I have a 2008 CRV with an aftermarket touchscreen receiver. It’s worked like a charm since I bought the car in November, but recently it’s been shutting off while I’m driving. It prefers to take a break when it’s a toasty 98 degrees outside, but doesn’t mind spazzing randomly when I’ve been driving for a while. It will turn off and on repeatedly for 20 minutes, or it will just do it once or twice. Sometimes the screen will display a bunch of symbols that might mean something to somebody who’s more tech savvy than I am. (See attached pic.) Any help from you wonderful folk would be greatly appreciated!
What kind of receiver is it? A television receiver? Radio receiver?
Aftermarket electronic gizmos like the above pretty much have to be treated the same as when your DVD player at home stops working, either phone up the manufacturer’s customer service center and ask for advice, or if it is a low price item, just buy a new one. Automobiles present a really harsh environment for electronics gadgets. The scientists & engineers who design stuff like that for automotive applications have to take a lot of factors into account that they wouldn’t if it was designed to be used in the home. It may be that whoever designed it doesn’t have automotive design experience.
You’re going to need to dive beneath the dash. Most of those aftermarket radios are installed by using a translation harness that goes from the vehicle’s stock harness to whatever configuration that radio is. They’re often installed at home by DIYers, and what you’re supposed to do is solder the wire together and then heatshrink it, but a lot of people just use wire nuts or, if you’re lucky, butt-splicers. Those eventually work lose as the vehicle vibrates, and then you get intermittent connections which cause the symptoms you’re experiencing.
There’s another possibility - if they didn’t properly secure that translation harness it might be bouncing around back there, and the metal under the dash is very sharp because it’s assumed no one will be sticking their hands back there. That sharp metal can cut wires if they rub against it.
Another possibility is a flaky connection inside of the device. Bad solder joints just love to rear their ugly heads under thermal stress…
All good suggestions… and those bad/broken connections can be inside the receiver, too, and opening up when hot. That is a classic circuit board failure description. May be time for a new receiver.
Folks swap out the factory radio for flashy head units with DVD, bluetooth and more. These are usually not built nearly as well as factory units and they don’t last nearly as long. You get cool features but not longevity.