Audio Distortion in 1995 E320 Wagon
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Audio Distortion in 1995 E320 Wagon
I have a 1995 320 Wagon that's having some problems with the stereo. When playing, the audio is severely distorted, usually through the front two speakers--th ones on the dash. It sounded for all the world like blown speakers, but upon pulling the speakers and checking them on several other stereos, it's not--they work perfectly. Also, to make matters even more interesting, the channels that are distorted seem to change. While the front two are pretty much the default, sometimes the rear door speakers are distorted, and I've even heard one channel or the other in the front be fine while the other is not. Last night, I even heard the left front go from being fine to being unbearable in less than a second.
Another thing that may be of note, it sometimes seems like if I leave it running for a while, say, an hour, then the front channels work again, almost like once the amp gets good and hot, it starts working. I haven't tested this more than twice because I'm rarely in the car that long, but it has happened the last two times I was on the interstate.
Generally I've taken to just listening to only the two rear channels, but obviously that isn't a good solution. Anyone have any idea what could be going on? My guess is that either the head unit or the amp in the trunk has gone bad, but I'm not sure how I'd go about finding out what is bad short of just haphazardly replacing them, and I'm a bit baffled at how it works sometimes and others not. Has anyone seen anything similar?
Thanks for the help.
Another thing that may be of note, it sometimes seems like if I leave it running for a while, say, an hour, then the front channels work again, almost like once the amp gets good and hot, it starts working. I haven't tested this more than twice because I'm rarely in the car that long, but it has happened the last two times I was on the interstate.
Generally I've taken to just listening to only the two rear channels, but obviously that isn't a good solution. Anyone have any idea what could be going on? My guess is that either the head unit or the amp in the trunk has gone bad, but I'm not sure how I'd go about finding out what is bad short of just haphazardly replacing them, and I'm a bit baffled at how it works sometimes and others not. Has anyone seen anything similar?
Thanks for the help.
