I have a 1988 C4 with a factory Bose Delco radio that has intermittent problems with the radio reception. The cassette works fine. At some stage an Alpine CD changer (in the luggage tray behind the passenger seat), control unit (dash mounted) and FM modulator (behind the radio) has been installed. When the Corvette gods are smiling everything works just fine - CD OK, cassette OK, both FM and AM radio reception fine. Then something like Schroedinger's Cat kicks in and the radio stops - a both dead and alive situation. This can happen when: the car goes around a corner; the shifter is moved; the car is accelerated hard; the Nile River is in flood...you get the picture. On some occasions, things will work again when the side of the radio housing is given a good bash. Sometimes again, when the trim is gently pushed. Sometimes this has no effect at all and the radio will suddenly burst happily into life for no apparent reason. Oh...BTW, when I say the radio is not going it does give the 'off station' hiss - as loud as the volume is turned up!
Delving in the innards behind the radio I found not one but two FM modulators - one made by Alpine for the CD changer, the other something else. I have checked all the connections - all seems OK.
My question is: can a faulty relay cause these problems? There is always power to the radio, its just the reception. The antenna is OK - besides the CD doesn't route through the antenna though the FM signal from the controller and changer and the antenna both go into the modulator. The symptoms would indicate something loose somewhere or possibly the relay, though I would think that the radio would be totally dead if the relay was sticking (??). Any ideas of how to sort this out would be appreciated ... I have spent a year trying to get to the bottom of it.
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