Radio diagnostics... | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models
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Radio diagnostics...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Quickdraw
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Quickdraw

Quickdraw

2004 Member of the Year
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Thunderbird Year
2002
You can check your radio & speaker performance by putting the radio into a diagnostic mode. With AM or FM selected (not a CD) press both the 3 and 6 buttons at the same time and release. This mode tests each of the six speakers and indicates the speaker being tested on the radio display panel. At the end of the diagnostic you can ignore the "NO CDDJ" message.

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As mentioned on another thread, the Speed Sensitive Volume control can be adjusted by pressing in the round radio knob for five seconds. Then using SEL switch choose a number from 0 to 7 – the higher the number the louder the radio gets for a given speed. I have mine set on 2.
 
radio test

I did the speaker test and noticed that the last part of the test (subwoofer 2) didn't provide any real bass sounds.

It turned on the two speakers in the console, but did not give a real bass-type reaction.

Has anyone else had the same results? Is this the way it's supposed to be?
 
Originally posted by Quickdraw
I have mine set on 2.

Come on, Harry....live it up a little - turn it up to 11!!! 😛 😉

Thanks for posting this, I was going to look it up because I forgot how to do it. It's top-down time, and I want to "turn it up"! 😀
 
Quicksdraw...YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!!

I've been having trouble with the radio station search feature with my radio after disconnecting the battery, and after seeing your post I figured I'd do that diagnostic thing. I forgot what number you said to press, and I pressed 1 and 3 which is EXACTLY what I needed. (3 and 6 is the diagnostics) It makes the radio do a search to find valid stations.

THANKS!!!
 
Jerrym3,
You're right, sub Woofer II isn't as "woofish" as woofer I but it may depend on the type music being played and the amount of deep bass present.


Loochie,
11? Thats a great idea! But wouldn't "one more" be 8? That would seem to solve the manual riding of the volume controls to turn it way up between lights and much lower while stopped at traffic lights. Another thing, the wife yells at me for having the radio too loud. Since she doesn't know about this volume adjusting feature I can get her to agree on a sound level BEFORE we begin driving with the promise that neither of us will touch it once we start rolling. I just need to convince her its her imagination that the volume increases with speed.

And since its about 75 degress for the third time this year Im going out right now to see the results at the maximum setting.
 
Loochies right, after exhaustive testing MAXIMUM is the correct setting for the speed volume control. Maybe Ford will wise up and the 2005 bird will go to 11 intead of 7. If Ford still had their suggestion program I'd submit the idea. 😀 😀 😀
 
More radio diagnostics

You already know while in AM or FM mode and pressing 3 & 6 at the same time will put the sound system into speaker test mode. If you interrupt this test by pressing buttons 1 through 6 there’s more info available to trouble shoot radio problems – only # 3 & #5 have much value to non-technicians.
First press 3 & 6 to enter speaker test mode, then press # 1 thru 6:
1. Enters Self Test mode – the Thunderbird radio will normally FAIL this test with error codes not applicable to the radio. Press TUNE to see these codes anyway. It appears only error code B1342, B2404 and B2477 apply to this specific radio. This also is for the 2002 radio - I don't know if its the same for '03 & '04s.
2. Displays DTCs (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) Press TUNE to advance to next trouble code number. As mentioned most of these error codes are N/A.
3. Signal Strength for the radio station selected.
4. Pressing #4 while in diagnostic mode will retrieve the software configuration level of the audio components (CD changer, amps, etc).
5. Pressing 5 will illuminate all radio segments to test for “dead” segments.
6. Pressing 6 displays the software configuration level of the audio unit.

To exit test mode turn the radio off.
 
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