'Reprogram' Ford Radio??

[Blake]

This makes no sense to me, but I'll ask anyway. I inadvertently hit the 'panic' button on the remote entry of my 94 Ford Expl Ltd. After I deactivated the alarm & started the engine I noticed that the (stock) radio was dead. The fuses are fine. The radio displays the word "BAD" if I try to turn it on, but that's all the performance I get. My Ford dealer says it will cost $250 to repair the radio. A local car audio shop looked at it & said the radio just needs to be "reprogrammed". The Ford dealer says he's never heard of "reprogramming" a radio, and I agree it sounds flaky. Is the car audio guy perhaps talking about a read-only memory chip, and if so who can I get to 'reprogram' it? I'm about ready to buy a new (non-Ford) radio, but thought I'd ask here first. Any suggestions? Regards, Blake

 

[cobrajeff]

Is your radio a stock FORD unit, or an aftermarket radio? Cassette or CD? Is your remote entry system a factory-installed Ford system? or Aftermarket or Dealer installed?

There is no interaction between a Ford remote entry system and the Ford stereo - hitting the "panic" button could not have done anything to your stereo. If, on the otherhand, you have an aftermarket alarm, aftermarket remote entry, or aftermarket stereo - anything could be possible.

There are no Ford radios (for US market, anyway) that would need to be "reprogrammed". If the radio does not say "FORD" on it, it MAY not be a Ford radio - there are a number of companies out there making "rip-off" radios that LOOK like the factory stereo, but are not.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[Blake]

Jeff: The vehicle is completely stock: no aftermarket stuff at all. The factory-installed 'alarm' is described in the owner's manual as an 'Anti-Theft System'. I don't really believe that triggering the alarm affected the radio, but the coincidence is a little unsettling. Anyway, I'm the original owner and the radio (which has a single slot CD player) came with the vehicle. The word 'Ford' does not appear on the radio's face plate, but I did get a Ford manual with the vehicle which describes the radio as a "Ford Compact Disc Radio". Ford's trademarks appear throughout the manual, with no third party trademarks. The radio is clearly dead. I'm about to have an Alpine 7839 installed in its place -- unless anyone thinks that would be stupid move. Please advise.

 

[cobrajeff]

Blake -
The Ford DIN CD Radio uses the error message "BAD" in the display for a couple different conditions. One is for a "bad CD" which could be scratched or so dirty that the laser cannot read it. For this, trying a different disc should tell you if that was it. The other condition is if the radio has been operated at high volume and high temperature. The CD mechanism has internal protection schemes to shut itself down if too high an internal temperature has been reached. If it does not work after a reasonable "cool-down" period, try disconnecting the vehicle battery cables, and then re-connecting. If that does not reset it, it will have to be removed for repair.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[joefoss]

Jeff: The vehicle is completely stock: no aftermarket stuff at all. The factory-installed 'alarm' is described in the owner's manual as an 'Anti-Theft System'. I don't really believe that triggering the alarm affected the radio, but the coincidence is a little unsettling. Anyway, I'm the original owner and the radio (which has a single slot CD player) came with the vehicle. The word 'Ford' does not appear on the radio's face plate, but I did get a Ford manual with the vehicle which describes the radio as a "Ford Compact Disc Radio". Ford's trademarks appear throughout the manual, with no third party trademarks. The radio is clearly dead. I'm about to have an Alpine 7839 installed in its place -- unless anyone thinks that would be stupid move. Please advise.

Perhaps what was ment is that the radio may have lost the the vehicle VIN memory and the radio must be programmed to the vehicle's VIN using a Ford scan tool. Newer vehicles are deliberately made to you are unable to put a junkyard radio in your Ford to get up-grade options in the replacement radio like XM or higher audio. Most dealers may not know how to perform this trick in programming my entering the vehicle's VIN on the scan tool. There may be a hack in the works to the radio to defeat this process. Unknown how to do it otherwise.