Tai230K

MY C-coupe's radio has been skipping whenever i hit a bump on the right side... i asked the customer rep what's the deal and he asked a tech.. he said the cd and the radio are connected so they will skip together... sounds like total BS to me... i understand if the CD changer skips but the radio???... any suggestions on what the real problem is?... wires???

Matt230K

No idea what the problem is, but the radio does not skip. Take it in and make them fix it.

dmatre

There is a loose wire somewhere in your system.

It could be that the amp is shutting down (protection) when one of the speaker leads is shorting, or the amp is shutting down when the power line loses connection. It could also be internal in the radio, etc.

Either way, radios don't skip, and the dealer rep blew it on this one. Advice: let him figure it out.

Tai230K

I brought it in last week for something else and i mentioned it to him that my radio was skipping.... he asked a technician... the technician told him that the radio is connected to the Cd changer so both will skip..... i'm suppose to go back this week to replace a 2nd cd changer... i'll tell him that...

Hey MAtt230K... Do you work in a mb dealership??

KompMan420

Have you tried changing the timing belt in the radio?

Avrex

See my thread "COMAND problem". Having a similar uncommanded audio interupt. Tried the COMAND reset with no luck. Suspect a loose connector. The comment that the CD and Radio will skip together sounds like nonsense--something loose!

Tai230K

haha hmmm i dunno lemme go change it...

Buellwinkle

Try taping pennies to the radio's record player arm. This will help the needle track better and reduce skipping.

There was a TSB a while ago about the radio going on and off by itself while listening to it. The problem was a fiber cable between the radio and cd changer that was too short.

Matt230K

Yeah, you got a question?

Tai230K

no just wondering i remember you said something about your dealership and stuff..... yeah are you a tech or a customer rep?...

Matt230K

I'm a lot tech, if that counts as a tech.

I'll be graduating college in June, and hopefully they'll offer me something better. Or else I guess I'll leave.

Tai230K

haha kewls... sounds like a plan!

SynergyC320

Hehe, I like the suggestions I have read =) Timing belt, pennies, etc! What they told you makes absolutely no sense at all! I work in the autosound business, and believe me, the CD changer has nothing to do with the radio cutting out.

As a couple people have mentioned, a loose connector is usually the cause of the problem. I have personally seen brand new vehicles do this because a connector wasn't "clicked" in all the way during production. Simply finding the connector and pushing it in until it locks usually does the trick.

Couple questions:

1) Has anything been altered? A pair of aftermarket speakers installed incorrectly could short when you hit a bump (improper wiring) and cause the amplifier to shut down momentarily. This is rare, however, with factory installed speakers.

2) Does the radio itself shut off also, or just the sound from the speakers? If the radio shuts off (no display, etc) then you are more than likely losing power to the radio, and that will narrow down your search. If the radio display stays on while the sound is gone, then i would check the speakers and/or amplifier.

Hope this helps some =)

Cris

Tai230K

nice sig SynergyC320 !.... i'm pretty sure the pennies was a joke... if not WOW... haha.... the timing belt well... yeah

Well i haven't modified anything audio in my car... i'm assuming it's a loose wire somewhere.... the sound just skips for about 2 or 3 seconds.... i'm bringing in the car tomorrow for a cd changer swap and i'll tell my dealer rep again... hopefully he'll give me another prognosis of the situation...

SynergyC320

Ok if the speaks are all stock, then you can pretty reliably rule out a short in those connections, and if any of them were loose, it would only affect that particular speaker, nbot all of them. Which leaves the head unit or amp. If the lights go out on the radio when the sound cuts out, its the head unit harness. If not, well it could be either =) But more likely the amp connection. Good luck with it! If its under warranty, I would just let them sweat it out anyway!

Cris

mikeedward

I had a similiar problem with my radio. It appeared to skip when the radio was on or the cassette or the CD. I found that the fiber optic cable was loose on the radio end. I click it in and the prblem disappeared.

Avrex

At least in my case! The intermittent audio pause is a design COMAND feature when the intergrated phone is installed. If a voice message has been rcvd, but not cleared, the system will pause the audio every three minutes for five seconds until the msg is cleared. I can't find a clear description of this in the manual, but the dealer knew instantly what was causing the interupt. Skipping of the audio when a bump is hit, is another issue and is probably a loose connector.