Intermittent Issue with Sony Car Stereo.

keralshobhit · 31st May 2009, 13:00

Hey,
I have been facing strange trouble with my Sony car stereo from quite many months. I have done all my efforts to find the solution for it, but forget about the solution I am not able to track the issue yet.
Well I have Sony car stereo in my i10 Magna, which I got from my friend in Agra who is a Sony car stereo distributor.2 months it worked fine, and then all of a sudden it started giving me a strange problem. Power from the stereo goes off for few seconds and then back and player is back on demo screen with all setting and time reset. In the beginning it was not that frequent, so I ignored it. Later with time frequency of this issue increased and even the time for which the power is missing also increased to almost 5 seconds.
I got the whole wiring checked from local mechanic and twice at Hyundai Motor Plaza. The problem I was facing was that it was an intermittent issue and it never use to happen in the service centre. Once sure wiring is ok I went to Sony club electronic in South X and got the Sony player serviced twice. According to them there is no issue with the player since it never happened in front of them. I took the Sony guy for a half an hour drive, all in vane problem didn’t come up in front of him. So now I have no other option left Sony says player is fine, Hyundai says car is fine. And player is not giving problem in front of them. It was so irritating, which I can’t ever express in words here. What next I exchanged (for few days) the player with one of my colleague who was using the same player (New Model) in his 800, and guess what I went to 1000 km trip and not even once problem came up. But for a strange reason the problem didn’t came up in his car also. My stereo was working absolutely fine in his car and his stereo in mine. This was really getting on my nerves now; I purchased new Sony pen drive just to confirm that it’s not the pen drive which is causing a problem.
Finally I raised the SOS to my friend in Agra (Sony Distributor).He called the main Sony Office and asked me to give your stereo there for servicing. I did that 2 days back and haven’t heard from them yet. But I was wondering what can be the issue?
What in case I still face the same issue?
If anyone else has faced such an issue please advice.
Do let me know if I could have done something different to rectify the issue.
Thanks in advance

DerAlte · 31st May 2009, 22:14

Nothing wrong with your HU. The problem is in your wiring. This time when you put your HU back, it will surely work properly. The wire which brings un-switched 12V to the HU (normally an orange wire) would have been loose at the harness or HU connector. When you swapped HUs, all the shaking and pulling would have corrected the intermittence. The unswitched 12V is needed by the HU to retain settings memory, and switching it off resets the HU and all settings.

Next time if you have that problem, ask the technician to check for loose contact on that wire.

ghpk · 31st May 2009, 22:36

I agree with DerAlte as I've had same issue with Sony HU itself, it used to go blank for no reason and then revive a few moments later.
The lose connector was the issue in my case and i was able to resolve it by cleaning the adapter which gets plugged in HU.

keralshobhit · 1st June 2009, 01:59

Thanks DerAlte and ghpk.
Will surely try this in case the problem still persists.

panky12345 · 1st June 2009, 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by keralshobhit

trouble with my Sony car stereo

Problem and solution in one line.. I'd been experiencing similar problems a couple of years back. As soon as I shifted from Sony, all disappeared.

rkavthekar · 1st June 2009, 14:14

A long shot, but still a possibility. It would be good idea to get your alternator also checked. I had this issue, where oil was leaking onto alternator brushes from oil seal. That was causing issue in terms of alternator output. I got my alternator serviced from Lucas and since then issue never occured again.

There was also a reason to suspect alternator issue, coz, i could definitely notice dash light and headlamps getting brighten up and then come back to normal after upredictable intervals and hence we thought alternator might have been an issue. I am not sure of you notice any symptoms that might suggest alternator issue and hence I started my post with "A long shot".

Anyways, do update us once you get back you HU.

takecare and drive safely

Rajesh

keralshobhit · 1st June 2009, 16:40

@ rkavthekar.
Thanks for the suggestion.i will surely consider this also.
Let me just get back HU from Sony Mathura road.
BUT i really doubt about the orange wire being loose.Because i have opened the front panel almost "n" number of times by now,to an extend that i have slightly damaged the the fiber outside because of putting a screw driver every time to pop the AC cover out.Right now whole thing is open in my car.I will go and check the orange wire.But i know i have done that many a times.I expect some thing from Sony people this time.I am so much bugged up that i feel like throwing the HU in the dustbin.
Lets c what Sony people have in them.....

ghpk · 1st June 2009, 22:34

A temporary solution to check if this is a wiring defect, you can ask any car electrician to Connect the Player mains to some other point,
it can be a direct from battery (make sure to use a fuse near battery if you go this way)
this should show you if the Accessory wiring is culprit or not.

Other than this what i can think of is a Losse, or a DRY solder in the power-supply stage on the Players PCB.

keralshobhit · 2nd June 2009, 14:38

Well I just got a call from Sony India regarding my Sony car stereo.
They mentioned that they found the main board of the player to be faulty and ordered a new one from Singapore.They will let me know once received.
This sounds like a good news to me.

keralshobhit · 16th July 2009, 03:09

So finally they replaced the main board of the system.
Within 200 km run i got the problem again.I lost all hopes by now.Still i gathered enough courage and gave it again to Sony.They checked it for days together and they said there is no problems with it. By the time i borrowed friends Sony HU for a Rohtang trip.It worked absolutely fine.
So just to oblige and satisfy me Sony agreed to replace the front face also. I was happy that since main board was already replaced and if there is anything left than it is the front face.Got the HU back with new front face. Came out from Sony with smiling face. Got the same problem within 15 min.i was about to faint.
Planning to throw it away now.
Concluding to a point that either i am MAD or there is some ghostly effect in my HU.
:(

DerAlte · 16th July 2009, 11:21

Our commiserations! Neither are you mad (of course you have the right to get mad at Sony), nor is there a ghostly effect. I still believe this is an issue with the wiring and connectors outside the board.

sonirohit · 16th July 2009, 12:07

Why did you buy Sony in the first place when there were kennys & pios around??? It's a crime to buy a Sony HU if you are a TBHPian

31st May 2009, 13:00	#1
keralshobhit BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Gurugram Posts: 122 Thanked: 22 Times View My Garage	Intermittent Issue with Sony Car Stereo. Hey, I have been facing strange trouble with my Sony car stereo from quite many months. I have done all my efforts to find the solution for it, but forget about the solution I am not able to track the issue yet. Well I have Sony car stereo in my i10 Magna, which I got from my friend in Agra who is a Sony car stereo distributor.2 months it worked fine, and then all of a sudden it started giving me a strange problem. Power from the stereo goes off for few seconds and then back and player is back on demo screen with all setting and time reset. In the beginning it was not that frequent, so I ignored it. Later with time frequency of this issue increased and even the time for which the power is missing also increased to almost 5 seconds. I got the whole wiring checked from local mechanic and twice at Hyundai Motor Plaza. The problem I was facing was that it was an intermittent issue and it never use to happen in the service centre. Once sure wiring is ok I went to Sony club electronic in South X and got the Sony player serviced twice. According to them there is no issue with the player since it never happened in front of them. I took the Sony guy for a half an hour drive, all in vane problem didn’t come up in front of him. So now I have no other option left Sony says player is fine, Hyundai says car is fine. And player is not giving problem in front of them. It was so irritating, which I can’t ever express in words here. What next I exchanged (for few days) the player with one of my colleague who was using the same player (New Model) in his 800, and guess what I went to 1000 km trip and not even once problem came up. But for a strange reason the problem didn’t came up in his car also. My stereo was working absolutely fine in his car and his stereo in mine. This was really getting on my nerves now; I purchased new Sony pen drive just to confirm that it’s not the pen drive which is causing a problem. Finally I raised the SOS to my friend in Agra (Sony Distributor).He called the main Sony Office and asked me to give your stereo there for servicing. I did that 2 days back and haven’t heard from them yet. But I was wondering what can be the issue? What in case I still face the same issue? If anyone else has faced such an issue please advice. Do let me know if I could have done something different to rectify the issue. Thanks in advance
	() Thanks

31st May 2009, 22:14	#2
DerAlte Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 8,069 Thanked: 2,919 Times	Nothing wrong with your HU. The problem is in your wiring. This time when you put your HU back, it will surely work properly. The wire which brings un-switched 12V to the HU (normally an orange wire) would have been loose at the harness or HU connector. When you swapped HUs, all the shaking and pulling would have corrected the intermittence. The unswitched 12V is needed by the HU to retain settings memory, and switching it off resets the HU and all settings. Next time if you have that problem, ask the technician to check for loose contact on that wire.
	() Thanks

31st May 2009, 22:36	#3
ghpk BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ghaziabad Posts: 870 Thanked: 211 Times	I agree with DerAlte as I've had same issue with Sony HU itself, it used to go blank for no reason and then revive a few moments later. The lose connector was the issue in my case and i was able to resolve it by cleaning the adapter which gets plugged in HU.
	() Thanks

1st June 2009, 01:59	#4
keralshobhit BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Gurugram Posts: 122 Thanked: 22 Times View My Garage	Thanks DerAlte and ghpk. Will surely try this in case the problem still persists.
	() Thanks

1st June 2009, 14:14	#6
rkavthekar BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Pune Posts: 205 Thanked: 14 Times	A long shot, but still a possibility. It would be good idea to get your alternator also checked. I had this issue, where oil was leaking onto alternator brushes from oil seal. That was causing issue in terms of alternator output. I got my alternator serviced from Lucas and since then issue never occured again. There was also a reason to suspect alternator issue, coz, i could definitely notice dash light and headlamps getting brighten up and then come back to normal after upredictable intervals and hence we thought alternator might have been an issue. I am not sure of you notice any symptoms that might suggest alternator issue and hence I started my post with "A long shot". Anyways, do update us once you get back you HU. takecare and drive safely Rajesh
	() Thanks

1st June 2009, 16:40	#7
keralshobhit BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Gurugram Posts: 122 Thanked: 22 Times View My Garage	@ rkavthekar. Thanks for the suggestion.i will surely consider this also. Let me just get back HU from Sony Mathura road. BUT i really doubt about the orange wire being loose.Because i have opened the front panel almost "n" number of times by now,to an extend that i have slightly damaged the the fiber outside because of putting a screw driver every time to pop the AC cover out.Right now whole thing is open in my car.I will go and check the orange wire.But i know i have done that many a times.I expect some thing from Sony people this time.I am so much bugged up that i feel like throwing the HU in the dustbin. Lets c what Sony people have in them.....
	() Thanks

1st June 2009, 22:34	#8
ghpk BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ghaziabad Posts: 870 Thanked: 211 Times	A temporary solution to check if this is a wiring defect, you can ask any car electrician to Connect the Player mains to some other point, it can be a direct from battery (make sure to use a fuse near battery if you go this way) this should show you if the Accessory wiring is culprit or not. Other than this what i can think of is a Losse, or a DRY solder in the power-supply stage on the Players PCB.
	() Thanks

2nd June 2009, 14:38	#9
keralshobhit BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Gurugram Posts: 122 Thanked: 22 Times View My Garage	Well I just got a call from Sony India regarding my Sony car stereo. They mentioned that they found the main board of the player to be faulty and ordered a new one from Singapore.They will let me know once received. This sounds like a good news to me.
	() Thanks

16th July 2009, 03:09	#10
keralshobhit BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Gurugram Posts: 122 Thanked: 22 Times View My Garage	So finally they replaced the main board of the system. Within 200 km run i got the problem again.I lost all hopes by now.Still i gathered enough courage and gave it again to Sony.They checked it for days together and they said there is no problems with it. By the time i borrowed friends Sony HU for a Rohtang trip.It worked absolutely fine. So just to oblige and satisfy me Sony agreed to replace the front face also. I was happy that since main board was already replaced and if there is anything left than it is the front face.Got the HU back with new front face. Came out from Sony with smiling face. Got the same problem within 15 min.i was about to faint. Planning to throw it away now. Concluding to a point that either i am MAD or there is some ghostly effect in my HU. :( Last edited by keralshobhit : 16th July 2009 at 03:11.
	() Thanks

16th July 2009, 11:21	#11
DerAlte Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 8,069 Thanked: 2,919 Times	Our commiserations! Neither are you mad (of course you have the right to get mad at Sony), nor is there a ghostly effect. I still believe this is an issue with the wiring and connectors outside the board.
	() Thanks

16th July 2009, 12:07	#12
sonirohit BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Chandigarh Posts: 321 Thanked: 15 Times View My Garage	Why did you buy Sony in the first place when there were kennys & pios around??? It's a crime to buy a Sony HU if you are a TBHPian
	() Thanks