89 TC radio dead and deader

[RVdually]

My 1989 TC radio has never worked from the day I got it. It doesn't make a sound, either turning off/on and playing with the volume. Nothing with the casette player either. The digital face is getting power as it shows the time and station. The fuse is good in the fuse box.
What is strange is that when you hit seek, it does not find anything, it keeps scanning. It acts like the antenna is not connected, but it is. The antenna goes up and down okay, but makes no difference whether up or down.
The left front speaker is loose on the door, but that shouldn't affect the others. I don't know if it has an amplifier or not, but I don't think so. From what I am reading, it would be located in the trunk if it has one, right?
Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions. :boohoo:

[joedogg]

The amp is in the trunk in the back at the very top right behind the spare tire. It sounds like your amp is dead, and possibly the wiring from your antenna to your deck.

[87 town]

The amp is in the trunk in the back at the very top right behind the spare tire. It sounds like your amp is dead, and possibly the wiring from your antenna to your deck.

i am not a "wire guy" (this is joedogg's forte), but i will mention an experinece I had regarding my radio. My radio worked fine but i wanted a cd player. had Best Buy store remove and then install a new radio/cd player. all was fine. then someone ripped off my new stereo. went back to put in the original radio. would not work at all.........hmmmmmmm. it worked before..what was wrong...heck with it, i want another steroe anyhow with the cd. went back to best buy and they hooked up another cd/radio. all the power was there and it worked fine. so whay didnt my original radio work after it was taken out? talked to a few people and was told that once you took that ford radio out that without "resetting" some code or scan bar or "something" like that, through a lincoln/ford dealer that the radio would never work. I was told that this was a security prevention at the time so that if someone stole your radio it would not work without getting "re set". so this would deter theft.
"maybe" this is what is happenning with your radio????
just thought i would toss it out there. this came up before on line here and most people didnt know what i was talking about, but someone, dont remember who, was aware of this anti theft system.
May be worth a phone call to a dealer and see if there is anything they can check out for you..

[joedogg]

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get power at all if that were the case.

[87 town]

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get power at all if that were the case.

yeah, as i remember, i had zero power at the time.

[skinhead]

87 town,

If you had the premium sound before, which means you had the amp in the trunk, Best Buy or any other installer will install what's called an "amp bypass cable". All aftermarket cd decks need to bypass the factory amp, because the head unit itself powers the speakers. If you have premium sound, look in the trunk and see if theres like a 4 inch long wiring harness bypassing your amp, this would explain why your stock radio isn't working when you put it back in.

RVdually, it sounds like your amp is dead.

[DB]

Most likely your radio tuner is out, not the amplifier - common problem with these 80s and 90s. You can either replace it or get Paul Protos to rebuild it for $95. (do a search here on his name to get his email). He completely rebuiilt mine and it works great. I think he replaced 20+ parts. Well worth it if you want to keep things stock.

[gadget73]

The early model premium sound does not have a bypass cable kit avaliable, and the wiring is not compatible with modern stereos. I think this changed in 1988. All of them do have the amplifier in the trunk though. The early premium sound system with an aftermarket radio will allow the radio to power on, but no sound. I went through this same thing with my car. None of my stock wiring is hooked up anymore, and it works fine.

The antenna might be bad. Unplug the antenna cable from the side of the mast and try touching a wire or screwdriver to the center pin on the cable while the radio is set to a known strong local station. If it starts working, your antenna is bad. I recently replaced one in a Crown Vic that died like this. The motor worked fine to raise and lower the mast, but there was no connection from the actual antenna to the cable. It had failed internally somehow.


If you do find the radio is bad and you decide to replace it with aftermarket, run new wires from the stereo direct to the speakers and just unplug the factory amp wiring. It will sound better and be far less confusing.

[skinhead]

^^^Oh, my bad, it must be a 90's TC thing. Thats what happened in my 94, I bought a new deck and had no sound, until I bought the amp bypass cable.

[gadget73]

Yeah, it changed in 88 so you could bypass it. Before that it had this goofy amp that you couldn't do anything with.

[87 town]

87 town,

If you had the premium sound before, which means you had the amp in the trunk, Best Buy or any other installer will install what's called an "amp bypass cable". All aftermarket cd decks need to bypass the factory amp, because the head unit itself powers the speakers. If you have premium sound, look in the trunk and see if theres like a 4 inch long wiring harness bypassing your amp, this would explain why your stock radio isn't working when you put it back in.

RVdually, it sounds like your amp is dead.

skinhead, i'll bet that is it.. makes perfect sense. i "do" have premium sound and I remember paying additional to best buy cuz of it for special wiring when they installed my cd. probably for by passing the amp as you say. so, if i ever want to put the original radio back in I just have to reconnect back to the amp, right?
Glad I held onto the radio. One day, I may want to go back to original radio. "All" else in the car has been kept original.
Thanks for the info.

[87 town]

^^^Oh, my bad, it must be a 90's TC thing. Thats what happened in my 94, I bought a new deck and had no sound, until I bought the amp bypass cable.

i posted my other reply before i finished reading all the posts........now im a bit confused.. (but what else is new, when it comes to wiring)...:confused:
so on my 87, is it still possible that my factory amp was bypassed when my new cd was installed and that is still a possible reason of why no power?
Thanks guys

[skinhead]

Hmmm, do you get any power to the radio at all, or does the radio turn on but you get no sound?

[87 town]

Hmmm, do you get any power to the radio at all, or does the radio turn on but you get no sound?
No power at all. As if it was totally cut off, but then you put in the other radio and all is fine.

[joedogg]

The early model premium sound does not have a bypass cable kit avaliable, and the wiring is not compatible with modern stereos. I think this changed in 1988. All of them do have the amplifier in the trunk though. The early premium sound system with an aftermarket radio will allow the radio to power on, but no sound. I went through this same thing with my car. None of my stock wiring is hooked up anymore, and it works fine.

The antenna might be bad. Unplug the antenna cable from the side of the mast and try touching a wire or screwdriver to the center pin on the cable while the radio is set to a known strong local station. If it starts working, your antenna is bad. I recently replaced one in a Crown Vic that died like this. The motor worked fine to raise and lower the mast, but there was no connection from the actual antenna to the cable. It had failed internally somehow.


If you do find the radio is bad and you decide to replace it with aftermarket, run new wires from the stereo direct to the speakers and just unplug the factory amp wiring. It will sound better and be far less confusing.
It must have changed post 87 because I remember the factory harness not having enough wires to support 4 speakers.

[87 town]

It must have changed post 87 because I remember the factory harness not having enough wires to support 4 speakers.


I dont understand "changed post" ? Keep in mind, i can barely make a home made table lamp with all the parts in front of me...:)
thanks

[joedogg]

Changed post=Changed after

[87 town]

Changed post=Changed after

got it...at first i thought it may have had to do with (electrical, battery, connection.. post) or something like that.

[Scruffybeast]

There are two different rear amplifiers found in late eighties Town Cars. As far as I know, all cars with Premiem sound will have an amplifier back in the trunk on the right side mounted up behind the spare tire. My car had the big size amplifier, and it had a built in fuse holder on the top of the amp. The fuse was blown, and replacing it resulted in another blown fuse. My symptoms were the same as yours, and my amp was toast. The sound output from the radio goes through the amplifier and all the speaker wires come out from another plug on the amplifier (there are two) and go back to all the speakers, both front and rear. When you go aftermarket, you can get a bypass harness that connects both plugs together and thus eliminates the amplifier. This is done only if you are going with an aftermarket radio. The original radio will not work right without the amplifier.

[Scruffybeast]

When installers replace the original radio with an aftermarket radio, in most cases, the rear amplifier is eliminated, either by wiring around it by hand, or better by simply plugging in a bypass harness (available from outside suppliers). If they had done this to your car, that is why your original radio did not work when you reinstalled it. There are harness setups available that allow you to keep the original amplifier if you know it is good. It is also possible to get aftermarket amplifiers to use with the new radio systems. It is a bit like the sign on the speed shop wall which states: Speed costs money - How fast do you want to go!