Hi all,

My 03 G sedan has always had this problem, but it's been more and more frequent as of late. I've done a good amount of searching on Driver, and other G community websites, but I am unable to find someone who has the same issue. It would be great if anyone can shed some light on this:

My stock headunit (cd/cassette/radio - non-Bose system) would "fade" in and out from time to time. The HVAC works fine, and the display on the headunit operate as it should as well. But the sound seems to have a mind of its own. For example: when I hop in my car and turn on the cd player for some tunes, there would be no sound...until I start driving for a good few minutes that the sound would slowly "fade in" and eventually work as it should. If I turn off the car and return after a while, the problem would return, and would take time for the sound to "return".

I know the electronics on 03's are a nightmare, but this issue doesn't seem to be related to the other topics about malfunctioning radios and their circuit boards; or at least it doesn't seem to be, since my HVAC seems to function as it should.

I's just curious as to what might be causing this problem and try to fix it before taking more drastic measures such as going double-din...
Any info/guidance would be awesome, and much appreciated. TIA!

 

Double din's not drastic.

Some people have had luck punching the unit in the side.

Is it only CD audio that has problems, or all audio sources?

Somebody posted a fix where you trim a small amount off the ribbon cable to get fresh contacts that may help you, if it's only CD (and maybe cassette). If radio does it as well, I'd say the whole headunit may be gone, or perhaps the amp if it's a Bose headunit.

 

Thanks for the reply!

This actually occurs with all functions of the unit; radio, cd, and cassette. It almost feels like the unit needs time to "ramp up" or "charge up" before going back to normal operation. Once it gets to that point, everything works well; that's what puzzles me, HAHA.

I'll investigate further into this issue. As I'm curious about messing with the fuses?...maybe?

As far as going double din...the idea is very very tempting! I've read through the sticky about the various parts necessary in the conversion. Thw process of swapping out the unit seems straightforward enough, but the wiring is what intimidates me.

I've messed with others things on the car, but never anything electrical. Gremlins scare me

 

Fuses are a yes or no thing, either they're working or not, so I would highly doubt it's that.

If you've got the Bose unit, I'd say amp is a possible problem, but can't really diagnose that from here.

 

I need to chime in on this discussion. I have been experiencing a simular issue. About 3 times out of 4 when I start up the car the radio and cd will work for about 20 seconds then the sound goes out then will come back on in about 10-20 seconds, then back out then on again. I can go for a few days where this does not happen then this will happen for a few days in a row. I have 03 coupe with Bose. Any thoughts on this.?The dealer has been no help. I do punch the side of the unit which may help sometimes. Argh!

 

Bad ribbon cable or circuit board.

 

Thanks, any fix for these? I think I read a thread about the ribbon clean. I suspect the circuit board will be $$$$$'s.

 

Ribbon cable can be repaired sometimes, but best thing to do is just go aftermarket and not worry about it.

If it's the ribbon cable, here's the thread for how to fix it.
https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-v...g-channel.html

 

I have looked at the threads and my issue is similar but different so I thought I’d start here

I have an 06 G35 Sedan with the Bose system and Navi. About six months ago the CD changer went stupid and cycled through the CD’s over and over. After shutting down are restarting it cycled through them and all was well.

Then about two months ago it did it again. After a restart it was ok.

Last month, no sound from any source.

I checked basic functionally and all looks good; stations are there, disks load and eject, CD time ticks away, steering wheel controls do as they are supposed to, volume numbers go up and down, AC is OK, but no sound.

I discovered that if I keep Next Tracking the cd I could get sound. Now that doesn’t work.

I pulled the Blue connector and checked and was getting no voltage across the inputs to the amp and the Amp On was at +12 volts. When I hooked it back up it everything worked for about a day.

Since I don’t like the din replacements yet I am going to get a replacement CD/Audio unit (I see they are about $100.)

My question, are there any tests I can do on the amp? (Don’t want to buy a refurb and the issue be the amp)

Can I apply a signal directly to the amp from a low level source (i.e mp3 player) to test it?

Thanks in advance.