Expert: Cleggsan - 7/18/2009

Question
Hi Cleggsan,

I drive a 1998 Toyota Avensis 4 door Saloon.

Sometime ago my friend forced a CD into my car radio; I am sure this compromised the CD mechanism because the CD got stuck and the set started to display 'reset'. I wasn't patient enough to look for a repairer so I got another one off ebay. This was working fine until last week when the 2 speakers on the drivers side (back and front door) stopped working. I thought the speakers were dead until this morning. Out of curiousity, I removed the car sterio and replaced with the one that had CD stuck in it. I tuned the radio and to my surprise all speakers were working!

Now the question is, why don't they work when i put back the existing set? Please any help will be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Answer
Most of the electronic stuff on eBay is suspect.  Why do you think they wanted to sell it?  I would never purchase an electronic product off eBay unless they were near enough that I could deal in person and test the unit or get a promise to return it if it did not work.

Thus, it is very likely the eBay unit is defective with some internal problem OR the connector/connection to those speakers was not a solid connection.

You may need to have a car install/repair station take a look at it.  There is likely a malfunction in the eBay unit or some intermittent connection in the car. Only with some testing and checking by someone who knows what they are doing can ascertain it accurately.

Cheers; best wishes,
C