Blazer990

I got my TL during September of last year. It made its way down from Missouri to Florida and I purchased the car from a used car dealer in FL. As the '04 doesn't have an Aux port I decided to grab an eBay cassette adapter for the time being to see how it goes. I was overall impressed with how loud the speakers were... when they were loud.

For some reason, the audio quality in the car will dip and become extremely quiet at times while being loud at other times. I've been scratching my head at the reason and tried a lot of things but I ultimately reached the conclusion that the temperature is the reason why. My TL has an issue with moisture and even the inside of the car has been getting ice at night. This is primarily because of another issue with water leaking into the interior via the drivers side airbag. (which I've recently fixed).

I THINK this is the cause of the issue. When I use the car for a long duration... the audio gradually gets louder and reaches the levels I'm fine with. But in most cases, it's quiet as I don't drive for too long before reaching my destination. Part of me also thinks that it could be an issue with the cassette adapter but I'm honestly clueless. Theoretically, this problem should disappear in the coming weeks as Florida is naturally hotter than the states above it... but I also want to permanently address this issue.
I like music and this has been the most frustrating part of owning the car. I was unable to test the audio when I first test drove the car as it was locked by a code... and I don't feel like replacing the AMP or any other components on a car I don't plan on keeping for less than 5 years or so.

thoiboi

cold weather affecting the amp.

Joecop67

Probably bad capacitors in the amp. There is a thread on here about it. Probably have some bulging caps in it. I would take it apart and check.
I order my caps from digikey.

viperkorn

Same problem with mine, can't afford anything right now. Joecop67 how did you find out which caps you needed and how much? were they hard to replace?

Joecop67

You can buy a cheap esr meter on eBay if you want. The ones I replaced were bulging or leaking.

viperkorn

Found the thread read, found the web site to order the caps and got to work. $12 spent. Completely different sound system no more quiet and a little loud sound coming out. I turn it up to 3 and its louder than it ever was before.

Joecop67