Radio does not work

I have been having a problem with my wife's 1996 taurus lx station wagon. At first it started to cut out while driving the sound would start to to get a lot of static or interference and sound would get low and then cut out. It now does not to work at all. I checked fuses all are OK. I tried the Transmission Range Sensor and that was not the fix. I tried a new unit for the dash and that also did not fix it. Any suggestions?

Does the radio display unit in the dash appear to be working correctly? Is the clock and station display still working, and if you turn up the volume, does the bar graph along the bottom of the display increase, etc.? The amplifier for the unit is mounted in the rear (I'm not positive where it's at in the station wagon), but not in the dash unit. If the control/display unit in the dash is working fine, I'd suspect the ampilfier.

From your symptoms, it sounds like an amplifier unit anyway. Sounds like you might have a ground that is opening up with heat. Could be external to the Rear Control Unit (RCU) or a ground solder joint inside. Or, you might have a failing hybrid amplifier IC failing or a bad electrolytic capacitor. Any of these could cause what you are experiencing, but since all audio goes away, and not just one or two speakers, I'd suspect a grounding issue.

-Rod

There is no display of time or radio station on the unit. All other controls work fine like the Climate control but the radio does not turn on or display anything. No sound either. I will check for a grounding problem. Thanks.