Deck Prblem...HELP!

[89dxowner]

I have a JVC deck I got from my friend he said if you can make it work you can have it. Well I hooked it up and it comes on for a second then goes off and thats it. Any ideas?

[zero.counter]

A couple of things to check. First, is the ground good? If it is a high powered deck, I would suggest grounding to the chassis, preferrably on the rear metal plate where the deck mounts to.

Next, I would replace the deck's fuse as a precaution and since they are relatively cheap anyway.
Also, make sure that none of the speaker wire leads crossed during installation. If they did, then you blew out the internal amp and would have to use the RCAs. Triple check your connections and use the pinhole reset button to clear any possible errors.

If you don't mind my asking, why did he give it too you? Was it because of these problems? Just wondering...:)

[89dxowner]

I did all that and i cant find a reset button. He gave it to my girlfriend and said he couldn't get it to work. And if I could I could have it. I just went out and hooked it up to the battery and it came on and went off (like usual) But I noticed this time that the metal plate with the cooling fins on the side of the deck got so hot I couldn't even touch it within a minute. Im pretty sure thats not normal.

[shepherd79]

it could be your friend fried that HU.
i would say go to JVC website and download the manual.

[zero.counter]

I did all that and i cant find a reset button. He gave it to my girlfriend and said he couldn't get it to work. And if I could I could have it. I just went out and hooked it up to the battery and it came on and went off (like usual) But I noticed this time that the metal plate with the cooling fins on the side of the deck got so hot I couldn't even touch it within a minute. Im pretty sure thats not normal.
Now, let me ask you something...when you plugged the positive side of the power cable on the terminal, did it have an inline fuse or one on the back of the deck? If not, then it is not officially blown. The cooling fins should not be hot to the touch when power is applied automatically, only after being used for awhile if it is high powered. Get another deck, you can buy mine with the harness for $40 shipped. :)

[89dxowner]

it could be your friend fried that HU.
i would say go to JVC website and download the manual.

It didn't work when he got it.

[Vanilla Sky]

sounds like a fried HU... i would open it up and see if anything looks obviously dead

[89dxowner]

how would i get parts to fix it though??

[Brentm]

smell it, if it smells like its fried (not like fried chicken) well umm itll smell burnt, or odd, but I bet its toasted

[89dxowner]

i took it apart nothing is burnt and it doesn't smell burnt.

[Raduque]

I had the same problem with my Pioneer that now works fine in my car. It was in my old car, and I thought it was fried because my dad used his wired-backwards firebird to give me a jump, and the radio stopped working. I took it out and tested it on a battery, and it would only click, light up for less then a second then die. It works great now, installed in my car. All I can suggest is install it in a car and try it.

[Vanilla Sky]

if you have a spare computer power supply, hook it up to that to test it... make sure the ignition wire is getting power!!!

if you were closer, i'd test it out for you, but i don't think you would want to ship something to me just to find out that it's trash

[88accordalltheway]

no, you have a fried internal amp, same thing happened to my old JVC hu. Dont even install it because the fried amp will use power when the car is off, killing your battery(i learned this the hard way). The energy that is coming from the battery goes to the amp, which is blown, so the energy dosent have any where to go, so it turns into heat which is why it gets hot so fast. Just give the hu back to the guy, unless you know how to get a new internal amp.

[89dxowner]

so there is no way to get a internal amp?

[XJRiggs]

Usually, although its been a while since I was in the repair business, a head unit will have one or two ICs which provide the raw amplification. When they blow they will smell bad, but if this deck has been sitting around for a while since this happened it may not smell so bad now. A lot of the time you wont be able to see the burnt IC because it is samwiched between the outside heatsink and an inside metal plate. The plate can be removed by taking out the screws holding them in. This will allow you to see the chip and you should be able to tell if its bad. It will look melted or obviously burnt. I've seen them with holes burnt all the way through them.
If you are not experienced at circuit board level repair you most likely should have someone repair it for you, which IMO will cost more than the deck is worth. If it has RCA outputs (what deck doesn't these days) you may be able to unsolder the burnt chip and take it out, then just use the RCAs to an external amp.

Peace,
Riggs