Radio Going Bad

4th gen

Radio, when I turn the volume knob, the number on the display jumps around a lot. Acting wacky.

Is it possible to permanently fix, if I take it all apart? I don't know much about radios. Would like to keep it stock as I will be selling it soon as 6th gens hit the market. But would also like the radio to work as normal. Ideas?

I've seen quick fixes online but they seem temporary.

 

I saw someone suggest CRC cleaner sprayed into whatever’s exposed with the knob pulled off, seems to be a weak spot of most any physical knob no matter the car. (friend’s Sonata did the same)

Same thread someone said to try spinning the knob around for a couple minutes straight “like a two-year old”

If you pull it out and pull it apart you can probably make a better assessment of what’s going on in there but I’d guess some contacts need cleaning anyway.

 

Spray the knob with tuner cleaner. They get oxidized and malfunction. If that doesn't work you can buy another radio, 3rd gen ones cost around $50 and I can't see a 4th gen being much more than that. All you have to do is unclip the front face plate from the rest of the radio and put the new one on.

 

I’m not certain about using a ‘contact’ cleaner would work, most modern day digital electronics would most likely be using an opto-coupler to produce pulses that the head unit uses to make volume adjustments and a contact cleaner would potentially damage the optics. I would first try using compressed air to blast out any debris/dust as a first try.

One possible way to figure out if it’s an opto-coupler type device just spin the knob, a potentiometer type device generally has a physical ‘stop’ whereas the former would just keep on spinning.

But, a volume knob affecting other parts of the head unit does sound odd, personally I would need to see the internals to understand how things are connected electronically and physically as it could be a variety of causes (electronic short or a mechanically induced issue.)

Just providing some thoughts to consider here.

 

I took apart a junk radio I had for a 3rd gen and it appears to not use a optimeter, maybe a photo interrupter. The knobs have no stopping point, they'll spin forever.

I've had radios behave like OP, and I never fixed them but I never tried very hard because I already had part radios for unrelated reasons. Swapping the face plates out is easy.

 

My 2004 Limited does the same thing, I haven't found a fix for it, the "tuning the knob back and forth rapidly used to work for a while but no longer does anything.....BUT the volume controls on the steering wheel still works fine, so I just use those controls.