For no apparent reason, this morning when I fired up my 2005 GT to go to work, everything worked except the Shaker 500. No power, cannot get the head unit to turn on. Everything was fine Thursday night when I shut down for the weekend. Didn’t use the car for 3 days. It fired right up this morning, ran fine, everything worked except the radio.

Got to work, shut down the engine, restarted, but still no power to the radio / CD / head unit.

I know, check the fuses which I won’t have time to do until I get home this evening.

What’s likely---the passenger compartment fuse #20 10A [Radio (start)]? Or the engine compartment Power Distribution Box fuse #56 20A mini-fuse [Radio] ? I would doubt that it would be #16 30A cartridge fuse for the Front amplifier (Shaker 500 radio), since the head unit itself won’t turn on.

Or am I likely to be headed to the dealer with a more serious problem? Car is 41 months old, 20,000 miles, under Ford ESP.

I’ve had relatively few Shaker 500 problems over 3+ years---the occasional CD skip, or “bad CD” message---“reboot” by turning the unit off then on clears it right up. Original battery in car, plenty of cranking power in warm weather south Louisiana.

Any thoughts? Comments appreciated. Thanks.

 

Do your windows still roll down?

 

Thanks for the prompt response. Yes, everything works except the head unit. Windows, power mirrors, power seat, rear window defroster, everything. Or, at least nothing else I could find except the radio / CD not working.

 

Hmm, not sure.. if nobody has any better suggestions, this is what I would do:

* unplug negative battery terminal, wait 30 seconds, reattach battery terminal - maybe the computer is confused and needs to be reset.
* does the shaker500 have a fuse in the back? it's been a while since i've seen the back of one, so i don't know. if it does, maybe that fuse is blown.
* while the shaker500 is out, use a voltmeter to test the voltages on the power wires. the power wires are on the largest harness. check to see that the 12V is actually 12V, that ground is 0V, and that your V_acc or remote line is 12V when the car is on. search for shaker wiring harness color codes to find out which is which - but the power related lines are all "together" on one side of the harness.

 

OK, thanks.

 

Well, this was perhaps the easiest fix in Mustang history. But I pass it on for everyone's future reference, in the hopes it will help others and save their time.

When I got home, wanting to avoid the more difficult (to remove and reinstall) fuse box cover behind the passenger side kick panel that other threads warned me about, I started with the simpler path and popped open the fuse box under the hood, and pulled the 20A "mini-fuse" for the radio, #56. The fuse looked good, so before I even replaced it with the new one I bought on the way home, I pressed the original fuse firmly back into the slot, turned the key and the radio came on. I just had to reset the AM stations, as the FM 1 & 2 pre-sets were still there. I had to turn on the RDS again and reset my bass, treble and fader (front & rear) settings, but that was it. We're back in business for tomorrow morning's commute.

Moral of the story: 1) Sometimes fuses under the hood can get dirty / dusty / loose. 2) Don't overlook the obvious, and start with the simplest solution / option first.

Thanks, Steve, for standing with me on this one.