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My Saturn's Radio has A.D.D.

Help,

The factory radio in my wife's 08 Saturn Sky has developed A D D. It will wander off the station preset frequency. Example - I listen to 98.7 FM and for no rhyme or reason, the radio will drift to 98.5 or 98.9 with the loss of signal. Pressing the preset brings it back for a little while but it will drift 0.2 off (up or down) again. The most time I've seen it do this is 7 or 8, by which time, I am so angry that I just sut it off.

The kicker is that it will not do it all the time but problem does seem to be heat affected - after car sits in the sun all day, it is more likly to do it. Early in the AM or late in the PM - not so much.

I just took it to the dealer this morning but of course, it only did it one time on the way out of their parking lot after they couldn't duplicate it and then when i was pulling into the garage at home.

Bart Collins:(

Reply to
Bart Collins
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.... be verwy verwy caerwful, wabbit.

If the radio starts to drift to a station that speaks only to you ...

... you just might be in a Twilight Zone ..

... or a Ray Bradbury story.

:-)

... there are worse places..

John T.

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net ---

Reply to
hubops

IIRC, there may be a setting for Local or RDS stations. Have you tried toggling these settings/buttons and see if the radio keeps the frequencies? Sounds like your radio is somehow "auto-tuning", even though I am unaware of any such feature.

Reply to
marx404

If the vehicle is still under warranty, have GM fix it. If not, probably best to get an aftermarket radio installed by an independent car audio shop. HD radios are coming down in price and you will find that there are more features now available in newer radios. Oppie

"Bart Collins" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@no-mx.forums.travel.com...

Reply to
Oppie

Thanks for the hints, I took the car to my local GM dealer and because they could not duplicate the problem, pretty much blew me off. It is intermittent and will work for a couple of days and then wander 3 or 4 times in a 30 minute commute. I guess I'll go to the GM Zone manager:(

Reply to
Bart Collins

"Bart Collins" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@no-mx.forums.travel.com...

Intermittent problems are a bear to track down.

Reply to
Oppie

as an electronic engineer, let me explain to you the nature of your problem, the probable causes and the recommended corrective action. (in a VERY simplified way), the process of AM / FM radio receiving entails the generation of a frequency from what it is called a LOCAL OSCILLATOR [LO]. this frequency must keep a given difference with the one of the station you are trying to capture. the process is known as "tuning". the receiver has an internal reference oscillator, known as "the crystal oscillator" [XO], which frequency MUST BE rock stable within the specified temperature range of the receiver. the LO is synthesized from the XO. in your case, that is not happening. probable causes could be some impurity in the chemical composition of the crystal used for the XO, or probably some imperfection in the assembly process of your radio. when the car has been in the sun, in a very hot summer day, the temperature buildup will "shift" the XO, and therefore the LO. in production, radios are functionally tested at room temperature, that=92s why the defect might not had been noticed. my recommendation is that you replace the radio.

good luck,

danielR

Reply to
danielr

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