Radio Cutting Out

[StevoWarby]

I have been having problems with the radio in my Leon Cupra. Every now and again the sound from the radio just cuts out. The unit stays on, and I can move the volume up and down but there is just no sound - and it's the same for all sources - tape, radio and CD. I occasionally hear some "crackling" from the rear drivers main speaker, and eventually the sound will come back gradually. When I say gradually I mean that you can just about hear the sound coming back and it slowly gets louder and louder until it is back up to the volume set.... this process can take up to a minute.

I've taken the car in to the new "Thomson and Thomson" dealer in Caldicott in South Wales, and they have replaced the head unit under warranty a couple of months ago. Everything was fine for a couple of weeks but the problem has come back again.

The frustrating thing about this is that it is very intermittent. It won't happen for a couple of weeks, and then (Like last night), it will do it six times in a 40 minute trip. It tends to mainly happen when hitting a pot-hole in the road or a big bump.

I am a bit worried that it could be wiring, as the same dealer has had to replace the headlight switch because when they took it off to look at a separate problem, the whole thing and all the wires just came apart.

Do you guys have any ideas on what could be the problem?

My details are as follows:

NAME: Steve Warburton
ADDRESS: 4 Ty Coed, Hafod Court Road, Thornhill, Cwmbran NP44 5TT
REG: FJ 51 LSC
VEHICLE TYPE: Seat Leon Cupra 2002 Model

I don't have the chassis and engine numbers to hand - I can get the details if you like, but I suspect they are not really significant in this case.

For your information the car is a Hertz Lease car.

Hoping you can help!,

[Fl@pper]

only thing i can think of is either the polarity of the wiring needs to be checked and ALSO the speakers themselves - we used to replace quite a few that just seem to short out on certain tunes - try running a bassy and slow track preferably a test track/CD as it will highlight any problems as it moves up the frequencies - MAPLIN's do em for about a £5 :jog:

[Miridor]

Sounds like a trapped cables shortting together mate:eek:
Hit a bump or turn it up enough and hay prestow it protects so it dont blow up:)

[StevoWarby]

OK Cheers guys - I will take a run down Maplins at some point.

I think I have a more serious issue to deal with now - driving in to work this morning and the "Excessive pollution / Diagnosis" light starts flashing yellow and the car judders really really badly. Does that mean a coil has knacked? If so is it still OK to drive? I had to drive 25 miles with the car like this, this morning.

Stevo.

[DrDave]

With the MIL lamp on, you really shouldn't drive it any further, especially if the car is misfiring and shuddering - the catalyst will probably melt. Not good newz.

If you drive a car with the MIL on in Canada, the cops will fine you or take your car away from you :(

[StevoWarby]

Cheers DrDave.

Not knowing anything about the engine would the "catalyst melting" have anything to do with why nearly all the wires in to the coils were split and cracked from excessive heat, as the recovery guy said?

He said it looked very dangerous and bad for a car with only 14,500 miles on it and that the whole lot could've gone up in smoke in the not-to-distant future.

Stevo.

[Steve185]

I had a similar problem with the radio, dealer sorted it quickly, it was a broken mounting clip on one of the door mount speakers (tweater, I think) causing a short circuit

[DrDave]

I reckon you were lucky Steveo

[chipstarbuck]

I've posted on another thread, so this isn't uncommon. I have the exact same problem, and the radio can sometimes stay off for a whole journey. My boss has just experienced the same thing in his octavia. must be a known fault. but known by who?

[adamwharton]

I have had the same problem with my leon 1.8 20vt sport. The radio was always protecting its self and now it doesnt play anything and i can smell an electrical burning, so i am recconing some kind of short, I have removed the fuse till i get chance to find the problem,

[BoomhaueR]

I occasionally (twice a month maybe) get the sound cut out as described in the first post. It did it with the standard Aura HU, and now with my new alpine. It did it today, for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then faded back in over about 1 sec. Tried changing tracks, switching HU on/off, disconnecting/reconnecting ipod to no avail. All connections in the back of HU are secure, and cables are new.

So would it most likely be a speaker cable short somewhere? I am hopeless with electronics. Anyone found a solution to this? :help: