JBL cd/radio losing power at startup

[tommybwart]

New TN User
i copied and pasted from the gen 2 forum..


CD/radio losing power at start up
hi folks, i'm a newbie here too. i've just bought an 04' XL (78,000 miles) with the JBL stereo option. weird thing is, when i start the car, it seems to reset the stereo settings almost every time. all my preset stations, all my sound settings (bass, mid, treb) are GONE. well, pushed back to "zero". most other cars i've ever had only do this when the battery has been disconnected, but this AVY does it almost every time i start the darn thing. another weird thing is that when i am listening to the stereo with the car running, then i turn the car to accessory (as they used to call it) the radio loses about one third of it's volume. i just don't understand these little irksome quirks about this car. if anyone has any clues about what might be happening, please, please, indulge me. oh, and the car does have that headlight and interior light "quiver" that i've read about in other posts. does anyone think that the two issues might be related ??

thanks to all in advance.

signed, "definitely banging my head against a wall" here..

-tb

[tommybwart]

the answer to my problem was a real surprise and real simple too... I took my Avy to the dealer for the rear end "clunk" that these cars are famous for, they just put two washers on each end of the bushing to compress it. anyway, while there, the tech ran a battery test because he said the starter wasn't spinning as quickly as it should. low and behold, my battery was almost dead. I had never noticed this. the car started and ran fine all along. Instead of buying one of their batteries for 130 bones, I went down the street to NAPA and spent only 80 bucks for a 600 CCA one. since then, I have NOT had my presets disappear !! The guys at the dealer said that probably when I hit the starter, previously, the car would zap almost all the power from the battery, thus cutting power to the stereo, which in turn killed the presets. after the new batt, plenty-o-power to crank the starter, AND keep power to the stereo system. PROBLEM SOLVED.
I'm just passing this on in case someone out there is having a similar problem. just goes to show ya', it can often be the simplest things. BTW, my local toyota dealer only charge me $ 29 to fix the rear end "knock". all it took was 15 minutes and a few large washers (which i think they threw in for free!!)
thanks for "listening"..
-tb

[Kiwi-Corolla]

Great to hear that it was something so simple, good on ya' for coming back and letting people know what the solution was too. Hopefully that will help people out in future if they ever experience the same problem. I bet it's nice to be without the rear end knock anymore too, a good thing you decided to go to Toyota or you may not have got the battery check done. Must have been meant to be .