Lights out on cd player 2004

[the.dude]

My 04 has some lights out on the cd player. I figured that a bulb or something in the head unit had gone out. But, I bought a 6 disc changer to swap out my single disc for and there are 3 lights out on the new one as well. I grabbed a changer from a yukon and plugged it in.... 3 lights out on it too. So, obviously something in the car is not working quite right. Anyone know if there are any fuses or connections to check on that?

[tblake]

What 3 lights are out? Can you post a picture?

[the.dude]

[tblake]

hmmm, odd problem. I know that in my GTP when i switch between cd and radio some lights go dim but come back when i switch back over. I honesly dont think that there are different circuits for the bulbs as they take 12 volts from the interior lights circuit. Are you sure that the decks you are swapping around dont just burnt out lights? I know its a common problem. Got another car that you can plug these into to test out?

[the.dude]

yeah, put the changer in the yukon... all lights work. on two 6 cd changers, the same sets of lights are out on the GP. All lights ON on the yukon... weird huh?

[troy1]

I would check my grounds and voltage. Kind of sounds like your running out of power to light everthing up

[tblake]

But if that were the case, everytime each of us dimmed our interior lights with the dimmer switch, we would have bulbs go out. Unless maybe he had LED's put in.... Did you?

[the.dude]

No LED's I've been using 3 stock in dash units, no changes made to the car at all.

I thought only one pin on the wiring harness was illumination. Am I mistaken? If so, it doesn't really seem possible to have this problem.

[troy1]

If the radio works fine in the other vehicle its obviously has to be a power or a ground issue.

[tblake]

not to dispute you troy, I'm just trying to gain more knowledgy by asking questions... Doesnt the dimmer switch for interior lights act as a varaible resister and cut down voltage to dim interior lights? I find it odd that most of the lights work just fine. If it were a voltage issure, (not enough voltage to light up all the bulbs), then why is it that when I dim my interior lights, (cut down the voltage) that they dont just start dropping out? If it were a poor ground issue, wouldnt it affect the operation of all the lights?

[tblake]

sorry guys, I just checked the interior lighat system schematic for a 2004 gp and it appears that the radio lights are on a different circuit than the rest of the interior lights. Or is my information wrong?

[guitarfish]

I've had GM radios with blown lights, and I've had them repaired at H & R Auto Radio. Ship them the unit, they do a full refurb and warranty the entiure unit for a year. I think it's in the $125-150 range. I've never tried replacing the bulbs myself, but I suppose that's always an option.

[the.dude]

Doesn't it seem like too much of a coincidence that more than one radio has limited illumination? I suppose anything is possible, but it seems far to likely that something in the car is causing this. I'm going to hook the unit up one more time to the yukon and be SURE the lights come on.

[tblake]

Yeah, try that. As for replacing the individual bulbs. I did it a couple of times. Once for my radio and once for a friend. it isnt so bad. It requires basic soldering skills. I cant remember the bulb part number I went with, but I got it from radio shack. If i remember right, the GM replcement was only rated for 3000 hours of use, and the replacements I used 10,000 hours of life. When i had mine apart, i changed all of them. Can also try ebay for some LED's. They last forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[doctorhrdware]

Replacing the lamps with led is nice but you have to know the polarity, so that you can put the led in correctly, so that it will light. The white led would be the best to use for this application,imho.