Stereo keeps cutting out

[Srcholmes]

Hi All,

It has taken me a while, but I've sort of traced a fault that causes my stereo to keep cutting out. 

After removing it several times over several weekends, and mucking about checking wires, I finally realised that the "loose connection" (or whatever it is) is up at the top of one the vertical braces (I don't know what it is called) that the stereo mounts onto. 

Yes, the vertical braces that mount the cup holder, ashtray and stereo, yes one of the braces that is bolted to the floor and disappears into the dashboard either side of the ventilation controls!!

If I grab the one nearest the driver and give it a tug/bash, it interferes with the power to the radio. 

I am assuming that it is leaning or trapping a wire in a wiring loom or something and I just wanted to ask if anyone has any advice before I start to unscrew everything to see what it is.

Is it best to attack it through the ventilation controls, or take the speedo binnacle off?  How far into the dashboard does the bar reach?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Steve

[shnazzle]

That's an odd one. Not encountered that before.

I can't even really imagine how wires are being trapped there.

Did a bit of digging and the ground point for the stereo is actually indeed on the right hand "Instrument Panel Brace".
That seems to be a bit loose.
That diagram is for a LHD car but I see no indication as to why they would swap that around for the RHD. if they did, it's in the same place, on the left.

2nd problem; how do you get there?
My gut instinct is thta you cna get to it from under the steering wheel. I hope you're flexible.
Remove the plastic cover under the steering wheel, grab a torch and happy hunting. Might have to do it by feel.
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[Srcholmes]

Thanks Shnazzle - I'll definitely have a look at that before taking half the dashboard out, it sounds like a sensible reason that could cause the issue.
Cheers ;o)
Steve

[Srcholmes]

So I had a good look where Shnazzle suggested and I can confirm that the ground point is in the same place for a RHD car, and mine was securely fastened.

In fact I was able to easily see that my hypothesis was wrong as everything looked well organised up there and there was no opportunity for it to be a wiring fault in that area!!!

This led me (whilst uncomfortably lying half in and out of the car) to continue to prod about pushing and pulling, tapping and hitting to see if I could get the radio to burst in to life.  Which I finally did.  (Bear in mind I've done this lots and lots of times!)

But, if I gently pushed at the side of the radio, near the top right hand corner it would briefly burst into life!!  Imagine the front of the radio is a rectangle and you push the top right hand corner to make it a parallelogram... well that was what I was doing and the radio would work.

So... time to try a different radio!!  I've taken it apart and it looks fine, so I'll try a donor radio to see if that fixes the problem!!

[shnazzle]

So I had a good look where Shnazzle suggested and I can confirm that the ground point is in the same place for a RHD car, and mine was securely fastened.

In fact I was able to easily see that my hypothesis was wrong as everything looked well organised up there and there was no opportunity for it to be a wiring fault in that area!!!

This led me (whilst uncomfortably lying half in and out of the car) to continue to prod about pushing and pulling, tapping and hitting to see if I could get the radio to burst in to life.  Which I finally did.  (Bear in mind I've done this lots and lots of times!)

But, if I gently pushed at the side of the radio, near the top right hand corner it would briefly burst into life!!  Imagine the front of the radio is a rectangle and you push the top right hand corner to make it a parallelogram... well that was what I was doing and the radio would work.

So... time to try a different radio!!  I've taken it apart and it looks fine, so I'll try a donor radio to see if that fixes the problem!!

Thankfully it's not hard to find 2nd hand replacements or a new radio for little money. Just don't get a touch screen and you're all good