Enjoying a relatively problem free first 3 months with my 06 base coupe except for an irritating intermittent problem with my stock radio. My issue: when I pressed the "power" button on my stock radio to turn it on, the screen displays "Chrysler" as normal, but nothing happens after that(no sound, no radio station display, etc.)- the screen only displays "Chrysler" no matter what button I press(the only buttons that seem to do anything are the power button to turn "Chrysler" screen on/off & the CD eject button which works properly). The radio would not work for the 1.5 hours I was driving. Has anyone had this happen to them or know how to fix the problem?

Sidenote(& why it is going to be hard to get the dealer to fix) After I stopped for gas & turned her back on, the radio worked fine.

 

Loose connections on any of the main components ????? Intermintent problems are the worst to find !!!!

 

use your handy dandy radio keys to slide the radio forward/out and then just push it back in.

 

Hi xf1re i,v had the very same problem for 2 years now, i found that if i stop the car switch engine off then restart its ok???????it works for me,i never have got around to trying to find out whats wrong. dont want to fiddle with it i just want to drive it LOL sorry its not a perminant fix but try it anyways....

 

Ichon- not sure what "radio keys" are- sounds like I would know what they are if I had one. Also, did you have a similar problem and find pulling it out/pushing it back in fixed it?

 

Nedrider, sorry that you have to live with the same problem! I ended up taking the car to the dealer but, as predicted, the radio did not have any issues so they were unable to fix it. I am determined the next time the radio has the problem, I am driving directly to the dealer to show them to fix it(as long as it happens in the next 6 mo. before my warranty expires). Thanks everyone for your input and I will keep you updated if anything happens in the future!

 

An update: Upon my radio screen "freezing" with the work "Chrysler" again this morning, I promptly went to the dealership and refused to let anyone turn off my car(which has fixed the problem in the past) until they were satisfied I needed a new radio(this came almost immediately with them claiming that Chrysler does not let them work on/repair the radios onsite, they have to put in a new one-just an FYI). Now comes the fun part- lets see how long it takes for the dealership to get the radio in stock! They said it could take "up to 5 bus. days" for the new radio to arrive- I will be thrilled if thats correct. Any guesses on how long it will take? Winner gets....bragging rights, I guess.

 

Let me know if you need one, mine is sitting in the box looking for a buyer.

 

Another update: I took the car in on Tuesday for the replacement radio to be installed and, besides a couple of grease stains left on the area around the radio, it was a paiinless (less than 45 min) experience at the dealer. Today: I leave my house and, would you believe it, the same problem I had with the last radio(screen freezing on "Chrysler"/no sound) is happening with my new radio. I immediately drive to the dealer, where the tech who installed the last radio looked at it and said that he would have to refer to STAR and get back to me. He seemed to think that since this is a new radio, the radio is not the problem(I think the radio still is the problem). Any ideas?

 

I am an electronic technician, been fixing radios since 1981 for a living.

My bet: It is not the radio. There is more than one source of power to the radio, sounds like maybe a battery lead that SHOULD stay live is not staying live or a switched power lead is powering up and down quickly during startup, causing the power up process to "freeze".

As a side note: There is no dealership I know of equipped to fix a radio at the component level. This would take equipment and training that woulid simply not pay for itself unless you are working on radios for a living. That is not what auto dealership service departments do. In this case, getting a replacement radio that fast is impressive, you have a good dealer.

The only thign now, is finding a tech at the dealership that understands what is confusing the radio during it's power up process. Good luck with THAT, I hope Chrysler tech support is effective and can help the local people understand what to look for.

 

Hey did you ever find the fix ???? Mine does the same thing !!! Freezes & just says chrysler lights up so its getting some power !!! Dam what a jinx !!!! Hope you found the fix !!!!

 

It has been a couple months since the last post. Has anyone found a fix for the problem? My 2004 coupe is now doing the same thing.
It worked great, then just stopped working.

 

I refer you all to my post above. I'm at work, maybe can look at the manual later... but I still say there is a power or ground problem to the radio.

The poster above who got a new radio and had the same problem leads me to two theories:

1) That there is a common problem with these units that is so common that a replacement radio has the defect. (I really don't believe this).
2) There is a power or ground problem that is causing the power-up process to become stalled or "hung-up".
(This is what I think it is.)


If anyone having the problem could convince another Crossfire owner to help, you could swap radios between your car and a car KNOWN to NOT have this problem. THen you would see if the problem follows the radio or stays with the car - that would tell you if it is in the radio or in the car. This would seem to be the first step to finding this, once and for all.

I know bmorgan has an OEM radio for sale that you could plug in there for a test - I am confident his radio was NOT failing when he replaced it with an aftermarket unit.

 

Well...

I talked to an old friend this morning (one of the founders of Leo's Stereo back in the 70's). I told him about my problem (after catching up on old times). He chuckeld and told me to push the power button without putting the key in the ignition. Bingo!!! The radio came on. I put in several CD's, played with all of the controls, started the car, turned it off and on and everything is working as it should.

He had no explination, he just said do it and laughed.

 

Same exact problem here. If I restart the car the radio fires right up. I noticed it only does this if the radio if off when I start the car cold and let it warm up for a long time, start driving, then turn on the radio. No sound, just "Chrysler".

I just leave the radio on all the time and turn it down all the way when not in use.

 

I had the same issue with mine a month or so back. I found stopping the car and restarting it generally worked as well. I think it has to to with the OPT button. I was messing with the set-up and you can dim or brighten the display when it's in that function setting. Try scrolling through the functions and then waiting until it defaults back to the radio setting and them turn the unit off -- wait about 5 seconds and turn it back on. If it goes back to radio, then then you should be successfully out of the OPT function and just make sure to turn the radio off every time before you shut the car off. I haven't had any issues with it since (keeping fingers crossed). Also, I haven't used the key off function when listening to the radio anymore either. I think that might also be an issue that causes this.

 

Hi this problem happened to me before and restarting also seemed to fix it but now it's getting worst...

Sometime I start the car and the display works fine, but no sound I can only hear a little base in the background but I have to listen carefully. It does that with the both the cd and the radio. Sometimes it works fine and for no reason stops working. I did notice that hitting a bump sometimes gets it back or makes it stop working.

I would like to check if removing and re-installing the radio would fix it but I need to find the little key to remove stereo which I don't have yet. Think this will fix it?

As anyone experience that? did you manage to fix it?

 

Mine did this again just this morning. It's still interemittent, and thus far shutting off the engine and removing the key and then starting it up again works. It's aggrevating, but so far only happens every couple monts. I have been using the OPT button recently and I still think there is some link between that function button and this issue. If it get's bad, I'm going to go aftermarket.

 

mine has done this twice in one year !!! Not bad but only drive once in a while !!! Been sitting for 6 mo. !!! It came out on April 1st !!!!!

 

Just did this and it worked! I'll see if it works next time, sure hope so! THANKS!!!