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I have an odd issue with my '88 Trans Am GTA. It has the original radio with 5-band equalizer and cassette player, and there are steering wheel controls. The cassette player works well all of the time. But when I use the radio, the reception is very poor when I first turn it on, with only the strongest station being usable. But after I've been driving for a while, the reception will suddenly improve and all stations will come in. I popped the radio out to see if there was any issue with the antenna connection, but it's solid.
Any ideas?
I like keeping the original look of the interior, but I've also given some though to picking up a new head unit with CD player and USB input. I've seen online some nice units from Boss and Planet audio. Without pestering anyone for intricate details, is it easy to install a new head unit? The ones I've looked at appear to be the right double-din size. It sounds like the wiring might be an issue though. Is it a matter of splicing the wires on the new unit to the appropriate wires on the old? I'm assuming that for the most part, plug-and -play isn't going to happen (although I did see something called a Newport radio that claims to be an exact fit).
Visit Crutchfield.com. Input all your info for the car and then choose. They give you all the connectors/adapters for the job, plug and play. Changing the head unit is a piece of cake.
Good luck!
First your car is a 1.5 din not a double din -- except for a few "retro" radio makers no one makes a 1.5 din so you have to use a single din and a filler panel or get creative in making a new bezel for the radio pod.
There was a guy here selling modified factory radios that have a 3.5mm jack added to the radio so you can use MP3 etc.
To the base of your problem though... more than likely you have leaky capacitors in the radio. The capacitors are filled with an electrolyte that over time leak out. There are companies that "re-cap" all kinds of stuff. If you have a vintage gaming/arcade shop, ham radio club, or if you can find one a radio/tv repair shop can more than likely recap the radio. Could also be other issues but the capacitors are the most likely part to fail. You could also try a RF booster that plugins inline to help out.
But for a daily driver just get a decent single din, a install kit, and a wiring adapter so there are no lasting modifications to the car. Once you bridge the radio pig tail to the adapter its plug and play. Just unplug the old radio plug up the new one, then put the old one in storage so you can go back original in 10 min
Another option is get a latter model 1.5 din GM radio (and the wiring pig tail from the same car) if you get one from 2000-2008 or so you can find one with a cd and line in. Splice the pig tail into a wiring adapter so you don't have to cut your factory wires. This will look more stock than a single din. But you also have to deal with the "security" in those radios-- Instructions are out there on this.
Last edited by Aviator857; 02-28-2019 at 02:46 PM.
Visit Crutchfield.com. Input all your info for the car and then choose. They give you all the connectors/adapters for the job, plug and play. Changing the head unit is a piece of cake.
Good luck!
I was on Crutchfield. They had nothing that was a perfect fit, and as Aviator points out, I was wrong to say double-din. I don't think I'd want the single-din and filler look.
First your car is a 1.5 din not a double din -- except for a few "retro" radio makers no one makes a 1.5 din so you have to use a single din and a filler panel or get creative in making a new bezel for the radio pod.
There was a guy here selling modified factory radios that have a 3.5mm jack added to the radio so you can use MP3 etc.
To the base of your problem though... more than likely you have leaky capacitors in the radio. The capacitors are filled with an electrolyte that over time leak out. There are companies that "re-cap" all kinds of stuff. If you have a vintage gaming/arcade shop, ham radio club, or if you can find one a radio/tv repair shop can more than likely recap the radio. Could also be other issues but the capacitors are the most likely part to fail. You could also try a RF booster that plugins inline to help out.
But for a daily driver just get a decent single din, a install kit, and a wiring adapter so there are no lasting modifications to the car. Once you bridge the radio pig tail to the adapter its plug and play. Just unplug the old radio plug up the new one, then put the old one in storage so you can go back original in 10 min
Another option is get a latter model 1.5 din GM radio (and the wiring pig tail from the same car) if you get one from 2000-2008 or so you can find one with a cd and line in. Splice the pig tail into a wiring adapter so you don't have to cut your factory wires. This will look more stock than a single din.
Thanks. And as you can tell, I'm a novice at this saying that it was double-din. I've popped ratios out of 3rd gens to get them repaired way back in the past, but that's all I've done.
Maybe I'll see if I can find a good refurbished Delco. Or see if someone can refurbish this one. I really don't want the single-din and filler look, although I'm sure some shops could do a great job with that. I kind of like the original [outdated] look.
I do sort of like the idea of that Newport radio. I thought I saw one link that said it was a direct fit for 3rd gens, although another link said 4th gen.
I really like your car. I had a white '90 Formula. The first new car that I bought because I wanted it, not because it was what I could afford. Put 167K miles on it. Still my personal favorite.
I'm about to go down the path of doing a double din (android) install -- I'm going to build a new radio pod and cover it in leather etc.
The 4th gen and 3ed gen radios are the same form factor (1.5 din), the wiring is different and the newport will have universal wiring that you have to use an adapter for. They may send you the pre assembled pig tail though to make it plug n play.
You "can" make a double din fit if it isn't too deep, some of the china knock off android radios have no depth to them (example not a recommendation
Your factory unit is prob. on its way out.
Just call the parts yards around town or fleabay.
You should be able to score a Delco am/fm/cd unit for less than $100~
Sending your original unit to be repaired at United Radio in Syr..
Its gonna cost about $135 for them to "look" at it plus repair/parts/shipping.
Plug n play too!
Your factory unit is prob. on its way out.
Just call the parts yards around town or fleabay.
You should be able to score a Delco am/fm/cd unit for less than $100~
Sending your original unit to be repaired at United Radio in Syr..
Its gonna cost about $135 for them to "look" at it plus repair/parts/shipping.
Plug n play too!
Perhaps there would be something at a parts yard. But I have been looking and Delco units said to be in excellent, working condition (possibly refurbished) on eBay are sometimes considerably more expensive than you think, even for just another cassette player.
I will note that the fleabay resellers are $pendy lately!
There are a few 3rd gen parts vendors on FB.
Takes a bit of searchin' to score a low priced one!
Heres the unit I just put in my Cadillac I just bought in Fla!
The factory cass. unit died!
There definitely seems to be a price jump if you're looking for an actual 3rd gen radio on eBay. CD players really weren't all that common yet up to 1992, so there is a rarity factor, but even cassette units in really good condition aren't cheap.
There does seem to be a decent number of reasonably-priced CD players available after 1992, 4th gen units and other GM products. My concern with these is whether my steering wheel controls will still work.
Hmmmm ....My unit is from a 90 Pontiac cuz it has red readouts and the ser# tag sez 1990 It has 3 plug ins.
I am only using 2.
I wonder if those extras are for the steering wheel button controls? Top unit is the 84 factory. Bottom is the 90 cd unit. It takes 4 plugs.
I wonder if those extras are for the steering wheel button controls?
Not all Delco head units are Steering Wheel control radios. The extra slots on the radio you pictured are for (upper radio) nothing because it's 87 and earlier,................. and (lower radio) are 95+ connecting ports for factory remote accessories like a CD Changer.
I have an odd issue with my '88 Trans Am GTA. It has the original radio with 5-band equalizer and cassette player, and there are steering wheel controls. The cassette player works well all of the time. But when I use the radio, the reception is very poor when I first turn it on, with only the strongest station being usable.
Kinda' unusual,... The problem with your radio is almost certainly in the Receiver ( AKA "AMP") part of your radio. I've got some experience with these now and I've found the GTA Receiver pulls in FM good,... or it doesn't pull in any stations at all. I'm yet to find one with a variable reception. You could remove the radio and scrape/clean the antenna cables' plug and scrape/clean the antenna cable port in the radio itself to make the best connection possible. Could also try to re-flow and solder points on the antenna port itself to see if that helps,.... or replacing the antenna/Antenna cable itself might also help a little. Might end up being be a lotta' work for a little reward & I wouldn't expect a big difference, but when it comes to reception - ever little bit helps !
I've got several Factory Thjrdgen radios available,....... & several Pontiac non-Thirdgen specific head units too. ( I do not have a spare GTA Radio or GTA Radio Receiver to offer you. ) If you are interested in keeping the original "look" I've also got a couple of Bonneville push-button radios that look exactly like the GTA radio - but do NOT control the Factory GTA SWC. ( It is -in fact- a Steering Wheel Control radio, but NOT compatible with GTA.) I've also modified these DELCO-LOC head-units to be permanently unlocked so that they can be installed in ANY GM. So; If your looking for any kind of factory Pontiac Delco head-unit let me know exactly what style your looking for. ( I do not have a good Pontiac UX1 right now,... should have most others.)
Not all Delco head units are Steering Wheel control radios. The extra slots on the radio you pictured are for (upper radio) nothing because it's 87 and earlier,................. and (lower radio) are 95+ connecting ports for factory remote accessories like a CD Changer.
Kinda' unusual,... The problem with your radio is almost certainly in the Receiver ( AKA "AMP") part of your radio. I've got some experience with these now and I've found the GTA Receiver pulls in FM good,... or it doesn't pull in any stations at all. I'm yet to find one with a variable reception. You could remove the radio and scrape/clean the antenna cables' plug and scrape/clean the antenna cable port in the radio itself to make the best connection possible. Could also try to re-flow and solder points on the antenna port itself to see if that helps,.... or replacing the antenna/Antenna cable itself might also help a little. Might end up being be a lotta' work for a little reward & I wouldn't expect a big difference, but when it comes to reception - ever little bit helps !
I've got several Factory Thjrdgen radios available,....... & several Pontiac non-Thirdgen specific head units too. ( I do not have a spare GTA Radio or GTA Radio Receiver to offer you. ) If you are interested in keeping the original "look" I've also got a couple of Bonneville push-button radios that look exactly like the GTA radio - but do NOT control the Factory GTA SWC. ( It is -in fact- a Steering Wheel Control radio, but NOT compatible with GTA.) I've also modified these DELCO-LOC head-units to be permanently unlocked so that they can be installed in ANY GM. So; If your looking for any kind of factory Pontiac Delco head-unit let me know exactly what style your looking for. ( I do not have a good Pontiac UX1 right now,... should have most others.)
I wish you had written a little earlier about your head units. Earlier today, I did buy a Pontiac CD player off eBay along with an harness adapter. Not sure if I need the adapter, but I heard that the pins changed in 1989. It's from a 4th gen car. Refurbished, looks mint, and money-back guaranteed to work. No idea if the steering wheel controls will work with it. To be able to play CDs and always get radio reception will be a plus, even if I have to sacrifice the steering wheel controls. They only control the radio anyway and have no functionality with the cassette player, outside of volume control. The cassette player buttons on the head unit are electronic and not mechanical, so they could have put some controls like forward, reverse, and seek/repeat song functions for that on the steering wheel, but I guess they just focused on radio control.
There were some mint-looking 3rd gen head units available on eBay, but they're all rather expensive. I suppose CD players into the early 1990s were still a relatively rare option and many have probably broken. There seems to be a lot of Firebird and other Pontiac compatible head units beginning around 1994.
Thanks for the advice about the radio. I might see if I can clean off anything that looks corroded. It is odd, because if you drive the car for 15-20 minutes, the radio reception clears up and works perfectly. And the cassette player always plays well.
The mid-late 90's Pontiac head units are a pretty good fit for the Thirdgens, I've got them priced @ $70 + shipping in my radio classified. It's one of the least expensive radios I've got because like you said,... there's a million of them out there. Even a basic Thirdgen Cassette deck is worth more IMO. The one 'downside' is that you might need to trim the radios mounting brackets a little and you might need to trim a locking tab from the radio harness in order for it to plug in properly. Really not a big deal at all; You'll like that head unit ! It really is a nice "fit" for the Trans Am Interior.
The Steering Controls will not work. The GTA Steering Control functions are pretty specific and IIRC only the 88 B(89?) Bonneville and the 88 (89?) 6000 Radio will interchange and function properly. I've never confirmed that - I can't get a GTA radio to work on the bench and my 88 GTA is still in pieces - but I know that nothing newer than 1990 will control the GTA SWC system.
Did you check the antenna cable connection at the antenna inside the fender? I had a reception problem once and discovered that was all corroded. After disconnecting that cable and sanding the housing and the collar around the cable connection, my problem not only vanished, but the reception became a lot clearer.
Did you check the antenna cable connection at the antenna inside the fender? I had a reception problem once and discovered that was all corroded. After disconnecting that cable and sanding the housing and the collar around the cable connection, my problem not only vanished, but the reception became a lot clearer.
Not a bad idea. Thanks. Sounds like that will a fun one to get to. I swear GM used to engineer things to make simple repairs, like replacing an antenna motor, as difficult as possible so that you'd go to a dealer. (On the other hand, radio mounts in 3rd gens almost seem designed to be as easy to steal as possible. You can pop one out in a couple of minutes without even needing a tool to remove the bezel.)
It is still odd that after 15 minutes, my radio will play clear as a bell. As soon as you turn off the car, even if only briefly, it again has poor reception until it's on for a while. So I tend to think that the problem is more internal to the radio.
02-28-2019, 12:51 PM
