1996 Radio volume switch has no control

[010175]

I have a Black 1996 2 door with a stock Delco AM FM Cassette. The other day the radio volume switch would not control the volume. With the volume switch turned all the way up you could hardly hear the tunes. About a minute later it went real loud without touching the any knobs. Its ok sometimes and other times it is a real low sound with the volume switch all the way up, and then all of a sudden it blows you out. The rear speakers sometimes don’t work when I am having the volume problem. Sometimes with the A/C on the volume knob works ok and sometimes when it cold it ok. I have not done any work on the car in the last 6 months. Has anyone had this problem and fixed yet??? Could it be the radio itself or maybe the amp under the dash? Is the interior amp inside the radio itself? Any ideas or help is needed. Thanks Dave

[010175]

Just an update on the radio. I own a 1999 suburban and I switched the radio out of the 1999 to the 1996 Tahoe to see what would happen. The new radio that I knew worked in the suburban acted bad in the Taho,e so now I know it is not the radio, but could it be the amplifier? Dave

[ssatch]

if you will drop both rear speakers and inspect them carefully, you will see where the voice coil wires are intermittently getting against the frame of the speaker....thus shorting it out, then the radio sees the short and shuts down the audio...if you catch the radio when it is down low and then go back there and pull the speakers the radio will start playing as soon as you remove the speaker from the metal of the car and then just leave it hanging by the wires and it will play...you need to replace the speakers and take care when mounting them that the coil wires are as free as they can be...

now about that cold beer !!!....lol

[Tall]

Yeah, that radio the amp is built in... most likely its just a speaker either A. Blow. or B. Grounded out.

[010175]

As you said and you will get the beer! Update report! I disconnected first the passenger rear speaker and I had the same volume problem. Without moving or starting the Tahoe, the first 5 minutes was radio normal then the volume went real, real low again and was not controllable with the volume knob. I then disconnected the driver side rear speaker and the radio has been doing fine for 3 days now. My questions are now.

1. Do I have a speaker that is shorting out and over heating the amp?

2. Do I have a rear speaker wire that is shorting out?

3. Is my amp weak and is overheating with 4 speakers working?

Any ideas would be great. Thanks Dave

[Tall]

Most Likely, its the speaker.You should be able to pop a new one in, and be trouble fee!

I have only seen one case where speaker wires caused a short (and thats cuz the guy ran it him self and nicked something) While it's possible, I dont think thats ur problem.

[ssatch]

good job troubleshooting !!...sounds as though you have an intermittently shorting speaker...the voice coil wires going from the paper cone of the speaker to the actual voice coil of the speaker is shorting out against the metal basket of the speaker thus shorting out that output ic...then the amp in the radio will shut down keeping the amp from burning up...replace the defective speaker{ which sounds as though it is the drivers side}....if your money will allow, i would replace both since the other side is prone to do the same thing...probably radio shack or some place like that would be the best source...the dealer would have them too but the costy would be too high ...and you do not want a real high end speaker since you only have around 10 watts of usable power before the radio will start going into distortion...hope this helps, if you have more questions, fire away.....oh, and get that beer will nice and cold !!...lol

[010175]

Update- I found the driver side rear speaker has a frayed copper wire that runs from the speaker connection to the speaker’s paper cone. The frayed ends were touching the speaker frame and shorting out. I trimmed off the wires and it seems to be ok so far. Thanks to all. Let me know where to send the cold beer. Dave

[ssatch]

yep, that's what happens and if the radio had not been designed to shut down then you would be repairing the radio also....lol
glad to have been of help to ya...