Radio turns on by itself...
- Thread starter tjmajka
- Start date
pljenkins522
New member
Having had no response on whether there were separate part numbers for the radios in the Sonic, I went ahead and pulled the trigger and purchased the radio I sourced.
Turns out, there are different parts. The unit I got did NOT have an XM interface on the rear of the radio. Discouraged by this, I set about disassembling the broken unit I removed from my car to see if I could replace the knob component. When I popped off the faceplate I noticed that it was a complete assembly that interfaced with the rest of the radio via slots, not much unlike a computer peripheral. Curious, I took the face off the new radio that did not have XM and they were visually identical. While considering how desolder the knob off the new radio and solder it onto my replacement, it occured to me to just simply install the entire faceplate assembly from the new radio onto the old chassis. I plugged the whole thing in and wouldn't you know it, it works perfectly. Bonus, the thing retained all of my settings except for the time and date!
So this solved my issue in a round about way. In any event, the problem was the rotary switch/pushbutton on my old radio failed, and was causing intermittent contact causing the radio to turn on. Nice undocumented feature, by the way, having the ability to turn the radio on without the key in the ignition. Never thought to try that! If you can source a replacement rotary/pushbutton it's easy to get to both sides of the componant, so desoldering and soldering on the replacement is straightforward. The trick is finding an replacement. I didn't bother going through my regular sources as I had a solution in hand.
Turns out, there are different parts. The unit I got did NOT have an XM interface on the rear of the radio. Discouraged by this, I set about disassembling the broken unit I removed from my car to see if I could replace the knob component. When I popped off the faceplate I noticed that it was a complete assembly that interfaced with the rest of the radio via slots, not much unlike a computer peripheral. Curious, I took the face off the new radio that did not have XM and they were visually identical. While considering how desolder the knob off the new radio and solder it onto my replacement, it occured to me to just simply install the entire faceplate assembly from the new radio onto the old chassis. I plugged the whole thing in and wouldn't you know it, it works perfectly. Bonus, the thing retained all of my settings except for the time and date!
So this solved my issue in a round about way. In any event, the problem was the rotary switch/pushbutton on my old radio failed, and was causing intermittent contact causing the radio to turn on. Nice undocumented feature, by the way, having the ability to turn the radio on without the key in the ignition. Never thought to try that! If you can source a replacement rotary/pushbutton it's easy to get to both sides of the componant, so desoldering and soldering on the replacement is straightforward. The trick is finding an replacement. I didn't bother going through my regular sources as I had a solution in hand.
Radio turning on by itself
My 2012 Sonic LTZ Hatch is having a problem in which the radio is turning on by itself hours after I exit the car. When I remove the key from the ignition and exit the vehicle, the radio shuts off, however a few hours later when I return to the vehicle, I find that the radio is on. I have already had to replace the battery. This week I took it to the dealership and they said there was no recall or service bulletin. A $110 fee would be the charge just to diagnose the problem. I've read some posts on here from people with similar issues and was wondering if a solution to this problem has been found? Please let me know.
My 2012 Sonic LTZ Hatch is having a problem in which the radio is turning on by itself hours after I exit the car. When I remove the key from the ignition and exit the vehicle, the radio shuts off, however a few hours later when I return to the vehicle, I find that the radio is on. I have already had to replace the battery. This week I took it to the dealership and they said there was no recall or service bulletin. A $110 fee would be the charge just to diagnose the problem. I've read some posts on here from people with similar issues and was wondering if a solution to this problem has been found? Please let me know.
RubyRedSquirt
New member
My 2013 Sonic did this today. Kept turning itself on after taking the key out, closing the doors, etc. And when I say turned itself on, the radio was OFF. The car closed up and then within 30 seconds it came on again. And not only did it turn itself on, the last time it turned itself on at full volume. Thankfully it's still under warranty because repairing electronics is EXPENSIVE!!!
NewZJ
I Don't Know
I heard once long ago, poltergeist are afraid of bull****
Chevrolet Customer Care
New member
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, RubyRedSquirt. We're glad to hear your Sonic is still under warranty and we hope you'll be heading to your dealership soon. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help, otherwise please keep us updated on the outcome.
Amber N.
Chevrolet Customer Care
Old thread, but in case anyone else has the problem with the radio turning itself on, I fixed mine fairly cheap. I bought a used radio with the same part number at a local salvage yard for $35. Of course when I installed it the display came up "LOCKED". The local dealer wanted $150 to reprogram the radio.
Uh, no.
Other internet sites suggested that the ghost turn on is caused by the volume knob wearing out or a spring breaking. So just for kicks I swapped the faceplate from the new radio to my old radio, and sure enough, it fixed the problem and was not locked. Apparently the security feature is in the body of the radio, and not the faceplate.
Easy swap too. Just remove one screw on each side of the faceplate, and then gently pry the top and bottom off the clips with a small flat blade screwdriver. Took about 3 minutes.
Uh, no.
Other internet sites suggested that the ghost turn on is caused by the volume knob wearing out or a spring breaking. So just for kicks I swapped the faceplate from the new radio to my old radio, and sure enough, it fixed the problem and was not locked. Apparently the security feature is in the body of the radio, and not the faceplate.
Easy swap too. Just remove one screw on each side of the faceplate, and then gently pry the top and bottom off the clips with a small flat blade screwdriver. Took about 3 minutes.
