Hello all, I have a stock 01 Electra Glide, I have searched the internet until I arrived here looking for answers. My radio AM/FM Cass, has a electric sound coming through the speakers, no music.
The beginning, battery was failing, charging, riding, charging...replaced the battery. The radio worked fine before the new battery, now the lights are on but nobodies home. I have read post after post in the forums. Took alot of the other solutions and applied, with several choice words. So far, I have seperated and cleaned connections until there are no more. All ground connections scraped to ensure good connections, the Duestch connectors there is not much to clean but made sure they were seated and secure. Antenna wire checked and double checked, this was the first advice given to me by a service tech. He said the filament in the core was notorious for breaking and this would give the problem described. Tested, checked, cleaned hand controls to ensure nothing was wrong in the hand control enclosures. The volume control works, the static squel gets louder when you turn up the volume. The station hand control works, after all the connection cleaning and seating the radio shows I am getting alot more radio stations in stereo! WOW if I could only hear them. I have inquired to security of the radio, is there a magic button to reset if the battery was disconnected, and was told no. My biggest concern is if unplug the radio to avoid a static concert in my speakers, will this cause problems in the ECM. I am not an officianato of electronics only a thourogh post reader. I hope some one can send me in the right direction, all ideas for a solution will be performed and reported...also checked all fuses and even after checking each fuse for contiunity and voltage, changed every stinking one of them in a fit of confusion. Is there a way to check the radio? Is there another circuit breaker hidden that I didn't find? The manual and schematics were used in this pool of confusion (I traced wires until I am cross eyed). If the radio is bad out the window it goes, thanks to other posts I have seen some possibilities I would like to try this winter, but want to get this problem fixed so I don't take a chance on burning up a very expensive upgrade without any enjoyment.

And for anyone out there that wants to see confusion look under your fairing...LOL

 

First, welcome to the forum.

Next, the ECM will not be affected by the removal of the radio on an '01.

You say you are getting stations. Does that mean you can see the numbers change on the face?

If it is making a noise, there will be no breakers or fuses in trouble.

If the noise goes up and down in volume, the amplifier section is working.

Have you tried to find a signal (station) on the Weather band, or tried to play a tape?

Do you have a close buddy with a bagger you can swap your radio into his?

Those radios were made by RadioSound (I think that is the name) in Tennessee. They have a web page and a phone number so they may be of some help.

 

Thank you for your reply, yes I get stations on the face but no music only a electric sound, as in my first post I am getting alot more radio stations in stereo, by the face plate display but no music, since the cleaning. I tried a weather station and a tape with no avail. The noise doesn't elevate as music would through the speakers. It stays the same until about 3/4 of the volume and then it really growls. Yes the radio was made by radio sound but I was waiting until a weekday to call them...on the agenda right now. I don't know anyone else with a bagger, just moved to this area. Everyone I rode with before did not own a Harly.

Is there any tests for this radio?

If the amplifier was blown, how could I test the part.

Agian, thanks for your reply, at least I feel I am on the right track.

 

Jon,

Does the Electra Glide have switches for speaker options like the Ultra? Are they set correctly? Have you tried a headset or earphones to see if you can get sound through them? If you can then the radio is probably ok. You might also check to see if you have the fade front to back set wrong, like me I took my tour pack off and had unknowingly set the speakers to the back only...while trying to fiddle with the cb going down the road. Anyway, that’s another story but you get the point...check your settings.

Recently, I had a similar problem like yours with my Ultra and it actually ended up being a bad turn signal module that can be added inline (under the seat) to have the blinkers also function as brake lights. It went bad and all kinds of things were happening; like feedback through the speakers when I applied the brakes, sound fading in and out with every click of the blinker, and more.

The point is...it may be something not in the stereo itself but all circuits on the bike have to work or it causes problems elsewhere.

Here is the good news; your radio actually has a diagnostic mode and there is a chart-schematic to follow so you can figure it out. I have a rebuild manual so I already had some information to help me. I don't know if that information is available on line if you don't have one. I've also had good luck with my dealer printing pages for me before I had the book.

 

The radio is grounded by the antenna and a chassis ground by the neck. Do this experioment. Unplug the speed sensor. Believe it or not, those buggers have driven some people nutty with radio interference. The radio gets a speed signal and if the signal is screwy, believe it or not the radios can go nutty. Not guaranteeing anything, but it's worth a try and it's fast and free.

You can reset the radio to factory settings by having the bike off and holding in 2 presets. You can then keep holding them and power up the bike. That gets you into radio diagnostics. THe dealer service manual tells you very clearly how to do this then reset the radio, Go down there and ask to see one - write the procedure down and go home and do it if your dealer cannot read the book and tells you it cannot be done. If you get no where, i will dig out my manual from my 2001 and get you the procedure.

 

Welp, went to the harley shop in Roswell Georgia. Took a print out of the postings...Deer in the headlight look. I was told they didn't have a service manual as described. I also had my manual, the Harley Davidson owners manual, it is a basic repair manual with wiring schematics and how to disassemble and assemble. The service person said the best they could do was test the radio, if I could take it out of the bike they would test it for free. Enthusiatically I came home, pulled the radio and took it to the shop. Then they said they really needed the radio in the bike. ( I still haven't lost my cool) But they would be closed by the time I could get back home, reassemble and get back to them. NOW I am losing my cool. This means I have to wait until next weekend to run the bike to them. I really wish there was another way to test this radio. I did fiddle around and find the diagnostics in the radio and reset it back to the default, with no change.

So still at square one, any help is appreciated.

 

Did you try headphones?

 

No headphones NewHog, the radio doesn't have a headphone jack on an aux input jack...Everyone says it has to be a ground. As tedious as it sounds I am tracing wires. Also looking into a new hook up cable from retro radios. They have a cross over cable for the 06 electra glide that lets you install a sony radio with all the controls of the standard harley radio...more to come on that hunt.

 

Well, I'm not having the same problem. Mine is slightly different. I have a 98 Ultra Classic I picked up last year with only 3500 miles. I am getting alot of static in my front speakers once I start moving. Sitting idle the stereo sounds very clean. I suspect that I may have a loose connection or a ground but I am not sure. I have seen some suggestions but I am open to other ideas. 01 electraglide, I have found a really good site for upgrading my compoments for my Harley. In case you are interested try http://eglidegoodies.com Some really nice stereo upgrades for later model Harleys like ours.

 

Have you unplugged the speed sensor as I suggested to eliminate that?