[Mike Helvey]

I have a 1995 Pontiac Trans Am, with the original radio and an aftermarket CD changer. The car was manufactured in Canada and bought from a U.S. dealership.

When I turn the radio on, the antenna goes up but I get nothing except white noise if I turn it all the way up. Same if I try to play a CD. If I try to auto-find a radio station it just scrolls through the numbers without stopping.

The radio says "Delco" and "Pontiac" above the clock and has the equalizer on the right. I don't have the as-built paperwork for the car. After reading a bit I'm suspecting I need to replace the head unit (HU), but could it be the amp not getting a power-on signal. I looked for the amp behind the passenger sail--nothing there. This is a convertible, but for good measure I looked behind the spare in the trunk... nothing.

Did the 95 convertible with the Delco radio come with an amp? If so... where else should I look and does it power all the speakers or just the rear?

What could cause this issue that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks!

Mike

 

[Mike Helvey]

When I pulled the radio I found the prior owner had also added a CB antenna hook up to the factory radio antenna... simple box, used them myself a long time ago. I pulled that out and disconnected the aftermarket CD changer to see if there was a related problem. Here's a picture of the radio (for ID purposes). In the back there's the wire harness, plus an unused bus. The radio box has tape over what may be an additional connection, but there is nothing behind the tape so I'm guessing it was for a different unit.

Radio Front (800x600)

• Mike Helvey
• Apr 3, 2019

Radio Top (800x600)

• Mike Helvey
• Apr 3, 2019

Radio Back (600x800)

• Mike Helvey
• Apr 3, 2019

 

[sea dog]

According to the 95 service manual, available at http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti

the vert has a radio that comes with no external amps. The vert system should have 6 speakers, all powered by the head unit.

The coupe is another story. It has an optional 10 speaker setup that uses the head unit to amplify the regular speakers. And it has a sub woofer amp that powers 2 sub woofers. speakers

Sounds like your stereo is ready for the scrap pile.

 

[Mike Helvey]

Thanks... kind of what I was figuring, but hadn't picked up on the difference between the coup and convertible. Time to go shopping!

 

[ZumpTA]

Thanks... kind of what I was figuring, but hadn't picked up on the difference between the coup and convertible. Time to go shopping!

It's not really a difference between the coupe and convertible. While the convertible may only have 6 speakers instead of 10, there were plenty of non-amplified 10 speaker systems as well. You had to have the Monsoon radio to get the amp. If you want to replace that head unit with another factory unit, just Google your year Firebird and what the head unit looks like.

Example: 1995 firebird radio cd with eq.

You'll get plenty of ebay hits as well as companies that refurbish and resell OEM electronics.

If you want an aftermarket radio, the single-din units are fine as always. The single-din with flip-out LCD work too but the LCD partially if not completely covers the center air vents. Double-din units require you to cut into the bezel surrounding the radio and climate controls, basically it needs the bar between radio and climate controls notched out. ...or, somebody out there sells a custom bezel which looks better than a butchered factory bezel. The factory radios aren't quite as large as double-din so modifications need made. Easy to do or buy as previously stated.

Good Luck with it.

 

[1993TransAm]

When you said the radio only outputs white noise when you insert a CD, does the CD player eject the CD and display an error code (the display will show a three digit code that starts with "E") and then go back to white noise, or does the radio accept the CD, show track and time information normally, and continue to output white noise?