1984 Plymouth Reliant AM Radio

The radio has internal problems, replace it !!!

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

Hello all...

I recently came into possession of a 1984 Plymouth Reliant. It has an AM
radio with a clock. What I need to know--and the car's manual seems content
to avoid telling me--is how on earth to actually set the clock.

I've tried pressing every button I could think of that might cause the radio
to enter clock setting mode, but I haven't gotten there. Can anyone help?

Also...while the radio works, it has a few other problems. First, the
display goes completely looney from time to time. I've looked and found no
cold solder anywhere in the set. Secondly, the pushbuttons don't really work
right/reliably. They seem to have had heavy use over time, and pressing them
usually makes the display go nuts, although the function does get performed
correctly. I popped a few of them apart and didn't see any obvious way to
clean or improve their functionality. Does anyone know how that might be
done? Finally, some mice ate the radio speaker...might anyone have a
replacement? I tried a few local junkyards and struck out.

If worse comes to worse, I suppose that replacing the radio is an option. I
just hate to go that route, as it's likely to require a lot of rewiring and
addition of speakers.

William

 

Hi!

I was hoping to repair it or ignore the display problems and find a new
speaker. The radio *does* work and happens to be a suprisingly good AM set.
While the car is in good/fair condition on the exterior and almost new on
the inside, I don't have much in it. I don't want to spend more on a sound
system than I've got in the car.

....but I just took some time to look around the house. I found speakers that
just fit, and a working AM/FM/CD player. Looks like all I have to buy is a
wiring and faceplate adapter.

William

 

The mounting plate and wiring adapter are inexpensive. Most stereo
shops, Radio Shack, and auto part stores should still have them. The
mounting and wiring setup was used from the early 1980's, well into
the mid to late 1990's.

-KM

 

Find your nearest auto recycler (junk yard), should be able to fix you up
with an original type for $20 or $50-90 for one with a CD player.

 

With AM/FM radios, the trick was to have the radio on with the clock
displayed, then hit SET and SEL (I think in that order) which takes
you to time setting. I don't think an AM radio has the SEL button,
though.

Does it have one, two, or four speakers?

Anyway, stock Chrysler radios and radio/cassette units are cheap to
free--I could not give away a number of working Infinity AM/FM/
cassette units at the last swap meet I went to. If you have two or
four speakers, any stock Chrysler radio from the era will work. My
'87 Reliant had an AM/FM radio with AM stereo! I did replace it with
AM/FM/cassette--it's a plug-in. THEN I replaced all four speakers
with better Pioneer units, and then wired in a power amp for the rear
speakers. It was okay sound. The car is dead now, so I have all
these spare parts....

 

Hi!

Thanks for the info. I think you're right...the AM radio doesn't have an
"SEL" button. The manual remains silent on the subject for any of the
available radios. Right now the AM radio is disassembled on my workbench,
and not where I can readily see it. I removed a *bunch* of rotten foam from
the face plate/button and display PCB. This helped a little with the
functionality issues.

In any event, I found a spool of wire, can get an adapter/mount kit and have
a nice Sony AM/FM/CD deck that I can use. So I will.

Just one, labeled on the bottom with a Chrysler logo and the word "Deluxe"
(!!!). I find it very odd that they bothered...it can't be many people that
would pull the speaker out and even care to look. It's an oval shaped
speaker...and even the worst speaker ever probably is capable of higher
fidelity than most AM broadcasts. Based on the design of the radio, I'd say
it probably could handle somewhere between 3 to 5 watts of input power.

William

 

I had forgotten about AM stereo. The AM/FM/Cassette unit in my 1986
Caravan, and the AM/FM radio in my Dodge Spirit had it as well. With a
strong clear AM station, it worked pretty well.

You are right. These units, even in working condition are very cheap,
so there is no reason to buy an after market if only the basics are
needed. CD units run a little more. I got an AM/FM/Cassette system
from a thrift store for $2.00. It works great, and allows 2 presets
for each button, compared to the early 1990's one that it replaced.

-KM