Hello All, My 94 Maxima GXE Bose stereo is broken. When the car is turned on, the light for the CD player in the stereo lights up when a cd is inserted, and the radio will both accept and eject cds and cassettes(all normal behavior). However, there is no display (where the cd tracks or radio station is usually shown) and there is no sound from the speakers. Usually upon inserting a cd the stereo will power up on its own, but now it doesn't. The cd can be heard spinning in the player, but no sound is produced. Pushing the track forward and back buttons seems to have no effect on the spinning sound.
I removed the stereo and opened it up, hoping to find a loose connection, but everything looked fine. When I reinstalled the stereo, it worked! But today it didn't. After fiddling with it today, I've discovered the oddest part of the problem. If the car is turned on without the radio installed, and the radio is hooked up while the car is on, the radio will work perfectly, display and all. If the car is then turned off an restarted, the problem reoccurs and the radio no longer works. It will only work properly when it is detached from the car completely and then reattached while the car is on. Shutting the car off or installing it with the car off will cause it to be nonfunctional again.
Does anyone know what the problem could possibly be? Ive never heard of such a bizzare problem. The connections in the back of the radio do not seem to be loose, and jiggling the connectors while the radio is working does not affect its performance.
Also, my Maxima has been idling rough lately. This problem is especially noticeable when the car is started in the cold, and also when it has been drving and stops at a light. The car sometimes idles at 700rpm (with accessories and lights off), but sometimes idles lower (~600rpm) and sometimes fluctuates 50-100rpm while idling. At times, when the accelerator is pressed from a stop, the car hesitates and sounds as if it will stall, but then "catches" and begins to drive normally. The problem occurs in all gears (P, D, R, N. Shifting does change the idle rpm, but not predictably; sometimes it will sound better in D than in P, sometimes worse. Gas milage has decreased over the past year, from about 25 highway/18 city to 16 highway/10 city. Not good at all! Brought it to a mechanic recently, reportedly a very good mechanic, and he said he couldn't find anything wrong. No error codes.
I wish I could describe the problem better, but it is an inconsistent problem and I haven't been able to figure the conditions that trigger it. It certainly is worse in cold weather, but doesn't seem to directly correlate with the cold... some very cold days it idles well, and some wamer days it idles terribly. The problem comes and goes. Sometimes the problem gets better and is much less noticeable (but still present) when the car is warm, but sometimes even after driving it for many miles it still shakes and idles poorly when stopped. I sometimes drive it harder and sometimes cruise and drive it softly, but that seems to have no clear effect on the problem.
Thanks in advance for your help. Ive learned a lot from reading this group, and I appreciate all the advice I can get! - Joe
P.S. 105000 miles