Radio static 1995 850 wagon

[Fay]

Hi,

I'm having a problem with the radio in my 1995 850 wagon non-turbo. It's the original AM/FM/cassette, model SC-710.

When I first turn the radio on, there's about a half second where the FM station comes in fine, then it goes to static and never re-acquires the signal. All FM stations are like this. For AM I don't get anything, no static or any noise. The cassette player doesn't work either but I don't know how long that's been going on.

I took the radio out and all the connections looked tight to me. I'm not a mechanic so I wouldn't know how to check the wiring or anything.

Also, I do not have an external antenna. The only one I have is embedded in the windshield.

Any opinions on how to get this fixed? Do you think the unit needs to be replaced? I was thinking I didn't want to go through that only to find out it was a wiring problem that the standard installer wouldn't be able to fix.

Is there anything else obvious I should look for?

Thanks for any advice!

[Ozark Lee]

The antenna is in the left hand side rear window glass. It also has an amplifier just below the window behind the plastic trim.

Does the problem happen on both AM & FM?

It may be a bad radio or it may be a bad antenna amplifier.

...Lee

[Fay]

Thanks for the response!

I have a similar problem on the AM stations but not exact. On the FM there's a hissing noise and no reception. On the AM there's no reception but there's no hissing noise. There is sort of a low humming/electrical interference noise on the AM.

I think I see what you're talking about for the antenna. On the driver's side rear window there are three orange lines running down the window. Those look fine. There are also two orange dots at the bottom of the window. Inside there's a black plastic piece next to the window where the orange dots are. I have not removed the trim piece to see what's under it.

Is this an easy plug-and-play type of fix? I Googled volvo 850 antenna amplifier and all the links I see say 'product not available'. Do you happen to know what the part number for this is? Maybe I can find it that way.

Thanks again!!

[Ozark Lee]

If you can somehow scare up a typical mast type antenna you can plug that into the back of the radio and see what happens. If the same thing happens then the radio itself is likely bad. If things work more or less properly with the other antenna then the antenna amplifier is suspect. The best place for a replacement is a pick-n-pull salvage yard. Most of the online used parts guys don't get that deep in the weeds.

Also check the classified parts section here. I think I saw a wagon being parted out a couple of days ago.

...Lee

[Fay]

Great idea about how to tell which part is broken!! I'll see what I can find. Thanks again!

[ChiNorm]

I had the same problem, the radio is terminal. Hello Erie Vo-Vo.

[MrPc]

I had the same problem with my SC-815 head unit. On the 815, the problems with the radio reception are caused by cold/failing solder joints in the RF cans on the radio circuit board. The reception becomes noisy, and then noisy/intermittent, and then it fails all together.

I fixed mine by removing/dismantling the radio until I had access to the radio circuit board, which is on the very bottom of the unit. I desoldered the cans from the circuit board, removed the lids, and then removed all of the old solder, reflowed with new, and reattached. (Sorry, no pics!)

It sounds very good now, although I'm not sure it's 100% fixed because in town, reception varies a lot from place to place--more so that in my other cars. I'm not sure if that's because my fix is incomplete, or because of directional sensitivity caused by the antenna/amp's location in the rear window on the driver side (mine is a wagon). I suspect the latter, because the presence of the amp at the antenna base suggests the signal out of it isn't very strong to start with.

I'm not sure how similar the 815 is to the SC-710. But the symptoms are similar, and FM circuits haven't changed much. If it were mine, I would take a look to see if this might be your problem.

Paul

[Fay]

Thanks Paul! I'll check it out.

[bmncw]

hi fay

have you try to resolder it? i got weak fm reception on my sc-816 too...

thanks

[rspi]

Thanks Paul! I'll check it out.

Man, don't waste your time with that old SC-71X. The SC-81X stereo is plug and play and sound 10 times better. They cost between $20 & $30 at junk yards.