Clock/radio work intermittently

Tiny
MZVAL
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 NISSAN SENTRA
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 85,000 MILES
Went to a new place to get body work done. Took car home. Did not turn on radio or notice anything wrong. Next day, my radio wouldn't go on and the display showed what looked like graphic equalizer bars and none of the buttons were responsive except power. No sound. I called the place and left an upset message but it was the weekend and no response. I went to see a client for a couple of hours, got back to my car, started it, and the radio and clock were fine except the clock had lost some time. Next morning got in my car, started it and no clock/no radio. Different display. Fewer lights. Nothing that looked normal. Went to auto body place and when I got there turned off the car to go inside. Mistake! Turned the car back on and radio and clock were fine. Turned off and on again. Still fine. Guy at body shop said they had to unhook battery to work on car and it was probably a fuse. He said to bring it in next time it happened. Radio was good for a few days after that. It happened again as I was leaving town for awhile. Tried replacing fuse while I was gone. Didn't make a difference. Thought maybe cold weather affected it. But it's been really cold lately and it came back on for a couple of days so I don't think temperature is the problem. Nor does it change when going over bumps or rough road. It has been going off and on frequently. Change always happens when I start the car. Sometimes it stays off for more than a week. Sometimes stays on a few days. A couple of times it didn't work when I went to the store, but worked again when I left the parking lot. When it works, it works fine. The clock is on, the sound is good, the station presets are there. But then I park the car and I come back to it and it will then just have either nothing on display or orangish fuzzy light and silence or white noise. I could try bringing it back to the auto body place. They do mechanical work too, but I'd like to try to fix it myself if I can. Any thoughts? I don't think it's a reset code problem or it wouldn't work at all. Thanks for your help!
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Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 AT 4:12 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Let's start with what work they did when you had it at the body shop? Anything related to the radio or did they have to remove it?

This could be a coincidence because it sounds like the radio itself as it seems to happen when it boots up. This points to a wiring or circuit board issue with the radio.

Lastly when this happens do any of the buttons work on the radio?

I attached the process below on how to replace the radio as I suspect this is where is it headed unless there is other info that points us in a different direction.
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Wednesday, February 10th, 2021 AT 4:40 PM
Tiny
MZVAL
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Thanks for your help. The body work did not involve radio. They did front bumper work and fixed a sideswipe along driver's side of car. Don't know why they needed to disconnect the battery for the repair. The power button works but no others, as I recall, when I'm having the problem. When the radio works, all the buttons are fine. I know whenever I start the car and the clock isn't displaying I have no radio. I actually miss the clock more. Thanks for the radio replacement instructions. Would I have to replace everything or could I just replace the audio unit?
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Tuesday, February 16th, 2021 AT 1:34 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
From what it looks like this issue is contained in the radio so just the radio unit would be needing replacement. It sounds like a coincidence as it is hard to think that type of body work would have caused this. The only thing I can think was when they reconnected the battery there was a spark or surge that damaged the circuit board on the radio. This sounds far fetched which is why I think it was a coincidence.

Thanks
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Tuesday, February 16th, 2021 AT 5:54 PM

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