I've had problems with the radio since I've got it. Basicly, the cassette player doesn't work right. It acts like it's working, and if you turn the volume up really lound, you can barely hear it playing through the static. The rest of the radio seems to work okay.

Someone told me it might be the wires, so I decided to take out the radio and see. As far as the wires go, they were all connected except for this one (the top black wire in the pic):



Behind the radio... I found this:



A nest!



Anyway, I cleaned it out and couldn't find anywhere for that wire to plug into. I also found a pink/black wire that isn't plugging in to anything either. Not sure what's happened here. Anyone have any ideas??

 

Have you considered updating the radio to one that plays compact disc's.

If the radio is working and the casette player is not I would say it is a problem with the head unit (radio) itself.

 

The heavy black wire looks like the antenna wire, kind of hard to see it in the shadows though. As for the other wires, the same wiring harness is used regardless of options so they may be to hook up to something you don't have as an option. Wiring diagram in the FSM is where you need to look...

 

Not interested in any non-stock radio. I just want to figure out what's wrong with mine or if I need to buy a different one.

 

is it a bose or a non bose radio? looking at the back it looks like a non bose, and im almost positive the pink/black wire is used for the bose radio so as cyclonite suggested its just extra for you. if you did have bose id suggest your amps may need rebuilt but it sounds like your head unit needs rebuilt/replaced. +1 for keeping stock radio

 

It is indeed a non-bose radio.

 

Then I guess the only wire that confuses me is the black one coming out of the back of my radio. It looks like it should plug into another wire (or another wire should plug into it), but I can't find anthing for it to go to...

The only thing I could think of is maybe it goes to the door speakers my car didn't come with..?

 

The black wire could be for an amp.

 

I have an '84 with factory Bose. It came to me with the wrong radio, an '85 GM Symphony w/ the equalizer. I bought an '88 Bose w/ 4 half good speaker/amps (for ammunition) on E-bay & had it fixed by Dr Don, along with all 4 original amps. The '88 Bose has the black (looks like its shielded) wire/plug like yours along with a small red wire/plug which comes out near the spealer/power connections. My car has no place to connect either of them and I don't see them on my factory wiring diagrams. The black being for an amp sounds reasonable since it looks shielded.

I have been through hell with this system and I'm an electronics tech. After getting everything fixed I still have no left channel except one speaker will play on the left either position. When bench tested with an aftermarket speaker plug the left channel drives amped Bose speakers fine. Ohmed all the speaker wire runs out, all fine - right colors in the right spots, everything. I finally jumped an Ipod into the female speaker plug in the car & the left side works. So something is wrong with the plug to the radio. I'm going to try bending the contacts some (already have) then I'll just solder in a new plug if it's still bad.

This Bose system has been tough to get to the bottom of, there are a lot of variables & sometimes it seems like there's no firm ground to stand on. So far I've spent about $800, including a new power antenna, the upgraded one from the later C4's, and I still can't play the radio!!

 

The black wire is a chassis ground. The f-bodies have everything but that wire and the static is probably because it is trying to ground through the antenna which it can't. The f-bodies and other GM ground as well through metal dash frames and console which you can see in you pictures none of the attaching points contacts metal.

 

Looks like lighting control for C68 climate control. You don't have it, so don't worry.

The pink black may have been a pre wire for Bose.

 

Here's an interesting thing I found out yesterday..

The sound from the Cassette player will only come out of one speaker - the front passenger side one. (It may also come out of the rear passenger side one, but that speaker is broken.)

 

Ask these guys: http://corvetteradios.com/ They should be able to shed some light on your problem.

 

You know it could be the cassette your using...maybe try picking up a newer copy of the same cassette you'be been using for testing

 

Maybe..

But that might be the newest cassette I have - a '93. My parents were going to throw away all of their cassettes a year or so ago, so I told them I would take them. Mostly 80s music, which is what I listen too anyway. (By the way, I would have been 2 years old in '93 )

 

It does the same thing for all cassettes.

 

Get a FSM to figure out the wiring. For the year vette and year of the radio.
Early bose cars have common grounded speakers. No aftermarket uses a common ground. Might be why your 88 bose has problems and sounds crappy (ask me how I know) Without a rigged up adapter you have to rewire the radio plug or run new wire.
With C68 on an 87 the AC panel dimmer runs through the stock radio so an aftermarket radio will leave it at max bright all the time.
I got an Alpine head unit, rewired the plug cut loose the amps wired directly to the bose drivers and it sounded fine. I replaced the speakers later and just wasted money. (I think it needs a sub now) The bose drivers are like 1.8 ohms but they didn't hurt the Alpine the 2 years I ran them.

JS

 

Does your speaker plates have a Bose emblem? If so, someone might have put a non bose radio in your bose car and THEN sounds like a few bose amps needs to be replaced. If no Bose radio or emblems on speaker plates, send your radio to a company called fixworks and they can make it like new for about $100.
(they also can fix bose amps and bose radios)