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

Help,

The factory radio in my wife's 08 Saturn Sky has developed A D D. I
will wander off the station preset frequency. Example - I listen to 98.
FM and for no rhyme or reason, the radio will drift to 98.5 or 98.9 wit
the loss of signal. Pressing the preset brings it back for a littl
while but it will drift 0.2 off (up or down) again. The most time I'v
seen it do this is 7 or 8, by which time, I am so angry that I just su
it off.
The kicker is that it will not do it all the time but problem does see
to be heat affected - after car sits in the sun all day, it is mor
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 i
one time on the way out of their parking lot after they couldn'
duplicate it and then when i was pulling into the garage at home.

Bart Collins:

 

..... 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: ---

 

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.

 

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

 

Thanks for the hints
I took the car to my local GM dealer and because they could no
duplicate the problem, pretty much blew me off. It is intermittent an
will work for a couple of days and then wander 3 or 4 times in a 3
minute commute
I guess I'll go to the GM Zone manager:

 

Intermittent problems are a bear to track down.

 

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’s why the defect might not had been noticed.
my recommendation is that you replace the radio.

good luck,

danielR