Audio System - Diagnosis & Troubleshooting
Bulletin: W94-010Section: Warranty
Date: July 8, 1994
Model: ALL
Applicable to: USA/CND
The following was prepared by Pioneer Electronic Service to help isolate and trouble-shoot certain audio system symptoms and conditions. These guidelines will aid in preventing the unnecessary replacement of radios and CD changers that are in fact not defective. Thus, preventing a charge back for a NFF.
I. NFF (No Fault Found)
When a unit is determined to be NFF, it functions as designed and all performance criteria are within specifications. Pioneer classifies NFF's into three categories: (1) NFF/U (2)NFF/S (3)NFF/M.
1) NFF/U (Unsatisfied)
NFF/U is an NFF situation where the customer is unsatisfied with the performance of the radio or CD changer in conditions where the performance is negatively impacted by extraordinary circumstances.
a. Complaint: AM Is Noisy or Has Static
Possible Causes:
Interference is often caused by close proximity to high tension power lines, traffic signals, outdoor transformers, automatic doors, electrical and electronic machinery. This interference is particularly magnified when trying to receive weak signals such as extremely distant stations and college stations, where the interference actually masks the signal.
Broadcast field strength is also greatly diminished in areas such as beneath freeway overpasses, bridges, tunnels, valleys and behind tall buildings. In these situations, complaints of sporadic and excessive noise will result.
During night time hours, AM transmissions from remote broadcasts, can cause tweeting noises and general interference.
b. Complaint: FM Noisy or Suffers From Multipath
Possible causes:
In locations with tall buildings, hills, mountains, or in valleys, the direct broadcast signals may reflect off those objects, causing multiple signals to arrive at the antenna simultaneously. This results in multipath noise in FM reception.
In addition1 just as in AM, when traveling under power lines or in busy downtown areas with high EMF's, noisy FM may result.
c. Complaint: Weak/Poor Reception or Reception Cuts In/Out.
Possible causes:
Same as (b) above regarding multi-path and weak signal conditions.
Suggestions:
All car radios will exhibit occasional static, noise and interference because of atmospheric conditions, weak broadcast signals, interference from man made sources of EMF's and dead spots caused by tall objects such as mountains and buildings.
These conditions need to be explained to the customer. A field test around the area should be done with the customer's vehicle to verify that the performance of the radio is comparable to other Range Rover, Discovery and Defender audio systems (same kind of system) before exchanging a radio.
d. Complaint: Compact Disc (CD) Changer Skips
Possible causes:
Defective compact disc (see user's responsibility, Section 11), loose CD changer mounting, unusually bumpy roads/terrain.
Suggestions:
Tighten the mounting of the CD changer. Test drive the customer's vehicle with known good compact disc (see user's responsibility, Section II) to determine if the sensitivity of the changer to bumps is comparable to that of other Range Rover/Discoverys.
The Pioneer CD changer uses a sophisticated "double floating suspension which utilizes a combination of springs and silicone filled rubber dampers in each corner to suspend the transport in the chassis. This helps to resist skipping in most circumstances. However, hard vehicle bouncing caused by such things as pot holes,, rail road tracks or other road deformations may cause the laser pick-up to temporarily lose focus causing the changer to pause briefly, then continue from the last position. This is considered normal operation.
2) NFF/S (System)
NFF/S is an NFF situation where the problem lies with either the vehicle or the other components in the audio system, i.e., speakers or amplifier. Complaints such as no power, inoperative, no sound (all front or rear,left or right), sound noisy or distorted, no bass or no treble can be related to blown auto fuses, broken wire harnesses, car battery, speakers, or amplifier.
e. Complaint: No Power or Unit Inoperative
Possible causes:
Bad or discharged battery, low voltage, or blown radio circuit fuse, loose or frayed wiring harness, or bad grounding.
Suggestion:
Check car battery, output voltage (radio requires 10.8V minimum), wiring harness and ground connections.
f. Complaint: No sound, no bass, no treble or sound noisy / distorted
Possible causes:
Bad speakers, loose speaker wiring, speakers wired out of phase (+ and - terminals reversed at speaker), defective amplifier, or wiring harness to amplifier loose or frayed.
Suggestion:
Check the condition of speaker and amplifier wiring harnesses, speakers and amplifier before returning components.
Note:
Blown speakers will smell burned.
3) NFF/M (Miscellaneous)
NFF's which cannot be classified into NFF1U or NFF/S are considered NFF1M. Which means that the customer's complaint cannot be reproduced or duplicated during the testing.
II. User's Responsibility
1. Dirty Tape Head
Caused by continuous use of tapes (particularly inexpensive tapes or tapes that are left out of their boxes and collect dirt) deposit metal oxides, dust and particulate matter on the tape heads. This leads to complaints of tape inoperative, no sound, sound distorted or muffled and no treble or bass.
Suggestion:
Using a cleaning tape (wet type), such as an Alsop or Discwasher, to clean the tape head, capstan and pinch roller. The customer must be advised to clean the tape heads every month, depending on usage and quality of tapes being played.
2. Liquid Ingress
Usually caused by positioning soft drink or coffee cups near the radio. Sudden stops can cause the cup to spill its contents into the radio, resulting in short circuits, corrosion, tape mechanism damage and ultimate failure.
Suggestion:
Cups and cup holders should be located away from the radio. Since the position of Discovery and Range Rover radios are in the dash, rather than on the center console, the likelihood of liquid damage is unlikely. However, this is not the case with Defender 110 and Defender 90 models since many people tend to hold soft drinks/coffee in their hand just over the console/radio.
3. Foreign Object Intrusion
Children sometimes insert coins, pencils, pieces of paper and plastic and other objects into the tape slot. Also, dust, dirt and gravel may enter due to severe off road conditions. These objects cause short circuits, tape mechanism and CD changer damage, resulting in failure of the unit.
Suggestion:
Customers must be made aware that foreign objects placed into the mechanism will cause damage (this is a common occurrence). If the customer notices a foreign object placed in the mechanism, have them return the radio to the dealer, for service by Pioneer. DO NOT power up the radio while the object is inside.
4. Bad / Used Cassette Tapes
Warped and/or damaged cassettes, peeling tape labels, curled tape edges, and 120 minute tapes will cause poor sound, stuck cassettes(can't be ejected), excessive wow and flutter, mechanical squeaking and other noises, or non-operating. 120 minute tapes are very thin and may snap, becoming chewed and pulled into the mechanism. Also, peeling tape labels sometimes become stuck inside the mechanism, causing tape jams.
Suggestions:
Advise customer to only use high quality tapes and not to use damaged tapes. Remove loose labels. Do not subject tapes to direct sunlight (leaving on seats or dashboard), and always place tape into tape box afier use.
Advise customer never to use 120 minute tapes.
5. Bad Compact Discs (CD's)
Warped, dirty, cracked CD's or CD's with pinholes (in the aluminum surface) or eccentric center holes. In these cases, excessive skipping or a CD error code showing in the radio display will result. In addition, magazines other than Pioneer/Land Rover versions have been found stuck in the mechanism.
Suggestions:
Dealer should try operating the changer with a known good CD before removing the changer.
In the case of a stuck magazine, the dealer should make sure that it is a Pioneer/Land Rover magazine, not one from another manufacturer.
Magazines have also become jammed because two CD's were placed in one tray during hasty loading of the magazine.
6. Broken or Damaged by Customer
Audio components can become inoperative because of physical damage to external panels and controls. Units are received by Pioneer with broken, scratched and otherwise damaged grills, face plates, knobs, buttons, and external cases. These were damaged by excessive external forces. This is the result of customer abuse (heavy objects dropped on the radio) or rough handling by the dealer (unit is dropped).
Suggestion:
The customer MUST be informed that abuse - even if accidental - is not covered under warranty.
During removal and replacement, care must be taken not to drop the unit.
7. Mis-Operation
Examples:
- One channel out or weak due to misadjusted balance control
- No sound (front/rear) due to misadjustment of fader
- Poor sound in tape mode due to Dolby engaged/not engaged appropriately.
Suggestions:
Customer must be given instruction on how the audio system operates.
Check adjustments before trouble-shooting and removal.
8. Exchange Unit Ordered But Not Used
Approximately 20% of monthly units returned to Pioneer Service were never used. Based on the customer's complaint It may have been initially believed that the unit was at fault and an exchange unit was ordered in advance. However, after installing the new unit found that the problem still existed. And after determining the true cause of the problem (e.g. blown speakers, loose or broken wire harness) the exchange unit was returned back to Pioneer.
It may also be possible that the customer never came back to the dealer to have the unit replaced (because he1she found that there was no defective condition?). Therefore, the dealer returned the unused exchange unit.
Suggestion:
Perform trouble-shooting before automatically exchanging and1or ordering an exchange unit.
NOTE:
For additional warranty / exchange information see Parts Bulletin EL94-005.