Football Radio!

[1998v8sho]

Hello everyone,

I changed the alternator on my 98SHO today. I went with a MotorCraft one. I did not feel like playing the alternator game or at least lessen my chances at that game. Anyway, today, I noticed that my radio is not working, the lights for all the buttons are on but when you hit the power button...nothing! and the cig. lighter does not work. The little light is on on the other side though.

What do you guys think? Anyone else have this issue post alt. replacement? Could it be a fuse?

Thank you all in advance for your inputs and advice.

Loukas Zannopoulos

 

[My_Silver_SHO]

I would start with fuses.

 

[1998v8sho]

I checked all the fuses, they look good. I checked the CD magazine and that works properly. The AC part of the football works but still no radio when I hit the power button. What is going on?

Thanks for any input.

 

[ArkanSHO]

Check for fuses under dash and hood.

 

[1998v8sho]

I checked all the fuses under the dash and the hood. Everything looks good. I have a feeling that the head unit if fried. The AC portion of the unit still works. Thank God with this heat. I know someone that is parting out a 96 SHO. Will the head unit from that car work on my 98 SHO?

 

[SHOMEX]

No it wont work! you need a 98 or 99 head unit. 96 and 97 have a different type conector at the back so they wont work.

 

[stephen newberg]

Burnout in these happens regularly, there was some sort of problem with them. Most happened long ago while under warranty and got fixed by Ford. When you are looking at new ones, meaning ones out of other cars, you should look down at the bottom of the display and see if you can detect a very light sort of flash burn mark under the cover plastic. If it is there, the unit has already had its problem and if the unit works, it has been fixed. I think I was told back forever ago it was a single component of the wrong capacity and it tended to fry itself and they replaced it with a higher value one. I forget if they told me a capacitor or a resistor. Its been a while. Anyway, if the unit works and you have that flash mark, its been fixed and is good to go indefinitely. If there is no such mark, you might want to skip that one as it has not yet failed and likely will down the road.

pax, smn

 

[1998v8sho]

So...I bought another radio replacement from E-bay. That unit also does not work. The AC controls work and it lights up. I put the replacement in a buddy's 99 Taurus SHO and it works in his car. At this point I am kind of stumped. The only other thing it could be is the radio control module in the trunk. Does anyone have any other ideas. I checked the fuses, under the dash and under the hood, again and they all look fine. Are there any other fuses that I am not looking at? Does anyone have the fuse diagram for the radio? Does anyone have spare radio control module (trunk) for a 98 SHO or will one from a 96 SHO work?

Thank you all again for the advice and tips

 

[SHOZ123]

You need to see if you are getting power back at the amp in the trunk.

 

[1998v8sho]

Slight update: I took SHOZ123's advice and checked the power going to the amp. So...I did the test and there is power going to the amp. When I plug everything back into the amp I hear a "click" sound coming from the speakers. I look at my radio the clock is on and when I hit the power button the antenna went up and there was sweet static coming form the speakers. I was praising the SHO gods...ISSUE RESOLVED...

I even called up a dealer buddy of mine in Washington and he seemed to think that it was a power issue. He claims that these amps very rarely go bad and a new would cost a little over $350.00!!! I am glad it wasn't the football radio...I would have hated to replace the one I have now (It has a carbon fiber kit on it) or the amp.

So the moral of the story...check all the simple things first before starting to panic and swearing as to why now?!

Thank you everyone for your advice and tips...much appreciated.