My husband removed the radio/cd player from my 2005 Ford focus to remove loose change our kids put in the cd player. When he put everything back the CD player works but Radio stopped working. Its like the antenna is not connected. Is this fixable??
Well, almost anything is fixable if you pay enough money.
If you think it sounds like the antenna is not connected (you hear noise, but don’t receive any stations), maybe that is exactly the problem. Remove the radio again and check the antenna connections. If the connection at the radio looks proper, then try using a piece of wire, several feet long, going out the window, as a temporary antenna. If that works and the “real” antenna does not, then you probably have a break in the electrical cable between the antenna and the radio. And that break would likely be right around the connector that goes into the radio, because that is what got disturbed when you removed and installed the radio.
Perhaps he forgot to connect the antenna. The antenna wire plugs into the back of the radio, and is separate from the other wiring connector.
There is no sound at all… I get nothing no noise when the radio is on. When you use the scan function it just cycles through all the frequancies until you stop in manually.
Might be the antenna, but “no sound at all” sounds like a different problem. I haven’t done car radios in a long time, but I’ve heard here that some modern car radios have built-in anti-theft systems so that if the radio is removed it will not work until some magic re-programming is done (might have to be done by a dealer, but I’d bet the thieves have figured a way around that by now). So check your manual to see if it has any info about removing the radio. If not, then 1) make sure all the radio’s controls are set properly; 2) pull the radio out again and double check all the connections and any hidden switches; 3) try a temporary antennna; 4) consider getting professional help for the radio.
If you come up with any more symptoms, I’ll try to make some more guesses. Good luck.
The radio’s circuit board lays flat at the bottom of the player housing.
Change in the player almost always short circuits something on the circuit board.
If you find he really did connect the antenna,
The radio is toast.
I worked for a OEM radio repair facility (Jimmy’s Radio out of Phoenix, since kaput) and we had many, many radios in for repair that kids had put coins into, very common.
Parents have a 2002 Focus and the radio did a similar thing. There is a way to reset the radio on on the front. Don’t remember the actual process, but look in the owners manual.
Check your owner’s manual. I may well be nothing more than the anti-theft system locking you out. It should be noted in the owner’s manual if your car has that anti-theft system.
I’ll correct myself a little. Missing antenna might cause “so sound at all” if you are trying FM. It’s on AM that you would hear some noise, even if there is no antenna. (My experience with car radios goes back to when they did not have FM.)
Other responses (below) second the idea of an anti-theft system.