Renault Scenic 7 seater:2006. FM Radio Audio problem

[kofi2003uk]

hi everyone,
i need some help/advice. i have had a renault scenic 7 seater for about a year now with no issues. however i have been having some problems with the fm radio for the past week.
when listening to FM radio, the audio level goes down automatically and stays down. this however does not happen in any other mode. ie when i listen to cd or MW or LW, the audio level is fine and stays where its supposed to be. As soon as i switch to FM, the audio reduces significantly immediatlely or after about 10 minutes.
i checked the manual. Renault says there is a feature that automatically reduces the volume if the system overheats. if thats the case then why does the audio level stay high if i listen to mw or Lw or cd.

does anyone know what the problem might be?
many thanks

 

[Peter.N.]

Modern radio's are so complicated now that its difficult to tell whether you actually have a fault or whether its 'user error'. Have you noticed this problem in the 'traffic news' mode? Is it possible to bring the volume up again with the controls? Having been a radio/TV engineer for over 50 years I think I can say fairly confidently that the cost of repairs, if you can actually get anyone to repair it, would be more than the value of the radio. I would suggest that you try and find a secondhand one.

Peter

 

[kofi2003uk]

thanks Peter. yes its possible to bring the volume up. usually the volume stays at around level 10 to 12 which is reasonably loud. however with this problem, i have to put the volume to maximum ie level 32. and even at level 32, it sounds like there is no bass at all.
the strange thing is, this problem only affects FM. the other bands ie MW,LW and CD are fine. the problem does not affect the other modes at all.
started the car today and the fm played fine for about 3 minutes and then the sound problem came back again. really really strange.
thanks for the reply anyway. hopefully others can share some ligh on it.

 

[Mickymoody]

I've not come across it before, but sounds like an internal radio fault, rather than the car causing the issue?

FM is transmitted in stereo, as opposed to MW/Longwave, so the transistor pair that transmit as a pair, could be overheating, or out of sync? Thus causing an overheat?

To test, remove the radio, set up a rig, remove the casing, and blow cold/hot air on the transistors to eliminate/instigate the fault (they are bolted to a huge heatsync/case), but in reality, buy a new radio, that suits your needs. If you require the standard setup, get a radio from a scrapyard.

 

[kofi2003uk]

thanks for the reply. most appreciated