Radio Not Working As Water Has Got In

[lagonda 41]

The CTi is running unbelievably well at present so the evil b*stard had to come up with something else to annoy me with!

 

The radio is (or possibly was, Im hoping rinsing & thorough drying will revive it) a Blaupunkt London MR21. The affected area is a small box on the Near Side back of the radio, which is where the power feed & speakers plug in. It also contains a small fuse, which hasn't blown, but its plastic cover has melted.

 

Now I have had trouble in the past with the O rings that supposedly seal the inlet/outlet pipes not sealing (what a stupid way of joining the pipes!) where they enter the matrix....but never had trouble with the radio. I thought I'd finally stopped that leak once I'd found adequately thick O rings instead of the pathetically thin replacements Peugeot supplied, but wouldn't be surprised if that was leaking again.

 

The big "but" though is that has leaked before without affecting the radio. Also the area affected is on the near (passenger) side of the radio, whereas the pipes enter on the off (driver's ) side.

 

I've checked the antifreeze level, & surprisingly, this is no more down than I would expect....also the carpet under the radio doesn't seem to be wet (& if it gets wet with antifreeze it usually stays wet for some time). I'm pretty sure however that it is antifreeze rather than a winscreen seal leak, as I could smell antifreeze with the heater on coming back on the M4.

 

Looking for opinions here as I don't want to waste time changing the matrix if it's not that. The car hasn't got overly hot recently while I've been driving, but I did hand it to an auto electrician to diagnose a fault...he had it a couple of hours & it's quite possible he had it idling, getting hotter than I'd like. The radiator fan usually comes on, but not always. So a possibility is, it has got very hot, pressure has built up, & has been relieved temporarily by a small fault in the matrix spraying antifreeze onto the radio.

 

Alternatively, could using the heater fan have somehow directed leaking water from the inlet/oulet pipes onto that area of the radio?

 

Any thoughts, anyone?!

[jackherer 543]

It'll be the matrix I reckon, even a small leak from it goes straight onto the radio, I had it happen to a brand new cd player about a week after I bought it but managed to dry it out and it was OK.

 

The matrix doesn't cost much and isn't hard to fit as long as you ignore the haynes manual and don't remove the entire dash.

[lagonda 41]

Had a look at the radio, & a wire has burnt through....annoyingly but of course, typically, I'll have to unsolder a fair few wires to release the "box" to access where the wire goes.

 

Have checked the area again, & all seems dry...but of course using the heater I suppose will have dried the area out.

[jackherer 543]

Were there any obvious water marks on the radio? With mine even though it was dry (externally, the cd player was damp internally) it showed that it had been wet.

[lagonda 41]

yes, on the connector box at the back

[davemar 16]

I'm having a similar problem at the moment, where what appears to be coolant has leaked over the stereo. It's left stains all over it and filled the connectors up. I haven't had a chance to dismantle it all yet, but will refit a new matrix.