Ghost radio in car Ford Focus 1.6

Joey the lips

Hi Folks

Wondered can you help. I have dropped into a local garage and they think this is a mystery as well. My car radio comes on all by itself. Whats worse is it comes on full volume.

Its very strange. Just to let you know a little.

It has only happen 6 times in 2 seperate periods of 3 over a year+

There is nothing stuck in the button. Its an orig ford radio so does not have the clip off panels that usually cause the radios to go off.

Anyone head of this. Can it be an earth fault. Is there any danger i could be stranged considering the 1 hour display comes up on the radio.


Note: this has nothing got to do with driving through flooding. The car has only been out this morning since sunday and no flooding on the road,

biko

Could be earth or some other wiring. Best check connection and cables.
Is it getting worse?

Joey the lips

biko wrote: »

Could be earth or some other wiring. Best check connection and cables.
Is it getting worse?

I dont know if its getting worse tbb its just the second time its happened.

How do i check the earth? Sounds stupid but as its a ford fitted radio and i generally dont have a clue about radios i dont know where to start.

V Eight

I had a 2001 SEAT Ibiza with a ghost radio. Thought one of my neighbours was having a party on a week day and playing really loud music at two in the morning. Put my head out the window to discover it was my Ibiza playing Metallica all on its own. It continued doing this for about a week so I took it to a dealership and after some arguing - eventually they replaced it....

Sonz

V Eight wrote: »

I had a 2001 SEAT Ibiza with a ghost radio. Thought one of my neighbours was having a party on a week day and playing really loud music at two in the morning. Put my head out the window to discover it was my Ibiza playing Metallica all on its own. It continued doing this for about a week so I took it to a dealership and after some arguing - eventually they replaced it....

Least the car had good taste

v240gltse

hi

read recently that if you leave a cd in the radio drive the radio intermittently turns itself on :rolleyes:, ( source of problem has not been identified but can lead to a flat battery )

try leaving out a cd if you usually leave it in.

hope this helps

brendan

richard1989

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6UHLd_zxuo

Joey the lips

Thanks for some of the useless answers.

Anyway i considered the earth fault. There is a metal clamp located under the fues box. This is a flat metal clamp and its secured to the frame. Its very difficult to get to so i tried moving it with the screwdriver and the radio came on.

Would this indicate an earth fault?

There looks like to be a lot of electrical wires running in this so i am wondering why its only effecting the radio....

Anyway more decent ideas appreciated.

I am wondering if i hook a pce of copper wire onto this then run it to a different part of the body would it make a temp fix but i would be afraid of fooking it up...

Thanks folks.

Joey the lips

Just been playing around with that strap i was talking about under the radio. It seems now the radio is coming on more frequently so i amy be on to something. However a couple of things i cannot understand.

Nothing else is effected in the car except the radio. Not even the obvious things like the lights or windows.

I am tempted to take the radio fuse out until i find it although i wonder am i masking the problem so to speak.

Hal1

I would take out the radio and check for any bodged wiring jobs. Does it have a hands free kit fitted or anything like that?

Joey the lips

Hal1 wrote: »

I would take out the radio and check for any bodged wiring jobs. Does it have a hands free kit fitted or anything like that?

Yes it has a nokia kit. I checked the wiring. It looks fine and is not connected to the radio fuse by the looks of it.

iamthemanwork

Sounds loike your radio is 6000 model with volume control in centre of facia. If I am correct then you do have a fault in radio and it will get a lot worse as time goes on.
If you decide to remove the fuse so as to protect your battery you will have to enter the code each time you power it on.
Repairing car stereo sound systems is my full time job and I have repaired this fault many times. P M me if you like

Joey the lips

iamthemanwork wrote: »

Sounds loike your radio is 6000 model with volume control in centre of facia. If I am correct then you do have a fault in radio and it will get a lot worse as time goes on.
If you decide to remove the fuse so as to protect your battery you will have to enter the code each time you power it on.
Repairing car stereo sound systems is my full time job and I have repaired this fault many times. P M me if you like

Its the model in the above picture... Whats my options....

Senna

Sounds like iamthemanwork knows of this problem, PM him.