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We have a 2000 Nissan Altima which has low miles and is running great. I don't know if this has anything to do with my issue, but about six months ago I got a cassette adapter which allows you to plug the other end into your smartphone and play anything on it. You can even stream internet radio provided the signal is good enough. About a week ago I made the belated discovery that, with my Galaxy S5, it worked amazingly well as a hands-free setup for using the phone function itself; in fact it seemed much better than just using the phone by itself, or with earbuds. As well, everyone said they could hear and understand me fine.
So what happens? After six months of enjoying music and podcasts behind the wheel, along with a couple of days of crystal clear voice calling, the whole thing just died. The radio still turns on, scans stations, and remembers presets, but there is absolutely no sound. Fuses are fine. At the moment of audio death, I was driving home from the Sports Authority where I had just bought a heavy kettlebell weight, and this was riding on the passenger seat next to me. The podcast I was listening to suddenly stopped with a weird squeaking noise, and I wondered if the kettlebell had somehow managed to fall on my phone and crush it. It hadn't. Later, I used the cassette adapter in my home stereo and confirmed that it wasn't the source of the problem.
Replacing the stereo by myself isn't something I'd feel comfortable attempting, and there are reasons I don't even want a radio at all. Number one is that I live in greater San Diego, which has the most worthless terrestrial radio market it has ever been my pleasure to disdain and despise. There is almost nothing on it that my wife or I really want to listen to, except maybe NPR and then that's usually just for me. There's no hard rock station. At all! None! Zero! I went to college here in the late 1970s, and the musical offerings now seem remarkably similar to those back then, with a good deal of 1970s soft rock still being played. Back then, though, there were still rock stations on the FM band.
Neither do I want a CD player. I would say that 90% of the CDs I have will no longer play, and most of them have not been left in the back seats of cars on sunny days. Fortunately, though, most of those, or at least the ones I've tried, will still play in my old notebook's CD/DVD drive, so I have been able to rip them into my mp3 collection.
So all I need is the ability to play mp3s, and I'm wondering if there is any cheaper alternative to fixing or replacing the car stereo, i.e. a couple of small speakers mounted over the built-in ones, powered by the lighter socket. (This car has two sockets, one in the dashboard as usual, and the other in the storage console between the front seats.)
Is there anything like this on the market? I've seen small speakers that can you can play your phone through, but they seem intended rather for home use than automotive use.
They have media receivers now that don't have a CD (or tape) and just provide a way to connect to phone or music device via Bluetooth or USB. A local stereo shop can hook you up.
It might be cheaper to buy a unit online as most local stereo shops tend to charge 75%+ when compared to online. When I still bought stereo equipment for my car I usually paid half the price online for everything from speakers to head units to amplifiers.
If you know how to follow instructions, replacing the stereo unit in the dashboard is not a very difficult task. Here's a Youtube video that shows how to remove the trim and get at it.
If you know how to follow instructions, replacing the stereo unit in the dashboard is not a very difficult task. Here's a Youtube video that shows how to remove the trim and get at it.
You can get a replacement factory stereo on Ebay. Also check car-parts.com, this will give you a list of wrecking yards in your area that have one. You might want to also check the electronics and auto parts secions of Craigslist as well.
Replacing it isnt really difficult The car in the video already have an aftermarket unit installed but the panel removal process s the same. However the video doesnt show how to actually remove the radio. From this page it looks like many of the cars Ive done, 4 screws, 2 on each side
Once those are out pull the unit out carefully, there should be enough wire to pull it completely out and unplug the wires, you may need a little screwdriver to unclip them from the radio. Then plug in your new old radio, test it out, if it works put everything back together in reverse order.
Big thing to remember, be gentle in prying off the panels, and keep track of any loose peices screws washers clips etc that come out. For prying I use a paint can opener like you get for free at Home Depot when you buy house paint.
Replacing with a new aftermarket stereo is more involved. You need a wiring harness and install kit. You have to put the kit together, mount the stereo in it, and wire the harness to the stereo's wiring. Once that is done the whole thing will install where the factory radio goes and plug into the factory wiring. However you get so many options with new stereos, CD, USB thumb drive, Iphone, smartphone, aux in, Pandora, Sirius, Bluetooth, HD radio.
For $150 you can have a nice unit that runs Bluetooth and all the modern features that make it worthwhile. Get the wiring harness and install kit and it looks good and sharp.
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