CA1992C4

The aftermarket CD player on our new to us 1992 C4 either loses power, or has a loose ground wire.

The previous owner thinks it's a loose ground wire, but he is not sure. He had the CD player installed at a Stereo Shop, so you'd think it should of been put in correctly.

My question is - where on the car should I start looking for the possible loose ground wire? I Googled this question and have spent an hour looking for an answer, so you folks here are my last resort before taking it into another stereo shop.

champa21

I had a similar problem, my speakers popped when turning on the car and changing channels, that is after a new head unit and plug and play harness from crutchfield, I did the online chat with them and they said the PAC SNI-1 would fix it, so I found them locally for $20.00, i needed 2, found them at an audio install shop(mobile one), the tech at mobile one said also to get a resistor and put inline with my blue/white wire on the new radio harness hook up and tie it in to the blue metra harness wire 70-1857, that didn't work with the harness, so I cut out the resistor and everything works great!!, It does pop a little when i turn off the car but I can live with that. I have a 1995 corvette with the Bose system in her and didn't change the speakers.

champa21

Do you have the Bose system?

CA1992C4

No - he had an aftermarket CD player put in. It sounds good on smooth roads, but as soon as I hit some bumps the player stops playing until the road gets smooth again. I'm not sure what panels to take off to start looking for it.

champa21

I just did my 95 with a bose system and speakers, I didnt change the speakers, and had the harness from crutchfield and had loud pops, so i chatted with them and they replied back to get the PAC SNI-1 and it fixed it, the harness has 3 ground wires and the head unit has one, I soldered all of them together and had the pop until I put the PAC SNI-1 in, now all pops are gone until I turn off the car, I can live with that.

champa21

did he sold
er the wires or tape them?

CA1992C4

I called the stereo shop that did the install and they said the warranty was over for the car, but thy are willing to diagnose the problem for a fee - but I was hoping to find it myself if I could.

CA1992C4

I'm not sure - I'm new to the car and haven't started taking things apart that I don't know about. I'd like to start taking the panels off that are where the problem might be - but I may just let the sereo shop do the job.

champa21

I also put in an aftermarket head unit

champa21

iether a ground loop prob are a bad ground connection, it has to be sanded down to the metal for a good graound, mine didnt require it.

champa21

typos, sorry

CA1992C4

That's okay - I get them too.

champa21

look below the battery for a bad ground, the acis from the battery will mess it up big time, take it lose and grind it down and re-apply the ground, prob will fix it unless the ground is behind the radio and needs attention.

champa21

if the radio was installed incorrectly it could also be the ground there.

CA1992C4

I'm heading down to the garage to check that ground. Thanks for the help!

champa21

I would remove the radio and look at the grounds, they are all black.

champa21

K hit me back

CA1992C4

I'll have to find a YouTube video before I tackle that - the ground below the battery will be first.

CA1992C4

I drove the car today and the CD player was skipping on every bump, so I switched it over to the FM radio and it never skipped the entire ride - and I tried to hit every bump in the road.

So I feel that eliminates the bad ground wire I felt was causing the skipping.

I brought it over to the stero shop that installed it for the previous owner and they thought the CD player was bad, so I'm going to have a new unit installed next week.

Thanks for all the advice on my problem.

drsfmd

Since you aren't losing power, my guess would be that whatever anti-shock technology is used in the head unit has failed.

The easiest way to deal with that is to go solid state... I bought a head unit that will accept an SD car behind the faceplate, and I digitized my CD collection.