Brand new owner losing radio presets

Topics related to Lights, Radio, Stereo, Headunits, Alternators...

Moderator: volvite

cbova
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2016 9:25 am

Brand new owner losing radio presets

Postby cbova » Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:02 pm

Hi All, my wife just picked up her 2012 Pathfinder SV (non-nav, non-Bose, but has back up cam) yesterday. 80k on the clock seemingly well maintained private sale. We looked at it 2 weeks ago and drove it etc and checked all the normal used car stuff. We agreed on a price. Well on the way home we stopped for lunch and when she started it after lunch the radio presets were gone. Not thinking too much of it she ran a few errands after she got home and sure enough, gone again. So started doing some research and came across the usual suspects, the 'fuse switch' for long term storage in the glove box. That was good but I replaced it anyway (and got rid of the foolish cage thing) . I also checked the under hood fuses all seemed good. I cleaned and re installed the battery cables. If I set presets and turn the ignition off and back on in under a minute it keeps the presets. Any longer than that and they are gone.

I've contacted the seller and of coarse he (his girlfriend) never had issues with the presets... awful coincidental that it happened literally on the way home from picking it up. Not going to get anywhere calling him a liar. Needless to say the wife is not too pleased..

A few things to note:
It has an aftermarket remote start (Python) that was installed not too long ago. It was installed very poorly (taped connections) ect. But they did use a transponder bypass rather than losing a valet key. The remote start function works as it should but I cant help but wonder if it has anything to do with the preset issues... I only found the shitty install looking for obvious reasons for losing presets.

It's odd that it doesn't lose them immediately but in the period of 2-5 min.

It appears to have the original battery, to be expected for a 2012. It has seemingly plenty of nut to turn the engine over even after having interior lights on for 30 minutes.

no other systems seem to be affected.

Any ideas or check points? Is there a fuse on the back of the head unit that could cause this? After seening the quality of install I would not be the least bit surprised if they installed with the battery hooked up.

The presets aren't coded to a specific key are they?

Thanks
Chris


Ckarashowsky
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2016 5:13 pm

Extended storage fuse

Postby Ckarashowsky » Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:25 pm

Several things to check, first is the Extended storage fuse located -open the glove box- to the right of the box it's the only one inside a plastic push pull holder it's white plastic ps. If you figure out how to remove it completely let me know but pull it out and push it in to reseat it then check the 20amp under the hood then clean the battery terminals. Yes I said clean the terminals, it sounds crazy but trust me I have had this same issue before and it's always one of these things. The latest was the terminals and after cleaning them my radio held its memory. Not sure if yours is the same but mine corrode like crazy. Good luck

User avatar
homerino
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:38 pm

Try self-diagnostics / memory reset

Postby homerino » Fri Nov 08, 2019 7:47 am

Locate the audio self-diagnostics section in this post. When in self-diagnostics mode, locate the option to do a full initialization (I forget the exact option). It will tell you that is erasing memory, and then go through a reboot.

http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=19497

Bill541
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:37 pm
Location: Central Oregon

Postby Bill541 » Sat Feb 01, 2020 11:08 pm

I had the same exact problem on our (new to us) 2012 SV. I went into the audio self diagnostics to try and do an initialization. The screen said "The memory of a system is eliminated, Are you sure?" and I selected YES. Next it displayed "The system will automatically start after initialization. Please wait. Please do not change the ignition position." Well I waited and waited and waited for 10 minutes, nothing happened it just stayed there... I read on several other Nissan forums of folks having the same problem so obviously it is a firmware bug in the head unit. I can program in station presets and set the clock, but as soon as I remove the key from the ignition and then reinsert and turn to aux position, all my pre-sets are gone and the old ones take over...

What finally did the trick for me (for now anyway) was to turn on the radio and then pull the memory fuse in the fuse panel on the right side of the glove box. The fuse is the sixth one down on the right side with a white plastic guard around it. pull out on the plastic guard to disconnect fuse. Then I programmed the clock and made the radio station presets. After programming was complete, I re-inserted the memory fuse and the preset stations and clock finally stuck.

What a bizarre anomaly in their programming... Hopefully it stays fixed!
-Bill

User avatar
palmerwmd
Site Admin
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:45 am
Location: Mid Atlantic

Postby palmerwmd » Sun Feb 02, 2020 10:02 am

Bill was this with the Bose unit?

I also had my mpg when i restarted car default to the previous trip mpg reading.

Dealer price was a $2200 fix just in parts..
Last edited by palmerwmd on Mon Feb 10, 2020 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Bill541
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:37 pm
Location: Central Oregon

Postby Bill541 » Sun Feb 09, 2020 7:30 am

@palmerwmd,
I believe the Bose came in the Silver and LE trim packages for 2012, so I think my SV is not a Bose. $2200 is outrageous for parts cost IMHO.

Also found another thread describing same problem with a picture of the aforementioned memory fuse. viewtopic.php?t=12924 I read the white guard around the fuse was to make it easy for dealers to plug in the fuse after the car was in storage to prevent battery drain.

My gut feeling is that there may be a low voltage lockout in the head unit that trips to prevent memory loss / or corruption. When we got the car, the battery was severely corroded which might explain why ours locked its memory. Either that or there is a firmware bug in the head unit... I had the radio on (ignition switch in AUX position) when I pulled the memory fuse and I did see an indicator on the LCD display flash but cant recall what it said. Anyways the head unit apparently recognized the memory power was lost.

BTW, after resetting the memory, the head unit was able to do an initialization from the audio self diagnostics menu. Only took perhaps 10 seconds to re-boot. This put everything back to default and we were able to set it up to our liking...

bwarman
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:22 am

Re: Brand new owner losing radio presets

Postby bwarman » Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:04 pm

I think I have a related problem where my service interval mileage and head unit trip settings aren't updating. Every time I turn my car on the service intervals (under the maintenance menu) are basically at about 100 miles and my trip computer says 127 miles and 10 hours 54 minutes of driving. When I drive everything updates, but as soon as I turn it off and back on it goes back to the 127 mile and 10 hours 54 minutes.

I had the radio preset problem a while ago and pulled the fuse, which fixed the radio problem, but now I have this new problem. Any ideas?

User avatar
palmerwmd
Site Admin
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:45 am
Location: Mid Atlantic

Re: Brand new owner losing radio presets

Postby palmerwmd » Thu Mar 04, 2021 9:35 pm

bwarman wrote:
Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:04 pm
I think I have a related problem where my service interval mileage and head unit trip settings aren't updating. Every time I turn my car on the service intervals (under the maintenance menu) are basically at about 100 miles and my trip computer says 127 miles and 10 hours 54 minutes of driving. When I drive everything updates, but as soon as I turn it off and back on it goes back to the 127 mile and 10 hours 54 minutes.

I had the radio preset problem a while ago and pulled the fuse, which fixed the radio problem, but now I have this new problem. Any ideas?
I wouldnt be surprised if your radio problem came back but you didnt notice it reverting to your radio presets since those are the one you use.

I beive they're usually linked to same issue.
A good stereo shop might be able to help s the Bose systems capacitor when it fails often causes those symptoms.

coatseast
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 4:23 pm

Re: Brand new owner losing radio presets

Postby coatseast » Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:46 pm

today, i fixed this problem which has been quite annoying . I thouroughly cleaned hte battery termanals and coated with dieletric grease.

I also changed the 10Amp lowprofile fuse... from below:
Extended storage fuse located -open the glove box- to the right of the box it's the only one inside a plastic push pull holder it's white plastic ps. If you figure out how to remove it completely let me know but pull it out and push it in to reseat it then check the 20amp under the hood then clean the battery terminals. Yes I said clean the terminals, it sounds crazy but trust me I have had this same issue before and it's always one of these things. The latest was the terminals and after cleaning them my radio held its memory. Not sure if yours is the same but mine corrode like crazy. Good luck

My fuse looked fine under direct sunlight but I changed it anyway and that seemed to do the trick.

Big relief. Now to that subwoofer issue.

User avatar
palmerwmd
Site Admin
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:45 am
Location: Mid Atlantic

Re: Brand new owner losing radio presets

Postby palmerwmd » Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:29 pm

Big Props. You just saved yourself TONS of money! :D


Return to “R51 Electrical”