Heres a good one..

Whilst driving the Mrs' Brava to a party the other day was listening to the stereo quite happily, when all of a sudden smoke started pouring out of the top of the stereo and by the time I reached over to switch it off it had burn out completely.

Initially I thought it must just be the stereo failing and some internal component giving up the ghost, so I bought another radio off ebay. Fitted it no problem and all was good.

Mrs has just rung me to say that the replacement stereo has just done the same thing and "let the smoke out". It seems to go pop after about 15 - 20 mins after radio is switched on.

Haven't touched the car electrically or mechanically so am wondering why all of a sudden its taken a fancy to popping stereo's???

Any ideas?

PS - Anyone got a couple of working 1.6 injectors they want to sell and a rear wiper motor to maybe?

hmmmm for me i would run a fused supply stright to the battery and earth it to the bodywork and disconnect the power/earth on the ISO block.
that is if there is nothing obviously wrong on the loom
also run a multimeter over the battery(engine running) to make sure the alternator isnt overcharging and the stereo isnt the 1st victim

it sounds as though you may have a damaged speaker causing an internal short at the stereo's amp causing it to burn out. this usually happens when a speaker's voice coil melts in such a way that the resistance across the driver is greatly reduced. try checking each speaker with a multimeter, the resistance of the each right speaker should match the resistance in the same left hand speaker, for example the right hand dash tweeter must be the same as the left hand dash tweeter. if you notice any differences you have identified the problem.

also check that your stereo fuse in the fusebox is of the correct rating, it shuld be a 10amp fuse, usually a red colour.

unfortunately i dont have any injectors left, but you can easily remove one from a srapyard, they usually cost £5 each or less if you buy a set of 4 or more. test an injector's resistance before buying it. each injector should have a resistance of 14-14.5 ohms. any less and it isn't worth buying, when new they are usually 15ohms so if you find any with more than 14.5ohms resistance get them.

same for a rear wiper motor, thay are easily removed in a scrapyard and usually cost £10.

good luck

I know for a fact that the rear drivers side speaker doesn't work yet it is still wired in, so I will disconnect this and test it out.

The 10amp fuse was blown in the original stereo (known as old smokey now) but on replacement it wouldn't power up.

Will see whats happened with the replacement one - hopefully the fuse blew before it caused too much damage.

As for the injectors, I have two Brava's and 12 injectors - am an old hand at testing them but after an engine rebuild one car is going through them at a rate of knots. Either the injectors are all old and don't like being removed and installed or they are all just worn out. I tested 4 before the fuel rail went back into the car and they all tested out at 14.5 - 15.0 Ohms, started the car and ran her up for a while and after 20 mins one injector died. Swapped it out started it up ran for an hour and another went down. :bang:

At least I can swap injectors out in about 20 mins now

I just thought I'd ask on here if anyone had any that didn't involve journeys to scrapyards as the nearest one is miles away and they always just say - "come have a look" if I ask if they have Brava/Bravo, Marea or Multipla's in the yard.

Thanks for the speak info - thats useful to know

post in the parts wanted in the classifieds as requests in po9sts often get missed

i remember a few years ago a mondeo that kept killing injectors on cylinder3, even new ones only lasted a few days. in the end we realised the injector wiring on cylinder 3 was sending more current than on the other 3 cylinders. an ecu swap sorted it out. if you have the injector failing on the same cylinder every time its definately a possiblity.

I've just had the fuel rail and injectors out again, tested all the injectors and 14.6 - 15.00 Ohms on all of them.

Tested them buy removing the injector loom and sticking the multi-meter on their terminals.

Then connected the injector wiring loom to them and tested that - lo and behold one only registered 3.2 Ohms, so swapped the injector loom and put it back together (after a test on the M/Meter).

Started 1st time, been for a drive, revs perfectly, no injector light.... sorted !!

Just off to buy a rear wiper motor off ebay for £22 and jobs a goodun!

Will post results of the stereo killing when I have tried a few things out. Odd thing was that the cars been fine for past 2 months and I drive it to Bournemouth and back three times a week (600 miles) and the radio's on for about an hour and a half, now all of a sudden it plays up!

Italian electrics (at least they are better now than they were before!!)

Stereo problem resoved by removing the yellow and green "blank connectors" that are on the end of the CD cable, just left the blue connector and plugged it back in.

Not sure what they do, but I presume they must terminate or create a curcuit for the power to the CD changer, which was removed long before the stereo started smoking and burning out, now all is fine again.

Weird !!