Bought a haunted car.....
07-25-2011, 07:11 AM
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Bought a haunted car.....
Ok so i just purchased a 2004 8, It only has 44k miles, since it has sat for 1.5 years. I had to drain the gas, oil change, new battery, but I got it for 5K!
It finally runs great, however the radio is haunted lol it changes station at random. just like 1 or 2 tunes. The original problem started with many ! lights coming on like ods traction and other so i changed the battery and tighted the cables.... however the station changing never stop..... I think i had a solider riding shotgun next to me.....
anyone else ever experenced this or know the possible issue?
It finally runs great, however the radio is haunted lol it changes station at random. just like 1 or 2 tunes. The original problem started with many ! lights coming on like ods traction and other so i changed the battery and tighted the cables.... however the station changing never stop..... I think i had a solider riding shotgun next to me.....
anyone else ever experenced this or know the possible issue?
07-26-2011, 10:42 AM
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Look for a bad connection possibly on the battery cables, both ends not just at the battery end. Then there are numerous other grounds that could be loose or corroded that could generate enough noisy spikes and dips in the electrical system to cause these types of issues.
07-27-2011, 01:13 PM
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...limited posts. 
OP,
Those are signs of an unstable electrical flow, which is usually a grounding problem. If it isn't a battery terminal connection problem, you are going to have to start finding every single ground point, disconnecting/unbolting them, cleaning, and reconnecting/rebolting.
If this still doesn't fix it then you are going to have to move to the power side connectors, but these are more time consuming to diagnose or locate.
The above post is factually correct in that disconnecting the battery will trigger the TCS and DSC lights when you next reconnect and start up, however he neglected to mention that turning the wheel fully to each side until it hits the stops clears the DSC, and TCS only needs a few rotations from all the wheels together (driving a short distance) then turning the car off, then back on, and it will clear. If it doesn't clear from doing this, then there is something wrong with the TCS system itself.
If all of issues are manifesting in the cabin (dash and head unit so far it looks like), you may want to focus your search on the foot well fuse box, pulling and checking all fuses as you may have one or more corroded ones. If you can rule those out, then move to the engine bay ground points.
OP,
Those are signs of an unstable electrical flow, which is usually a grounding problem. If it isn't a battery terminal connection problem, you are going to have to start finding every single ground point, disconnecting/unbolting them, cleaning, and reconnecting/rebolting.
If this still doesn't fix it then you are going to have to move to the power side connectors, but these are more time consuming to diagnose or locate.
The above post is factually correct in that disconnecting the battery will trigger the TCS and DSC lights when you next reconnect and start up, however he neglected to mention that turning the wheel fully to each side until it hits the stops clears the DSC, and TCS only needs a few rotations from all the wheels together (driving a short distance) then turning the car off, then back on, and it will clear. If it doesn't clear from doing this, then there is something wrong with the TCS system itself.
If all of issues are manifesting in the cabin (dash and head unit so far it looks like), you may want to focus your search on the foot well fuse box, pulling and checking all fuses as you may have one or more corroded ones. If you can rule those out, then move to the engine bay ground points.
07-27-2011, 02:24 PM
#7
All good suggestions, but before chasing too many, see if you can borrow a "known good" battery. Run the car with that one for a while and I'll bet your problems disappear. Batteries don't like to sit, especially if they are allowed to discharge. Sulfide can build up and if it gets loose, can intermittently short cells giving you a low voltage condition. The DSC/TCS light clearing procedure is in the owner's manual. While quasi-optional for most cars, RX-8 owners need to read theirs thoroughly.
07-27-2011, 05:08 PM
#8
All good suggestions, but before chasing too many, see if you can borrow a "known good" battery. Run the car with that one for a while and I'll bet your problems disappear. Batteries don't like to sit, especially if they are allowed to discharge. Sulfide can build up and if it gets loose, can intermittently short cells giving you a low voltage condition. The DSC/TCS light clearing procedure is in the owner's manual. While quasi-optional for most cars, RX-8 owners need to read theirs thoroughly.
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