Bose and Cold weather...

[Juicy K]

I will start by saying I have searched and have not found much here. I remember people talking about it on the OLD SITE. But looking around there has not yielded me any answers.

My Mothers 02' LTZ Trailblazer has the factory Bose setup.
Since she got it (in 2010), any outside temp of about 50f and lower, the head unit will power on and function like normal, but that is where the fun ends.... She will have no audio what so ever, The door chimes, Radio, CD, no sound at all. We use to pull the fuse for the amp while the stereo was on, and then put it in to get it to come on sometimes. That does not even work when its cold now.

I keep suggesting to her we gut the stereo and just replace everything, but in her eyes Bose is the audio system to have.... (Cannot wait to get my SQ setup finished to show her it can and does get better than Bose)

Any suggestions to troubleshoot or advice would be awesome. Have a great day! and thank you in advance.

 

[The_Roadie]

I would start with unplugging the connector back at the remote amplifier and replugging it 5-10 times to clean up the contacts. Cold = shrinkage. It's behind the panel on the passenger side of the wayback.

 

[Juicy K]

Thanks for the advice Roadie. I got it pulled apart yesterday, I did not find any corrosion or anything on the plugs or pins, I went ahead and unplugged and plugged them in multiple times, still not working. I did happen to notice that when the fuse is removed/replaced you can hear what sounds like a loud relay inside of the amplifier casing.
Thanks again for the help.

 

[Sparky]

My first impression is the amp power relay has gotten flaky. Been there with the power lock relays on my old car.

 

[jpimp]

Subscribed

My ride does this too, even sometimes when it is warm out.
1 time only I had sound come back on after power cycling the deck.
Never tried the fuse trick your doing though.

When I have the cash a new deck, amp, speakers, and possible subs are gonna go in it.

Roadie - Will try re seating the connection at the amp...in the summer

 

[Guenther]

I'm having an issue with both front and rear left channels going in and out at the same time. I'm going to try unplugging it at the amp as suggested and see if that helps. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Juicy K]

Been busy this month, have not gotten anything figured out. I think my mother is about done with her Bose setup, since it does not work when its cold out she has been streaming pandora on her iPhone. This morning she told me she has been looking up stereos online and asked if I could help her look for one and figure out how to bypass the Bose amp.

Now I need to figure out whats going to need done to install a new H/U and bypass the factory amp. I want to say I had seen on the old site that the stock Bose speakers are 2 ohm. So maybe I need to source a cheap multi-channel amp for her as well.

 

[IllogicTC]

Cold = shrinkage.

Now, I'm not saying anything, but I AM implying it...

 

[Juicy K]

My Father asked me to pull the amp out of Moms truck while we were doing some much needed work to it. He wanted to take it in to the electric engineers at work to see if they had any suggestions.

If you open the Bose amp, there is a relay in it (like I figured), they are pretty sure the relay is stuck or not making contact. The "Cold=Shrinkage" could be at play here since I know you can here the relay click when the fuse is pulled and replaced.

The only Relay in the amplifier is a Tyco Electronics VKP-31F32-Z04 . 32A Relay

The VKP model relays were discontinued in late 2009. So right now they are trying to source somewhere that has them in stock and looking for a relay with the same specs.

My father will be removing the relay from the circuit board tomorrow so he can test it, (He plans on testing it in the barn so it is cold).

I will update as I find more out.

BTW Just figured I would keep updated on this since I have not been able to find any information like this on the countless threads ive seen around the internet about the Bose setup not working below certain temps. If this ends up being the problem, it may save somebody some $$$ that doesnt want to install an entire aftermarket audio setup.

 

[IllogicTC]

If you can get pics, it'd help immensely. I mean having the solution written up is nice, but some people wouldn't feel comfortable just trusting their reading comprehension to get them through the fix. Also if you can find a source for those relays with a decent stock available, make sure to share their contact info!

 

[Juicy K]

If you can get pics, it'd help immensely. I mean having the solution written up is nice, but some people wouldn't feel comfortable just trusting their reading comprehension to get them through the fix. Also if you can find a source for those relays with a decent stock available, make sure to share their contact info!

I will do a writeup if it fixes it. (With photos)

I will get pictures of the insides of the amp later. I know people like pictures. Once we get a source for relays, I planned on posting up who has them.

If I post up a how-to, no point in leaving something like the source of a part a mystery.

 

[Juicy K]

As of right now here is whats up.
He took the relay off of the Main board pulled the case off of it, he did notice the two contacts were a little off center from each other, so he got it straightened up, and tested it it. It works. Then he soldered it back onto the board, we took it out to the truck..... No luck, the relay is working like it should, the mosfets, capacitors, ect. look to be alright on the Main board. We are wondering if there is a signal problem from the HU, or if there is just a problem on the DSP board in the amp. Its too cold to mess with it right now so I will update as we figure things out.

I personally think she is better off upgrading the HU and AMP at least. It would cost less than a NEW replacement Bose Amp.

 

[Sheepshearin]

Thank you for your post! This helped me start to trouble shoot my issue with my mostly stock 2003 Silverado. We live in Texas so it doesn’t get cold very often.

Seems like each year it got a little worse and worse at what temps my radio’s sound would work. This year it was cutting off sound with anything below 60F degrees. So finally decided to look into it and trace down the issue. Checked all wires and head unit was good. With the help of this thread I narrowed it down to my Bose Amp.

I would take a hair dryer or my air soldering station to the amp in various spots to heat it up to try and trouble shoot it. It sound would start to work after heating up the circuit board.

I took apart the amp and used my air soldering station to melt/resolder every little piece of solder and when I say everything…. I mean every little piece on both sides of the board on my Bose amp. It seems to be working now. I had suspected it was a bad/cracked solder joint, but I couldn’t find exactly what part/component it was on the amp circuit board. So resorted to just heating up every little piece.

Crossing my fingers that it stays good and keeps working the rest of the winter!

I just use my truck for short work commutes, occasionally around town, and as a dingy behind our RV, so I didn’t want to spend too much a refurb/used amp or upgrade the stereo system with a new amp, as I was happy with the sound when it was working.

 

[Mooseman]

Although this is an extremely old thread where none of the posters are still active, you're welcome. Glad you were able to use the info here.