I recently sold a radio to a guy from my camaro, I tested it before it went out and it worked fine in my car on all four speakers and turned on and off just fine. Well he wanted the radio because his previous one was "acting up".

Well he puts it and tells me that only the left side speakers work and that he would have a shop check it out. That was fine with me becasue I am confident its not the radio since it was fine in mine, well I here back from him and this is what he said the shop said.

"he said he thought it was the radio, peeked inside, said the resistors? were the older green ones, they commonly start leaking But I asked him to test it. He said the fix would be $85 if that's what it is. I haven't heard back yet."

If it wasnt hooked up to actual good speakers, what other ways is there to tell if it works, I dont think the shop hooked it up, but just opened it and gave quick diagnosis

That sounds like B/S to me, so Im wondering what you guys think. Doesnt changing the resistors consist of getting the new ones removing the old and soldering the new ones in? I really dont see that being 85 dollars. I personally think its something with the speakers he has now or the wiring since he was having trouble with his previous radio or possibly to of the wires in the back are touching when it was installed which would also make since, what do you think?

 

Well resistors don't leak. They are usually made of a carbon compound or wire wound. Capacitors are a different story. They do deteriorate over time and, depending on how they are made, may leak......but

Have the guy bring the radio back, reinstall it in your car and show he that it works. Hopefully he did not damage it in his car.

Removing resistors, capacitors, etc. from printed circuit boards is a real pia and it you are not careful you can ruin the board.



Dave

 

What Crossfire said.
The price for the repair is normal by Norwegian standards, but I guess it's a ripoff by US standards. The repair guy only said they commonly start leaking, not that they actually were defective, whatever it was.
But the bottom line is you tested it ok in your car and he accepted the deal. He can't come back and claim it was defective after having installed it outside of your control and present you with a bill. It's all too easy to fu*k up an installation. Reversing polarity, shorting speaker wires to ground, etc.
I've worked at a radio/tv shop and seen it all. New radios and speakers claimed to be bad, install claimed to be ok, but wires turns out to be shorted, and speakers full of metal filings upon inspection of the car.
Don't spend much time, worry, or energy on this, and def. not any money..

 

It would be easy, but the guy still owes me half the money (long story). What bugs me is he wanted this radio because his original radio in the car wasnt working right to begin with said it had problems turning on and off and static in the speakers, so it leads me to beleive its something with the cars wiring or the speakers or possibly the on and offing blew them, theres not to many original speakers in these cars still kicking. I personally think it is a bad ground, I know the wires on the back sometimes if they sit wrong it will case stuff like this.

If the shop had actually hooked it in to new speakers and it didnt work it might be easier for me to beleive it didnt work, but it just sounds like they saw what it did in the car took it out and looked at the insides. I would just refund the other half and have him send it back because im confident it works, but its like now the radios been opened up and been inside of and I dont know what could of happened then so it irritates me because I know it worked in my car because I used to use it.

 

Sending the radio back and forth does make the matter harder, but have him return it, then test it, if it works then he can get it back again for the remaining amount, if it doesn't then you already have an amount for a repair..
I believe your thoughts around his original radio and the shop's actions are correct.