Cannot see Clock/Radio Station - 97 Grand Prix

I've got a '97 GA; husband has a '98 GP. In both cars, radio/clock display shows gibberish for a few moments after the car is turned on. Turning the radio on/off a few time fixes it.

If this is not your problem, and you just can't see the clock/radio display at all, have you tried turning up the brightness on the interior lighting?

The interior lights are on as bright as they can go. I just cannot see the display at all. I do know that it is working because when the light from the sun shines on it in just the right way i can make out the time.

Try tapping the display. My 02 GP GT does this especially in cold weather. I tap the display and it comes back on.

Does this radio have the orangish color display? Those are backlit with bulbs. Tiny bulbs that are the size of LEDs and soldered in place. I had no luck finding one when I took my mom's Sunfire radio apart to diagnose this same problem. GW

Do you have power on the aux line?

Yes, it has the orange color display. Does this mean i will need to replace the whole unit?

Well, no, but maybe. I couldn't find where to get those bulbs, but that doesn't mean you can't get it fixed, by someone who CAN find those bulbs. Try searching google under "delco repair electronics" or such. GW

I'm not sure what you mean by power on the aux line. Everything works on the unit.

Every car stereo that I have dealt with has a separate power wire for the back light. If you have power to operate the stereo, you may still not have power to the lights.

Try asking Pontiac. This is a very common problem, one that Pontiac/GM knows well. Another piece of poor engineering from our friends at GM. I had the same problem, Pontiac has a name and number of an independent care stereo repair guy ready to go. Cost $160 to repair

$160??? Man you got ripped My radio display on a 99 Grand Prix went, cost me 5 bucks for the bulb and about 15 minutes to install myself

I have a 2002 Grand Prix GT with an AM/FM CD radio. The display would go blank and I could occasionally bring it back by pressing on the display. Finally it quit and wouldn't come back. The problem turned out to be the backlight.

The backlight bulb had a brown plastic base which fit in a hole in the circuit board. The electrical connections between the board and the bulb base were not making good contact. Removing the bulb, squeezing the contacts together and reinstalling the bulb fixed the problem.

Removing the bulb required the use of two small knife blades to simultaneously pry two small tabs on the bulb base while turning the base clockwise.

Getting the radio out of the dash was no picnic either.

This has been a known problem with GM for years, just another problem that they like to ignore like defective intake gaskets.