The radio was playing and the sound suddenly cut out with no error messages.

MOMMARIA

MEMBER
2002 CHEVROLET VENTURE
90,000 MILES

There was no sudden pop, no sizzle, no smell of smoke or electrical ozone. Just a sudden silence. There is no sound for the radio or cd player. Is there a way to reset the system? I have looked through the owner's manual and the stupid thing does not even have a trouble shooting section. All the fuses look ok. If it is a wire. There are no exposed wires that could have been accidentally yanked on. There were no previous symptoms, it was sounding great one second and the next gone. The radio is still operational. You can change stations, there are no errors on the cd, volume is saying it is going up and down, you just cannot hear anything. I'll crawl under the dash later today.

2 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,752 POSTS

There's three things that come to mind. First of all, there are two power sources for the radio. One turns on with the ignition switch to turn the radio on, and one is live all the time to maintain the station presets and clock. On some models the radio will function normally but have no sound if that memory fuse is blown. Some models don't even turn on, and some work normally except the clock goes back to 10:00 each time you turn it on. That memory fuse is usually not labeled as "radio". It is always tied into some other circuit that is always live like the interior lights, horn, cigarette lighter, or even the brake lights. Look for anything like that which isn't working.

Many original radios use a separate amplifier. When they do, GM and Ford radios must have that amp in the system. With Chrysler radios, there will still be some sound when the amp quits on some models. The amp has a power wire to it that's always live, and it gets a turn-on signal from the radio. Either of those circuits could be dead. Third, the amp itself could be defective.

Unfortunately for owners, GM decided to stop selling us radio service manuals and parts in 1994 because there was too much money to be made. Now you are tied to the dealers and their two grossly over-priced authorized repair centers. The only things you can do yourself are to check for voltages at the radio and amp, and buy a used radio or amp from a salvage yard to try. The good news is GM designed in a lot of "got'chas" to cost you money after the sale, but those really started showing up in the 2003 models. Simply disconnecting the battery to replace it can result in a trip to the dealer to have them reprogram the radio so it will turn on, and that isn't cheap. You don't have to worry about that yet on the 2002 model that isn't quite as tall as the 2003 and newer ones, but if the last owner activated the Theft-Lok system and no one knows the code, you'll still be making a trip to the dealership to have the stored code translated to the needed unlock code. Of course they don't do that for free either. Profits is much more important to GM than customer satisfaction and loyalty, more so than most other companies in the world except Volkswagen and BMW. That's one of the many reasons so many current owners have said "never again" when choosing which brand to buy next.