Is there something wrong with my Corolla's stereo

tuxy

I recently got a 03 corolla. When I play anything other than easy listening the music is very distorted. So it's not possible to listen to heavy rock or metal music as it's totally distorted. I figured it might be the speakers so I tried replacing them with fusion ones my friend had. But this did not improve it at all.

So what could I do to try and find what's wrong. Is it the stereo. The tape deck I had in an old 95 xli corolla sounded much better than what I have now.

dr.bollocko

Moved from After Hours.

fonecrusher1

Detach the stereo facia & investigate the back of the stereo unit to see if anything has worked itself loose.

tuxy

Sorry, not sure how I posted in After Hours.

Is there any guide on removing the facia? I don't want to damage it.

fonecrusher1

tuxy wrote: »

Sorry, not sure how I posted in After Hours.

Is there any guide on removing the facia? I don't want to damage it.

Heres a very handy website for corolla owners. Should be of some help to you. http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php

And this deals specifically with stereo unit removal; http://www.nrgizerbunny.com/headunit.html

colm_mcm

check the audio settings on it first.

There are 2 knobs on the radio, push the right hand one and set all levels to "0"
Made sure balance and fader are all centred too.

Goes like this:
first press = Bass
second press = treble
third press = balance (left/right)
fourth press = fader (front/rear)

If the bass is too high you'll get distortion, if the treble is too low you'll have to turn up the stereo more than you need to, distortion again
If the fader/balance is set funny you'll need to turn up the radio high to hear it properly and you'll be walloping the arse out of one speaker instead of having 4 running normally.


If you're removing the stereo be aware that the front part of the stereo is only lightly held in and is easy to pull off and damage

tuxy

Thanks guys. I already checked the settings. The procedure to remove the stereo looks overly complicated.

fonecrusher1

tuxy wrote: »

Thanks guys. I already checked the settings. The procedure to remove the stereo looks overly complicated.

Trust me i had to remove the stereo in my 2000 corolla which is a little more complicated than it would be in your newer corolla & it was fairly simple to be honest.
In fact i kinda enjoyed it.:D

Don't be put off by the pictures. Give it a go.:)

colm_mcm

it's a bit of a pain alright.

fonecrusher1

colm_mcm wrote: »

it's a bit of a pain alright.

:eek:!!???

Sure most of its just yanking out the facia? Theres only a few bolts need removing.

colm_mcm

from memory the surround for the gearshift is held in very tightly and the bolts for the stereo are really easy to lose as they're so far back in the dash.
The newer cars seem to get, the easier it is to mark plastics and generally make a balls of it.
It is a pain of a job if you havent done it before, just noticed the online step by step guide there, the one they use has climate control, AFAIK the manual knobs are harder to take off

fonecrusher1

To be honest with you, looking at the link i found i wouldn't pay anyone to do a little job like this.

colm_mcm

some people pay to have bulbs changed though!

Zubeneschamali

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

To be honest with you, looking at the link i found i wouldn't pay anyone to do a little job like this.

There's no guarantee that pulling it out and putting it back will fix it, though.

That's what she said!

fonecrusher1

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

There's no guarantee that pulling it out and putting it back will fix it, though.

Never said it would.

But he can either live with the sh!t sound coming from his stereo for months & months or take a bit of initiative & take 30 minutes to have a look at the headunit to see if anything is loose. Whats the harm? Sure if he takes it to a professional he'll do exactly the same except charge money for it.

Its only a suggestion.

Zubeneschamali

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Whats the harm?

Broken trim that looks terrible and never stops squeaking/rattling, and a stereo that's still crap?

fonecrusher1

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Broken trim that looks terrible and never stops squeaking/rattling, and a stereo that's still crap?

Only if he goes at it like a bull in a china shop. Ive done it on a few cars & there was no problems.

Whats your advice?

tuxy

Ok I took it apart. It was easy but I still don't see why I had to take so many covers off just to get at the radio.
The previous owner had a sony 10 cd changer installed. I disconnected this and the radio sounds much better. (no idea why)
I wanted to change the radio to one with an aux in. Does anyone know the best way to do this with out losing the readout with mpg info ect..