprayed electrical contact cleaner all over the board and used a Q-Tip to gently clean anything that might be the culprit and still no improvement.
Back on the internet I go and ended up going through pages and pages of links and I was finally offered a solution on an F-150 forum. Two posters said that they took the motherboard completely out of the housing and baked it in the oven!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. I mentioned this to my brother and he said that people have to do it with GM instrument cluster circuitry all the time so it sounded possible to him. I figured what the heck if it’s cooked then I’m going to cook it literally as one person said they used 385°F and one said 350°F. It went into the oven at 385°F for 10 minutes(The other Picture). I didn’t wait overnight like the posters did but let it sit for about 3 hours until it was completely cool for me. I put everything back together and it frigging worked!!! I never thought in a million years that it would but it did. Drove around all day and no problems. The theory is that the heat will soften the solder and it will bleed back together.
The instructions for this are:
1) Dismantle the radio housing
2) Remove the cable connecting the CD Player to the circuit board from the circuit board end. There is no plug here. It’s just a flat cable that pulls straight out.
3) There is heatsink paste on one side. Don’t rub it off or get it on your fingers. It has to be there when you put it back together.
4) Using a non-coated paper plate and four small crushed up balls of aluminum foil, set the circuit board on top of the balls placed at each corner, being careful to keep clear and any of the circuitry. This allows heat to get under the board. And put it on the paper plate. The other posters mentioned that they also placed foil over the plastic connectors to protect them from the heat but “Ain’t nobody got time for that” so I went commando as you can see. But whatever floats your boat.
5) Preheat the oven to 385°F or 350°F (I used 385) and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown!!! The plate never burned but it did get golden brown so be careful. Also there were some fumes that came from the oven so the fans all went on and windows opened.
6) After it’s finished, turn off the heat and let it cool completely before you touch it. DO NOT TOUCH THE CIRCUIT BOARD UNTIL IT IS COMPLETELY COOL. The solder will be hot and any sudden movement may cause components to fall over or fall off which, of course, will completely ensure your radio is ruined.
Anyway I did this and it worked. Be careful throughout the entire process. You don’t want to damage the interior of your car or cause a fire from the shake and bake. I realize this is long but I just thought people might like to know about this if it helps. Your radio is more than likely useless before you try this anyway so it won’t hurt if it’s your last resort like it was for me. I don’t know if this will last or not but it saved me some money and if the radio acts up again I’ll be doing the same treatment. Good Luck!
 

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#15 ·
******* Engineering At It's Finest!!!

I had the radio in my 2012 V6 start doing the Clock flashing and nothing else would work except to eject the CD. This problem started for me when I took the car out of storage in the spring. Driving along and then there was a loud static sounding pop and everything stopped and the clock was flashing alternately with the radio station. I got the car home and after power off and back on, nothing, so I pulled the fuse and that fixed it for a few more weeks and it did the same thing but the second time all it took was to shut the car off pull the key, open the door and it would work again for a while until a week ago. After this nothing I did would clear whatever was wrong with the radio. So up with the hood, tried the shorting the capacitors trick and still nothing. Then came the unpleasant part, time to tear into the dash and pull the radio out to see if I could find anything obvious. I should mention here that I will exhaust every available resource before replacing most parts on a vehicle as I don’t like parting with my hard earned money for something stupid unless I absolutely have to and besides I like the radio that is in the car so I wasn’t about to go to the aftermarket/junkyard/dealership for this. Anyway, I started looking on different forums and found that others had this problem too but no solution was offered other than the aftermarket/junkyard/dealership advice. Well, let me tell you I found a solution which we’ll get into in a minute and you will not believe what it is.
So carrying on, I had to get at the radio. To do this you’ll need a 7mm socket, a flashlight, some kind of soft material prying tools and an unbelievable amount of dexterity in your fingers!!! There are a few videos on You Tube concerning removing the radio but none of them mentioned a few key pieces of advice. First, disconnect the negative battery terminal to kill the power to the radio or disconnect the battery completely if you like. Pry the console up from the rear behind the cupholder and inside the rear storage compartment first. It will come up from there with some gentle pressure and carefully lift the rest up moving forward until you get up to the shifter and the last clips will let go and just lift straight up and back. You will have to twist the console out of the way. The videos I saw were with automatics and the console comes right off for that but I have a manual which has the shifter boot attached to it. This makes the job a little more difficult but not impossible. You will also have to unplug the connector for the trunk release/traction control/hazard lights. Pretty simple so far but just remember that all of the connectors you have to mess with have spring loaded retention clips that you have to press on the pull out the plug. Two screws on the bottom will allow you to remove the entire front panel. My pry tool couldn’t get the necessary angle to start from the bottom but I was able to remove it from the top without causing any damage to the foam dash.
Now the radio is exposed and you will see the screen and the CD player part (some people were calling it the head unit but I don’t know if that’s right or not). There are four screws holding it in that have to be removed and now the fun begins. There are three things on the back that have to be pulled out before the CD player comes out. There are two plugs, wide and narrow, and the antenna wire. It took me an hour just to get the first plug off( the widest one) and another half hour to get the others before I figured something out as over the course of troubleshooting, I had the infernal thing out about 7 times. The antenna wire is the shortest and should come out first. I couldn’t get a good grip on it because there isn’t much space at all but I found that I could grab the radio housing itself and pull on it with a moderate amount of effort and that will pop off. Next is the narrow middle plug which gives you a little more space from a longer wire so I had to hold to spring part down with my finger and pull on the radio and that came out. Lastly, the final wire had enough slack that I was able to near fully get at the wide plug and get it unhooked using both hands. I also need to mention here that you should wrap some cloth around the console as there are sharp edges on the unit and I scratched my console a bit while pulling out the radio.
Now I had the radio on the bench and decided to take the top of the housing off. No surprises. 6 Screws and it popped off fairly easily. One of the forums I was into mentioned something about bad solder connections or excess flux left over from the manufacturing process that can cause issues over time. After looking inside with a magnifying lamp, I found what looked to be at least one issue. You can see in one of the pictures what I mean just to the right of the round part, that doesn’t look right. My brother happens to be a mechanic and very good with soldering said he would try touching it and any other areas with a soldering iron. While I had to wait a couple of days to have him do that, I continued to see if I could fix it myself. I sprayed electrical contact cleaner all over the board and used a Q-Tip to gently clean anything that might be the culprit and still no improvement.
Back on the internet I go and ended up going through pages and pages of links and I was finally offered a solution on an F-150 forum. Two posters said that they took the motherboard completely out of the housing and baked it in the oven!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. I mentioned this to my brother and he said that people have to do it with GM instrument cluster circuitry all the time so it sounded possible to him. I figured what the heck if it’s cooked then I’m going to cook it literally as one person said they used 385°F and one said 350°F. It went into the oven at 385°F for 10 minutes(The other Picture). I didn’t wait overnight like the posters did but let it sit for about 3 hours until it was completely cool for me. I put everything back together and it frigging worked!!! I never thought in a million years that it would but it did. Drove around all day and no problems. The theory is that the heat will soften the solder and it will bleed back together.
The instructions for this are:
1) Dismantle the radio housing
2) Remove the cable connecting the CD Player to the circuit board from the circuit board end. There is no plug here. It’s just a flat cable that pulls straight out.
3) There is heatsink paste on one side. Don’t rub it off or get it on your fingers. It has to be there when you put it back together.
4) Using a non-coated paper plate and four small crushed up balls of aluminum foil, set the circuit board on top of the balls placed at each corner, being careful to keep clear and any of the circuitry. This allows heat to get under the board. And put it on the paper plate. The other posters mentioned that they also placed foil over the plastic connectors to protect them from the heat but “Ain’t nobody got time for that” so I went commando as you can see. But whatever floats your boat.
5) Preheat the oven to 385°F or 350°F (I used 385) and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown!!! The plate never burned but it did get golden brown so be careful. Also there were some fumes that came from the oven so the fans all went on and windows opened.
6) After it’s finished, turn off the heat and let it cool completely before you touch it. DO NOT TOUCH THE CIRCUIT BOARD UNTIL IT IS COMPLETELY COOL. The solder will be hot and any sudden movement may cause components to fall over or fall off which, of course, will completely ensure your radio is ruined.
Anyway I did this and it worked. Be careful throughout the entire process. You don’t want to damage the interior of your car or cause a fire from the shake and bake. I realize this is long but I just thought people might like to know about this if it helps. Your radio is more than likely useless before you try this anyway so it won’t hurt if it’s your last resort like it was for me. I don’t know if this will last or not but it saved me some money and if the radio acts up again I’ll be doing the same treatment. Good Luck!
I created an account just to say that you are a genius, I’ve been having issues with my radio just flashing the clock, and I’ve tried everything to fix it, I put the mother board in the oven at 385 for 10 minutes earlier today, waited an hour for it to cool and put the radio back together and back in the car and it. WORKED so thank you!!
 
#18 ·
They are mocking a previous poster. If you quoted that i'm sure you read the first couple posts
 
#19 ·
I have also lost the radio in my 2013 Mustang. This is the third time in 11 years! Starts with loud pops, or electrical static. Sometimes sounding like a rock hitting the windshield. Had it replaced by the dealer twice, didn't want anyone else mucking with the console work. Just wondering what the heck is going on. How can it be the radio itself, 3 times. I'm not even close to being a mechanic or electrician, but it almost feels like there is a short in the system and it blows out the radio. If I didn't love my car so much........... Frustrating.
 
#20 ·
I would get in touch with a reputable, local audio shop instead of the dealership to see if they have an idea about what the issue is or if they can possibly fix it it.

Just for giggles, do you have a base system or a Shaker/Mach?
 
#23 ·
Sometimes, yeah. But it's also more expensive.
There was no way to tie in an aftermarket radio to the Shaker amp(s)?
 
#24 ·
A bit more of a radio conundrum
About 3 weeks ago, we had a week of well below freezing temps in N TX, where I live. The car got to spend a night out in the 17* weather/temps. And the radio came on when I started the car! It works for 3 days. Quit for a day and started back up. Had radio for about a week before it quit again, when the temps got into the 40's.
Not saying it it temperature driven, but it sure feels like it!
In my very unscientific mind, it sure feels like a short somewhere. My brother mentioned something about a cold solder point, whatever that it.
So......... to be continued!
 
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#8 ·
I took the positive terminal from the battery off waited about 10 minutes I put it back on the battery started my car radio start working again..
LOL wow crazy

But thanks y'all


Sent from my iPhone using Mustang Evolution

your welcome, but always disconnect negative first (safety reasons)

negative = first off/last on.

if you accidentally touch the frame (or pretty much any part) with your wrench when disconnecting the positive terminal and the negative is still hooked up you'll have a direct short through your wrench. It's entertaining to say the least.
 
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