Hi, I was wondering if anyone around here might be able to help me with something real quick.
I have an older Pioneer DEH-P3100 head unit, and a little bit ago, my subwoofer stopped getting a signal, and then a month or so later, the front left speaker went out. I thought it might have been the speaker, so i swapped the two front ones, and the left "broken" speaker worked when i connected it to the right side. So of course, it must be a problem with the head unit, or the connection to the speakers and subwoofer.
A while ago, someone told me it might be the cold soddered pre-out, or something like that, but then another person i asked said it might be that the speakers are being grounded, and that's what damaged the head unit.
Either way, it sounds like i need a new head unit, but my question is, does it sound like a grounded speaker damaged the head unit, and so i shouldn't just rush out and buy a new unit before i get the speakers fixed, or will replacing the head unit solve my problems?
And also (i know this is long, sorry) would a pioneer DEH-P3500 or 3600 be a comparable replacement?
they meant it may be a cold solder joint, which is when a solder point inside the radio, on the PC board, isn't soldered properly, and you get a bad connection. This is hard to repair unless you know what to look for and how to trace the problem.
grounding out the speakers, is when you have a loose wire going to the speaker, or one of the terminals is touching bare metal. when the wire touches metal that way, it grounds out, and shorts the head unit. this can fry the radio as well.
end result either way is that you need to either replace that pioneer, or get it serviced by a radio repair shop. your call.
so if one of the speakers grounded, shorting the head unit, would that mean that i shouldn't be able to hear any music at all? because my rear speakers still work fine. if that's the case, then it would be the cold solder, not grounded speakers, correct?
you can ground out just one speaker, and it won't always damage anything.. not permanently. in fact if a speaker does ground, you may not hear anything or it may sound really bad or odd.
hmmm. so i'm told that if i wanted to just swap out my old stereo for a newer pioneer like the deh-p3600, i would need a new wiring harness, as the one for my deh-p3100 is too old to accommodate a new one. If this is true, that's just one more reason to get my old unit repaired instead of buying a new one. Assuming the problem is the cold solder, approximately how much do you think repairs will cost altogether?
well, every model has a different wiring adapter. This is in part to help avoid mis-wiring, and to deter theft. anyway the new Pioneer comes with its own wiring harness. you just need to connect it to the harness adapter that plugs into your car, and that'll be the same adapter regardless. If they told you that you'd need a new one, they're either lazy, dishonest, or just want to sell you another $10 part.
If the old Pioneer can be repaired, the price varies. Locally, it's $25 deposit to diagnose the problem, and if the total cost goes over $125, they'll call you.