Car Radio

[nofishfisherman]

Last night for some odd reason the radio in my 2006 Mazda 3 would not come on.

It was on when I shut the car off but when i went to start the car about 2-3 hours later nothing happened.

I thought i must have just turned it off by accident but that wasn't it. I couldn't get the CD player to work either. The clock and temp which displays on the same display worked fine, it was just the radio and cd player that didn't work.

I then went to go to work this morning and the radio started working again when I started the car. What could have caused the radio to go from working to not working and then back to working again? I thought a blown fuse at first but when it started working again it kind of shot that theory.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm pretty clueless about this stuff.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I had a older durango that would do that sometimes, seemed to have to do with the key, if I would even lightly bump the key it kill the radio, bump the key again and it would come back on.

[nofishfisherman]

Interesting. I'll have to see if it does it again, I'll keep that in mind.

[SkunkedAgain]

It sounds like a loose connection somewhere. Most car stereos have a wire connecting them to the accessory switch in the ignition. That's what allows you to run the radio even when the car isn't running. If that wire is loose, then you'll lose power. I would first check the wiring behind the radio to make sure that there aren't any loose connections or corroded/melted wires. If that's not the case then you might need to trace that accessory wire back to the ignition.

You could also use a multi-tester to determine if the radio is getting consistent power. Maybe the radio has an internal problem and it's not a car wiring issue.

[nofishfisherman]

Once it came back on this morning i suspected a loose wire somewhere. Not so sure how to go about looking for the loose wire though or how to fix it when I find it. My idea of how to fix a car is to drop it off at the shop and toss them my keys.

However its not in the budget to pay someone to fix a radio right now so I'll see what I can find if the problem persists.

[SkunkedAgain]

My low-cost suggestion is to buy a 12-pack of good beer and invite over a friend who knows how to work with car stereos.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I would suspect that there was more than just the radio that was not working. Next time it happens look at a bunch of stuff to see what is working and what is not. Things like dash lights, horn, windshield wipers, turn signals, dome lights, power windows, power locks, HVAC, etc.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Last night for some odd reason the radio in my 2006 Mazda 3 would not come on.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm pretty clueless about this stuff.

Each time before turning the key say out loud "Zoom Zoom Zoom"

that should be the ticket, if not take up the suggestion on the 12 pack and a buddy come over

[nofishfisherman]

Ever since last tuesday when I had the issue its been working normally.

When it happened I was 30-40 minutes from home around 9-10pm and during the drive i didn't notice anything else that wasn't working. I thought about that at the time figuring it might be all my electircal but lights worked, signals, clock, didn't test the air as it was cool outside, power windows worked, moon roof, power locks. Didn't see any other issues.

So far everything is fine so I'll just go with the theory that it was a fluke and if or when it happens again I'll see if I can narrow it down a little more.

If it does stop working I'll either call a buddy and offer a few beers or I'll just get in the habit of singing to myself while i drive.