1994Explorer sport Radio not working

SYLVIA SKELTON

MEMBER
1994 FORD EXPLORER
6 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
1,850,000 MILES

I started my 1994 explorer and when the radio came on it had these three letters "BAD" on the screen and that's it! No sound, no on-off, no clock, no nothing. I turned the engine off, and restarted with same results, BAD, on the screen! Asked a couple of fairly semi- knowlegable mechanics and they both said they had never seen this befor.
So, I thought I should give the ford pro's a chance to tell me what the heck the problem here is, before I letterly go insane from no radio!(I drive alot and hope you can help!)

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,737 POSTS

Some radios have internal test circuitry that looks at the speaker wires before it powers up. That is to protect the radio in case one of the speaker wires is shorted to ground or the two wires are shorted together. That circuit also triggers if one of the audio output ICs is shorted. There is supposed to be near 6 volts on all of the speaker wires. There will be 0 volts on one if it is shorted to ground, and there will be 0 or 12 volts on one of them if the IC is shorted. Any of those conditions will put 6 volts across that speaker and overheat it.

One word of warning. I repair a lot of original equipment radios for two dozen new and used car dealers around my state. The early to mid '90s Ford radios are the only ones that are almost impossible to repair. They have copper circuits on the circuit boards that deteriorate. The breaks are real hard to find and by the time I do, there are three more. I've never had success with these radios. This is one time I recommend an aftermarket radio.

Caradiodoc