My daughter’s 2002 Jetta has a problem with it’s radio. It plays fine when you first turn it on, but within 5 minutes it loses reception. After 5 minutes it goes out completely. All channels on both Am and FM. Very strange. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks
Probably time to replace the radio.
Realy, I have never heard of having to replace a radio after only 6 years. This car only has 50,000 miles on it. Why does it work fine for 5 minutes and then die?
Electronics today are truly disposable items. It would cost you more to find out what is broken in the radio and fixing it that just replacing it. A good aftermarket radio may even sound better and give you more features. Most shops that ell these units also offer installation for a reasonable price.
Okay. Thanks
First, the other responders are right: you can probably replace the radio for less than it would cost to fix it. But I would ask a radio repair place what they charge for diagnosis and repair.
As for why it dies after five minutes, it’s probably because something is malfunctioning because of the heat built up inside the radio as it plays. The heat might be normally occurring, and some component is resonding improperly, or a component might be going bad and making enough extra heat to make something malfunction. When you let the radio cool down (turn it off), the component starts working again.
On the small chance that the heat-related malfunction is from grunged up contacts in the power connector itself, try unplugging it and re-plugging it a couple of times. If that doesn’t work, at least you will have the radio ready to remove!
There may be something going bad in the tuning or IF section of the radio. Your car may have a seperate antenna amplifier and if so that is another possible problem area.
I agree with the other posters, it’s cheaper to replace the radio than to attempt to fix it. I had an OEM radio for an older car repaired to keep the dash stock. The diagnosis and repair was ~120. The problem was a bad solder joint, no parts were needed. I suspect the repair to your radio will be more involved.
As for radios only lasting 5 years, the radio in my wife’s 06 Sienna didn’t make it a full week before it failed.
If you decide to go the aftermarket route, I recommend Crutchfield.
Ed B.
Thanks Ed B.