Greetings everyone. I posted previously about having issues with audio in my 2004 Crossfire. I originally thought I had an amplifier issue, as no audio would play, but the stereo would turn on just fine. However now I have absolutely no idea what is going on!

To clarify, I originally had problems with my stereo cutting out randomly when I first got the car. Everything was stock, and I would say for the first month, the stereo worked flawlessly. However, over time, the stereo would work less and less, and cut out and not come back. It got to the point where the stereo refused to play audio no matter what I did. It has been like that for a month.

Every once in a while, the radio would inexplicably turn on and work completely normally, but would then cut out and go silent after a minute or two. I could still hear the CD spinning, and the time indicator going up. These cut outs became more frequent the longer I owned the car.

We checked all of the fuses and nothing, so I decided to order a new stereo head unit. I assumed that my OEM one went bad because it would power on and cycle through stations, but no audio would come out. I ordered a new Kenwood unit and installed it. Still no sound.

I then ordered a guaranteed good OEM amplifier. This amp was apparently from a 2006 Crossfire. I installed the new amplifier with the new stereo, and still absolutely nothing. Again, the new stereo powers on, but it will not play sound at all.

I tried every combination of new head unit old amp, old head unit new amp, etc. Finally. we connected a wire from the speaker output to one of the speaker wires in the amplifier harness, and it played sound. This confirms that the head unit is not the issue.

After fiddling around with wires for a bit, we were able to get audio completely working out of nowhere. I was very confused but relieved that I thought we had somehow fixed the problem by changing various connections. I ensured the stereo worked 2 times before reinstalling all of the trim, and buttoning up the interior.

However once I put everything back together, I was having the exact same problem as before! The stereo turned on, but no audio would come out! I am seriously at wits end here, and I have no idea what to do.

We tried checking all of the wiring, and it seems like everything is getting power correctly, and we have checked all of the fuses multiple times.

If anybody could please help me it would be greatly appreciated! I don't have that much money to spend on this, I just want to get some sort of audio working again! Thank you for your help.

 

THe very idea that you had NO audio AT ALL, then it worked, then it went back to NO audio AT ALL would imply to me the amp is not powered up.
I don't have the service manual in front of me, but I believe there is only one power lead and one ground going to the amp. Seems easy to verify with a multimeter.

I do not believe there is any 'enable' line on the amp for you to check, but you should verify that in the service manual. The fact your factory and Kenwood head are acting the same tells me the issue is the amp. IF you got a good amp, then the issue is power or enable to the amp. (Remember that "power" includes a good ground connection.)

 

Thanks for the help so far. We believe it is getting power correctly, as well as being grounded, but we are not entirely sure. I found the supposed wiring harness diagram for the amplifier, but some parts of it seem to be inaccurate to my car. Would you know where I could find an accurate wiring harness diagram? I looked all over google and several manuals, but couldn't find one. Thank you.

 

There is very little in reliable documentation. I have found many omissions and errors in the service manual diagrams.
Also, I have never found the exact diagram of the base models, only Limited and SRT. Of course, the base cars have no amp and the speakers are wired directly to the head.

In my (Base) SE, I found that I didn't need a diagram, as I put in a new head and added my own rear speakers - doing it all myself makes it simple.

THIS is a good thread for understanding the sound system wiring, in particular, the amp:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...-channels.html

The service manual diagrams seem usable to me. I have a hard copy of the "Wiring" chapter of the service manual and so far, I've been able to follow it for any of my work.
You can find the entire service manual here:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ollection.html

 

SORRY FOR MAKING ANOTHER THREAD I MEAN NO HARM. I AM JUST TRYING TO GET HELP. VERY SORRY AGAIN.

Basically, my audio system worked perfectly when I first got the car a few months ago. Everything was stock, and I had 0 issues.

Randomly though, my audio would stop working. Sometimes when turning on the car, other times while listening to something. The stereo display stayed on, and I could do everything fine, just no audio came out of any speakers.

It got to the point where now my audio system almost never works.The stereo turns on, but no sound plays no matter how loud I turn it up. Sometimes it will play for a few seconds, but it will then cut out and not come back on.

Here is everything I have done to try to fix the issue:
- Installed new aftermarket stereo head unit
- Replaced amplifier with a certified good used one
- Swapped between old radio, new radio, old amplifier, and new amplifier (no difference)
- Checked every single audio related fuse (none were blown/bad)
- Wired radio output directly to door speaker (the speaker plays fine)
- Checked power and ground to amplifier (getting power and ground just fine)

I seriously don't know what else it could be. The amplifier is receiving proper power and ground, but when I played something through the stereo, no noise comes out of any speakers.

The only idea I have is that maybe one of the speakers is shorting out the amplifier, and it is going into some sort of protection mode. I don't even know if that is a thing, but I don't have any idea otherwise.

If anybody has experienced something like this, or is able to help, please, please reply to the thread. Every shop I've talked to wants to charge a ridiculous amount for work they can't even guarantee.

Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for any help.

 

Start car engine.
Turn radio on.

What is the voltage at pin 5 of connector A on the amp? That line HAS to be 'high' to make the amp turn on.
I do not know how 'high' it must be, if it is at 12 or 13 volts, that is good. If it is over 5 volts that is PROBABLY good enough.
The manuals just don't say, but I DO know it has to be 'high' for the amp to turn on.

 

You didn't indicate whether the CD player provided any sound. If yes, I suspect the antenna, the antenna cable or the RF amplifier. In a Roadster it is built into the antenna base, in a Coupe it is a separate unit on the deck lid.

 

CD player on both the old and new radio work fine when the audio decides to play. The antenna is fine, as the radio plays fine when I can get sound to work. I originally believed the amplifier was either shorting or not receiving power, but I now suspect the stereo input is the one at fault. I am going to check the voltage at pin 5 ASAP. I am hoping that will lead to something. Very sorry for the other thread again. It was an honest mistake and will not happen again.

 

IT HAS BEEN SOLVED!!!

Thank you so much to everyone for your help, but especially pizzaguy! We checked pin 5 on the amplifier and found it was only 4.5 volts. We then checked the same wire coming right out of the radio connector and it was an even lower 3.5 volts. I snipped the wire coming from the radio and then tested the output separate from the wiring harness, and it reported exactly 12. Sure enough, when I directly connected the cut end to the amplifier harness the radio started playing with no problems! The moment I took the wire away, the radio would cut out exactly as it did before. We cut the amplifier harness and spliced our own equal gauge wire in between the two ends. Now there are no more grounding/shorting issues, and after routing the new wire through and tucking everything back into place the stereo works better than ever! Thank you so much again to everyone for your help! I would have spent hundreds trying to fix this without your valuable input.

 

Thanks for coming back and reporting the fix.

 

i wish yesterday went that well. I was helping a guy chase a network issue. We never tracked it down.
My Monday better go better. Maybe I should quit and just do Crossfire work all the time............

 

Thanks for posting this problem and the solution. I am hoping it is the exact issue that I am having with our crossfire. Previous owner said the radio worked at one point but stopped producing sound. First thing we checked was fuse number 23 for the amplifier. That fuse was good but I don’t know which other fuses to check. I have a few aftermarket head units and a Metra wiring harness so I could swap those out to do some troubleshooting without spending more money but I definitely did not want to buy another factory amp without knowing it would solve my problem. when we bought the car I figured that if all else failed we could run new speaker wires from an aftermarket head unit and bypass the amp without cutting any wires. I prefer to use the factory amplifier and wiring without cutting and splicing except as absolutely necessary. Now that I know what to test it’s just a matter of finding someone who knows what they are doing to do the actual testing.

 

Hey Capt, In a 2008 the manual indicates fuse 5 and fuse 8, and also there is a fuse in the radio itself. I believe the fuses marked through the years may be different numbers for various circuits (that you have to check) but in the 2008 there are three in the system. Did/have you checked all three (if the same as the 2008?) . Good luck!


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Finally got the stereo in our crossfire working. It turns out the wires inside the plug for the amplifier were severely corroded and broken. Since it looked like water damage I couldn’t be sure the amplifier was still good so I ended up buying an amplifier with wiring pigtails from a salvage yard for $75. I had my brothers place in the replacement pigtail and now it is working great with the factory amplifier.