2011 Patriot Radio Won't Work

[MoparMonkey306]

I have a 2011 Jeep Patriot with a RES model radio/CD player. It worked beautifully for years up until about a month ago. Then I could no longer receive any radio signals on AM or FM. It would occasionally kick in for a few seconds, but most of the time the radio audio was dead. The audio when I played a CD still worked fine. I assumed is must be an antenna connection problem. I took the car to a local Chrysler dealer and was told the diagnostic charge to just look at it would be $120, and that's not to repair anything. I balked at this high price and decided to investigate it myself. I search the internet and found Youtube videos on how to open up the console and remove the radio unit and check the antenna and power connections. I cleaned everything out with compressed air and reassembled everything, making sure all connections were tight. Now, the entire raido/CD player won't even power on at all. I thought about buying a duplicate radio/CD unit from a salvage yard or ebay, but if that doesn't work, I probably won't be able to return it, and I'll be out $50 to $100. I really don't want to sink $200+ into a radio. Does anyone have any ideas on what could be wrong and how I can economically fix it?

[mikeswillys]

My radio did the same thing on my wrangler. Everything worked except the am/fm radio. After watching lots of YouTube videos of people taking the radio apart I saw a common problem. Years of heating up in the dash the chip that controls the am/fm unseats from the board and no longer works. There are plenty of videos that show where it is exactly and how to hear it up to reseat it. I ended up buying a cheap touch screen radio from Amazon that was a perfect match for over $100. I didn’t find it worth while to try and repair it when it will eventually fail again. Good luck.


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[JPNinPA]

First check the fuses. Possible when removing the fuse failed.
Any wire can act like an antenna. So if you want outside the garage pull the connection off the radio and connect a length of wire to the center conductor. This will at least tell you if your antenna is bad or the radio.

Also check you seated all connections. Possibly the radio is playing but speakers are not connected because the connector is not seated. Include the antenna. On TJ the connection is behind the glovebox. The wire separates due to the bouncing and other work in that area.


Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson