Am appealling to the AMC massess for help on this one.

I have a TJ2 AWD Sports... with factory head unit (AM/FM/Single CD).
All has worked fine for years.
Then one day the FM radio just plays static (all frequencies, all the time, no variation).
AM radio still works fine.
CD player still works fine.
Aerial still deploys and appears to work fine.

After much swearing and unsuccesfully attempts to locate the original 'how-to pull apart the Third Gen head-unit/dash' guide... have pulled out head-unit and taken apart the boot trim.
Aerial plug (which i take it is the black cable on the right hand side of the head unit) is still securly attached to the head-unit.
Aerial cable is still securly attached to the power-aerial unit.
Have pulled both off and given a quick clean and reattached - no change.

Am now stumped as to possible cause.
Do head-units randomly fail like this (ie: FM only failing)?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Yep. Failure, random, you have been visited by the RDEF (Random destructive electronics fairy). lol FM dies, or CD player dies, or tape player chews up tapes. Congratulations on it lasting this long.

How to fix? Remove and junk. Replace with a nice new low priced MP3 (etc) capable Pioneer - or Sony - or . . . . . . . . . . you will suddenly discover that the original speakers don't sound to bad after all. lol

Hmmmm....

In regards to the speakers... the back ones are a bit shot (they crackle at high'ish volume) and the front ones are disconnected (previous owner was an organisation that liked to allocated the front ones to other purposes... and i have never got around to reconnecting the disconnected spliced connections). But the speakers are another story.

Actually, while inspecting the aerial connections... i noticed that there are a LOT of snipped splices in the cabling all over the car (from the previous owner). Some snipped ends are covered in black eletrical tape... some are bare after the tape has fallen off... and many are just plain uncovered.
How big a bad deal is it to have uncovered bare wiring ends floating around near the tailights/hazard lights button/radio/rear speakers/boot dome light/etc ???
And should i just cover them with electrical tape?
(PS: I am in no way knoweldgable about all things electrical.)

How bad, at the moment obviously not, potentially VERY.

All it takes it some of that bare copper to make conduct with the chassis or unluckily enough another wire, for you to short something. In most cases all this will do it blow a fuse, but the last thing you want if its raining, dark, or your somewhere far away is for a fuse to blow and for you to have no lights, wipers, no spark, and no hope.

As for covering over them, cut them off clean (while the battery is disconnected) and either tape or "heat shrink" over them. Just make sure you use some electrical tape, I have seen alot of tapes use that just fall off over time and then you are back where you started, with a good one keep it on the reel while you are applying it and pull tight at all times, this will ensure it doesnt go anywhere.

I'm presuming that the black tape on the snipped splice ends is 'electrical tape'... however over the years its glue has destablised and its just peels off in a gooey mess all on its own. I shall get some more (decent tape or heat shrink material) and make sure they are all covered.

The spliced disconnects on the front speaker cables are more complicated. As the original cables have been snipped... with an adapator (since removed) then connecting the original cables via the adaptor to both a spliced in line (with plugs), and the remaining original cable (also with a plug). Leaving the original front speaker cables on the head unit (snipped) and those on the loom (with plugs... that dont fit the head unit). So I'm guess I will have to:
- take off the loom wires plugs (snipping of my own)... strip the wires coating.
- find the matching headunit wires (snipped already)... strip that wire coating.
- tie the bare wires together (is there a more proper way to connect them)?
- and cover the connection (tape or heat shrink).

Ok, have done browsing. Presuming that is the factory head-unit that has randomly failed.... will need a new head-unit.
Have found that Repco have these on sale at the moment for about half price (currently $69).
http://www.sony.com.au/product/cdx-gt300mp#BVRRWidgetID

It would replace the current head-unit with an adaptor or two, or my own wiring. Only problems i can see with it is:
- It may look a bit bodge in the magna dash (as its aesthetically completely different).
- It has teeny tiny buttons (that I'm quite sure would give me the irrits).
Anyone have any opinions on this head-unit?

The other option (that a lazy me would probably never get around to), would be to look at finally putting in a media-centre pc in lieu of the headunit. I'm not big on big music in the car.... but would want any media pc to do AM/FM/AUX/web/google maps/wifi/apps of some kind. I'm guessing that would open up a much larger can of works (work wise) as pwr / cabling would be much more work. I wonder if much has changed regard in-car-pc's (ie tablets, etc) lately. Will have to look into that.

Rather than install a media centre pc, you could look at getting a high end double din head unit. There are some really sweet ones out there. Not sure if that is what you are after, but its a thought.

Did anyone find the circuit diagram/schematic for this particular radio/cd?