Puma Radio

[travelrover]

I have recently purchased a 2012 Puma 90. The standard radio is having serious albeit intermittent problems and the dealer doesn't want to know. It keeps cutting out, you will get 1/2 a second of broadcast and the 1/2 a second of nothing, this is infuriating. Other times it will work fine for a few minutes and then start cutting out.

Is this a common problem or am I just lucky? I have a had search for similar threads on here but can not find anything relating to Puma's.

Is it worth investigating or should I just replace the unit? Any ideas?

Cheers - Simon

[rutmutt]

If I was guessing you gave a earth fault - loose or shorting. I don't believe its common fault. You could rewire your earth and power and see if that solves it. Or do the correct thing and inspect the harness, personally I'd at least bridge each of these wires (-/+) one at a time and see which Ines at fault. Should be easy enough to do yourself... I wouldn't pay a dealer considering your vehicle is out of warranty...

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[rutmutt]

Or of course the unit is stuffed..

Sent from my ZTE Blade Q Lux using AULRO mobile app

[Tote]

It is possible that the large plug in the back of the unit is not seated properly. This has caused me to have some very odd errors after removing and replacing the unit.

Aside from that one of the current generation Alpine decks that have functioning Bluetooth will fit using the existing harness and are plug and play. Assuming the 2012 models have the same deck as my my16 Puma....


Regards

Tote

[travelrover]

thanks guys, are they easy to remove? don't you need a special tool?

I also have a problem with the backlighting in my 1999 TD5 defender so I need to pull that out and soldier in some new bulbs so I assume the same removal process?

[rutmutt]

Td5 and puma are different to access but both easy. On the puma centre dash console, just undo the screws you can see, put a screwdriver/ knife, paddle behind it and pop it off. May take a lil force.. And you have about 15-20cm of movement to lower it out of the way.. More than enough. Then u believe the radio itself has a small clip on each side you have to push up and then slide the unit out. 1st time shouldn't take more than 15mins. Easy.

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[rutmutt]

The screws may be a 6 star screw. Super cheap sell small screwdriver kits for under $15 I believe.

Sent from my ZTE Blade Q Lux using AULRO mobile app

[Toxic_Avenger]

I had a similar issue on mine, but it was an aftermarket head unit.
IIRC, it was a wire behind the dash earthing out. I believe it was the mute wire that silences the radio when the phone rings or something...
I just wrapped some tape over it, and sat down for a beer- Job well done.

To get the centre dash panel out I think it's a T30 Torx, and jimmy it from the corner. I did a bit of a write up here. http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-tutorials/233933-puma-defender-radio-surround-centre-dash-removal-steps.html

The hardest part is being gentle with the clips. Use a soft tool so as not to mar the plastics. You'll need to unclip the clock and some of the switchgear harnesses. They will be trained to a path once they are unclipped, so shouldn't be too hard to put back in their respective places.

[travelrover]

Thanks Toxic_Avenger

What is that blue pri tool you are using? Looks pretty handy.

[Tote]

Not sure what Toxic's tool is but I use a plastic bicycle tyre lever.

Regards,
Tote

[travelrover]

arrr, a good idea. Now where are they hidden in the shed....:p

[Toxic_Avenger]

I have a set of these.
Rather handy for a multitude of tasks.
SCA Door Trim Remover Set - 5 Piece - Supercheap Auto (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/SCA-Door-Trim-Remover-Set-5-Piece/282096)

[travelrover]

A bit of an update to this.. after a bit (a lot) of poking around I have discovered the problem is not power or earth related.

It didn't occur to me initially that the problem might be associated with only one radio station, I had assumed the whole lot! By accident i discovered that all other stations worked fine, just the one I preferred to listen to was having this problem. So I tried tuning to the frequency via the manual search function rather than the pre-select button. It worked, no drop outs. So it appears the problem is somehow associated with the pre-select. Given we only listen to two or three different stations we can easily avoid using this particular button, so problem solved - sort of. We have the desired result anyway.

Woo hoo :p Now the rattles in the rear side windows to fix.

[Grappler]

The standard radio tuner /CD in My 12 130 Defender is pretty basic

I would like to upgrade to a afermarket unit with Aux, USB and Bluetooth connectivity

What have you used and is there something that with utilise the existing double wiring connectors?

[Zeros]

My 2014 Alpine has problems. The original kept dropping Bluetooth connection and dropping preselected stations when vehicle turned off. Had it replaced under warranty. Now the new version does both the above AND it no longer has a separate subwoofer volume control!!?? LR now don't want to know.

[SSmith]

The standard radio tuner /CD in My 12 130 Defender is pretty basic

I would like to upgrade to a afermarket unit with Aux, USB and Bluetooth connectivity

What have you used and is there something that with utilise the existing double wiring connectors?

I used a mechless Pioneer for a bit, wiring harnesses are available (fleabay is one source that comes to mind) or DIY. The harness I bodged for my Disco was plug and play.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/247.jpg

Good unit, bluetooth had connected and was playing music before i could release the handbrake. Aux and USB available, both on the face, altho i never used them. Phone calls came through nice and clear.