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Radio not working Chevy Malibu 2009

39K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Akhalsey 
#1 ·
We originally had problems with the alarm going off (single event). The issue was resolved, but drained the battery. I arrived to jump my wife's Chevy Malibu 2009 LS and resolve the alarm. (I resolved the alarm problem by turning the vehicle on and pressing the unlock button as indicated in the Owner's manual).

When I jump vehicle I usually do it myself, but my daughter's boyfriend hooked up the battery cables in correctly on the Malibu. I, ofcourse correctly connected my jumper cables correctly. He connected (+) to (-) and (-) to (+) chasis. I, corrected the problem, but the damage was done. For this reason, I always do this by myself since it can get very expensive to make similar mistakes. I should have been watching him, he is only 16 years old.

I fear that the radio might have been blown. I checked the fuse for the radio on the interior of the cabin. The fuse looked fine. Of course the noise for the left and right blinkers are not working since they are part of the same system. (blinking noise is sent through the radio speakers.

Can anyone help. :mad:
 
#2 ·
Does any display show up on the radio or is it totally dead, do your door chimes still work?

You also might want to check the fuse box in the trunk, there's a fuse there labled Audio Amplifier so you might want to check that.
 
#4 · (Edited)
You would not be the first to have this happen. All modern cars have built-in reverse polarity protection but the radio is particularly vulnerable because it's always receiving power even at key off. So both the power & ground sides are closed & a reverse of polarity will inject 12v up the ground side. The fuse did not blow because you did not over drive the circuit. The OEM manufacturer could have built-in reverse polarity diode protection but obviously they did not.

If you're OOW you can buy a used radio fairly cheap from ebay & have a dealer program in the VIN (for a fee of course). Or you can go with an aftermarket head unit (more work for you though) which would save the dealer programming fee.

I'd recommend getting a jump starter. This is what I carry in my trunk & it has saved me a couple times already:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-XP400-Instant-Portable-Source/dp/B004EIDD2Q/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1321084899&sr=8-9[/ame]
 
#5 ·
If my car is involved in providing a jump I take it upon myself to hook up the cables and always have. Except once when I was 20. My '67 Dodge had a failed voltage regulator so I temporarily full-fielded it and the battery was bubbling. The dude that hooked up the cables didn't cross them, but he hooked up to my car last and the spark caused the top of the battery to blow off right into his face. Thankfully he was okay but I was left to get a battery on my own.

With all the electronics in newer cars it is good to take the extra effort and do the hooking up yourself. I'm sorry that you learned the hard way, but maybe the young man could show his mettle and build some respect with you and your daughter. It goes a long way to show how mature an individual is when things don't their way. Hopefully he has already stepped up to do what he can to help repair the damage.
 
#7 ·
I had this exact problem recently. My 2009 Malibu died so we jumped it but my friends foreign car was not clear on the polarity for his battery and they hooked it up wrong. The cables started smoking so we immediately stopped and fixed the cables and jumped my car. However, the radio and blinker noise would not work. I was worried that I had done serious damage. Took my car to auto zone to have them check my fuses and they all looked fine. Took about 20 minutes to find a second fuse box inside the car on the passenger side and that's where they found a blown fuse. Problem solved!
 
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