Radio failing to start properly with ignition, possible electrical fault? - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

aaaccc10 · 08-30-2016, 10:34 AM

So this post will likely be pretty long as I try and explain exactly what's been going on. I drive a 2013 2Ls and about 2 months ago I noticed that occasionally when I would start my car, usually from a cold start, the radio would light up and then hang for several seconds before coming online and starting to play music. This progressed further to where the light would come on, then shut off then come back several times until it finally started up properly. Once this started happening it would very rarely also have an issue where all that would play from the left side of the car would be static no matter what the radio was set on. This was rather confusing to me because none of this was constant. Sometimes it happened when the car started and sometimes it didn't. As far as I can tell there's no way to reliably reproduce it.

This got so bad that eventually the sound for the turn signals stopped working properly and the radio and A/C would get stuck in an endless loop of rebooting until I restarted the car. Last weekend I took the car into Chevy and they said that the radio was failing, and needed to be replaced. They said this was the root cause of all the issues and that's all that needed to change. So $600 and a new radio later I pick up the car on Monday, everything works fine and when I wake up in the morning; exact same issues (except maybe worse because now instead of no sound from the turn signals, any time I use them it plays loud static through the speakers, same with the door chime).

As I'm sure you can imagine I'm not happy with Chevy for having me spend the time and money on something that obviously wasn't the issue. I've made an appointment with them again on Friday but wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas. To be honest I wouldn't take it back to them in the first place except for the fact that since they apparently screwed up now they need to make it right.

Something I feel I should mention is that the only aftermarket parts on the car are a set of fog lights and a VTC, both of which were installed 3 and 1 year(s) ago respectively. I doubt either of these could cause the issue given this just happened recently, and I've even removed the VTC and still had the issue. However I wanted to mention them because I'm no expert and thought maybe someone else could potentially point out something I'm missing. If you got this far thanks for dealing with my long-windedness.

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Jayjellyfish212 · 08-30-2016, 02:22 PM

Check the passenger side area in the engine bay behind the heat shield. There are about 4 separate ground wires. Clean them good. I had some what of a similar issue and when I did my engine bay clean up mod I re did the factory wires to hide away them and seen those 4 ground wires with some corrosion. I re did mine but cleaned them real good before I changed them up. Seems by cleaning those grounded wires all issues were solved. The problem is it does not let good air flow in that area behind the heat shield and is a dirt trap.

aaaccc10 · 08-30-2016, 03:50 PM

Thanks, I'll give that a look and see what I can do

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Rolfe · 09-05-2016, 05:29 PM

I'm have the same problem. I have been reading that a lot of Chevy are having the same problem too. I think it is a software problem, but getting the dealer to agree is impossible.
I took my Camaro to the dealer last week. I call to make an appointment and the service writer seemed to agree and said it was the battery saver system and said it wouldn't take long to fix.
I made arrangements to get the car to the dealer, over 30 miles away, with my son who works at night. After 3 hours, they said it was a radio problem and needed to be replaced. I've read a lot of blogs where the dealer said the same thing. They replaced the radio and it worked fine until the next day and then the same problem. ( if you disconnect the battery it will work for a while )
The only blog I have read that it was fixed was the dealer re-flashed the computer.
Why won't they listen. I have done a lot of research on it. I used to be ASE certified. But what do I know, I'm just a big dummy !

aaaccc10 · 09-13-2016, 06:34 PM

So after a couple weeks of dealing with a lot of back and forth BS, I finally got the problem solved. I was told that the issue was in fact the radio, but that their repair team accidentally forgot to replace it the first time it went in. They said they replaced the screen and faceplate but forgot to replace the actual radio unit. So this time they replaced the radio for real and everything is working fine.

I have my suspicions(due to a couple inconsistencies in talking to different employees) that they actually found that it was something else and lied to me and said they forgot to replace the radio so they didn't have to refund me the cost of the original repair, but I have no proof so I'm stuck. Overall the important thing to me is that it's fixed and I likely will stop using dealer service now that my warranty is up.

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08-30-2016, 10:34 AM	#1
aaaccc10 Drives: 2013 Camaro 2LS Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: United States Posts: 67	Radio failing to start properly with ignition, possible electrical fault? So this post will likely be pretty long as I try and explain exactly what's been going on. I drive a 2013 2Ls and about 2 months ago I noticed that occasionally when I would start my car, usually from a cold start, the radio would light up and then hang for several seconds before coming online and starting to play music. This progressed further to where the light would come on, then shut off then come back several times until it finally started up properly. Once this started happening it would very rarely also have an issue where all that would play from the left side of the car would be static no matter what the radio was set on. This was rather confusing to me because none of this was constant. Sometimes it happened when the car started and sometimes it didn't. As far as I can tell there's no way to reliably reproduce it. This got so bad that eventually the sound for the turn signals stopped working properly and the radio and A/C would get stuck in an endless loop of rebooting until I restarted the car. Last weekend I took the car into Chevy and they said that the radio was failing, and needed to be replaced. They said this was the root cause of all the issues and that's all that needed to change. So $600 and a new radio later I pick up the car on Monday, everything works fine and when I wake up in the morning; exact same issues (except maybe worse because now instead of no sound from the turn signals, any time I use them it plays loud static through the speakers, same with the door chime). As I'm sure you can imagine I'm not happy with Chevy for having me spend the time and money on something that obviously wasn't the issue. I've made an appointment with them again on Friday but wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas. To be honest I wouldn't take it back to them in the first place except for the fact that since they apparently screwed up now they need to make it right. Something I feel I should mention is that the only aftermarket parts on the car are a set of fog lights and a VTC, both of which were installed 3 and 1 year(s) ago respectively. I doubt either of these could cause the issue given this just happened recently, and I've even removed the VTC and still had the issue. However I wanted to mention them because I'm no expert and thought maybe someone else could potentially point out something I'm missing. If you got this far thanks for dealing with my long-windedness. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

08-30-2016, 02:22 PM	#2
Jayjellyfish212 Drives: 2014 1LE Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 2,050 View My Garage	Check the passenger side area in the engine bay behind the heat shield. There are about 4 separate ground wires. Clean them good. I had some what of a similar issue and when I did my engine bay clean up mod I re did the factory wires to hide away them and seen those 4 ground wires with some corrosion. I re did mine but cleaned them real good before I changed them up. Seems by cleaning those grounded wires all issues were solved. The problem is it does not let good air flow in that area behind the heat shield and is a dirt trap. __________________ Car mods: never enough!

09-05-2016, 05:29 PM	#4
Rolfe Drives: 2013 Camaro Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Chandler Okla Posts: 1	Radio problems I'm have the same problem. I have been reading that a lot of Chevy are having the same problem too. I think it is a software problem, but getting the dealer to agree is impossible. I took my Camaro to the dealer last week. I call to make an appointment and the service writer seemed to agree and said it was the battery saver system and said it wouldn't take long to fix. I made arrangements to get the car to the dealer, over 30 miles away, with my son who works at night. After 3 hours, they said it was a radio problem and needed to be replaced. I've read a lot of blogs where the dealer said the same thing. They replaced the radio and it worked fine until the next day and then the same problem. ( if you disconnect the battery it will work for a while ) The only blog I have read that it was fixed was the dealer re-flashed the computer. Why won't they listen. I have done a lot of research on it. I used to be ASE certified. But what do I know, I'm just a big dummy !

08-30-2016, 03:50 PM	#3
aaaccc10 Drives: 2013 Camaro 2LS Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: United States Posts: 67	Thanks, I'll give that a look and see what I can do Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

09-13-2016, 06:34 PM	#5
aaaccc10 Drives: 2013 Camaro 2LS Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: United States Posts: 67	So after a couple weeks of dealing with a lot of back and forth BS, I finally got the problem solved. I was told that the issue was in fact the radio, but that their repair team accidentally forgot to replace it the first time it went in. They said they replaced the screen and faceplate but forgot to replace the actual radio unit. So this time they replaced the radio for real and everything is working fine. I have my suspicions(due to a couple inconsistencies in talking to different employees) that they actually found that it was something else and lied to me and said they forgot to replace the radio so they didn't have to refund me the cost of the original repair, but I have no proof so I'm stuck. Overall the important thing to me is that it's fixed and I likely will stop using dealer service now that my warranty is up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk