Radio Volume Trouble

[essman]

I have a '93 SC400 with a Nakamichi stereo. Never had a moments trouble till yesterday when the volume went extremely low. You can just hear it on 'max' with the engine off. Underhood and side panel fuses all ok. Manual suggests Power amp or Radio assembly but I just wondered if anyone had experienced this same problem and had a 'simple' fix before I start dismantling the radio. Thanks

[UCF3]

can't tell you exactly what will solve it, but when I replaced my radio using the stock Amp it was solved.

[SeanGrac]

I have a '93 SC400 with a Nakamichi stereo. Never had a moments trouble till yesterday when the volume went extremely low. You can just hear it on 'max' with the engine off. Underhood and side panel fuses all ok. Manual suggests Power amp or Radio assembly but I just wondered if anyone had experienced this same problem and had a 'simple' fix before I start dismantling the radio. Thanks

Sounds to me you should take a look at the volume knob and assoc wires first. There should be three wires for vol. A high (voltage), a low (ground) and a reference (as you adjust the knob; the volume will change)

So, since you have to take the center console apart it ; check the knob before you yank the radio out. If the connector and wires look ok; remove the two screws that hold the knob assy to the bezel.

Carefully take the knob assy apart; you will see locking tabs around the sides. If you break all the tabs you can always use super glue. Anyway now you can get to the innerards of the Vol knob.

Once you take the knob off the assy you should see the copper contacts and wiper arms. clean them with isopropyl or something and put it back together. Also if the backlighting is out now is the time.

[essman]

I have a '93 SC400 with a Nakamichi stereo. Never had a moments trouble till yesterday when the volume went extremely low. You can just hear it on 'max' with the engine off. Underhood and side panel fuses all ok. Manual suggests Power amp or Radio assembly but I just wondered if anyone had experienced this same problem and had a 'simple' fix before I start dismantling the radio. Thanks

[essman]

I have a '93 SC400 with a Nakamichi stereo. Never had a moments trouble till yesterday when the volume went extremely low. You can just hear it on 'max' with the engine off. Underhood and side panel fuses all ok. Manual suggests Power amp or Radio assembly but I just wondered if anyone had experienced this same problem and had a 'simple' fix before I start dismantling the radio. Thanks

Thanks for the advice. Before I had chance to look at it the radio came back on. So then I started searching around on this site for similar problems and I came up with quite a few. It seems that in some cases the problem is water in the trunk or under the back seat which shorts out a connector and 'mutes' the radio. The trunk on mine was clear and dry so I took out the backseat and sure enough there was a fair amount of moisture. I cleaned up the 2 connectors and dried all the contacts and cables with a hair dryer. The underside foam of the rear drivers side seat is soaking wet so I will dry it before replacing it. My question is where is all the water coming from??? It is obviously a fairly common problem. Unless I had taken out the seat I would never have known about it because it isn't apparent from the seats. Any ideas? Thanks again.