Hey guys. When I bought my car it already had an aftermarket AUX input cable routed to the glove box. I bought an AUX cable and enjoyed my music for the last three weeks.

Yesterday, I got into my car and plugged my cable into my phone. When I turned the radio on, I tried to change to my AUX option, but it didn't work. I fooled with the cable in the glove box, but no avail. It's like it doesn't even recognize that it has an AUX option.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Is it a problem with the cable or with the radio? Any help would be appreciated!

 

I would check the back of the radio. The wire may have come loose for some reason, I had that happen on another vehicle.

 

nothing changed?

You were using your phone previously, not some other device?

Was the phone also connected to a charger? Perhaps one that was not used previously?

 

Do a search here on GLI (Ground Loop Interrupt) Sometimes (usually when the device is charging in the car) there is an electronic glitch that the GLI can fix.

 

Nope nothing changed at all. It's weird.
Thanks, I'll try searching.

 

I noticed that in most cases, the people who needed a GLI were only having problems when the audio device was plugged into a car charger. For me, the aux doesn't work whether or not the phone is plugged into anything. Is it sill possible that I need a GLI, or does this rule it out?

 

that's where my questions were leading - first use of a charger

I've only heard of the ground loop problem when a charger was in use

 

Do you have another cable that you can use between your phone and the AUX jack? It is remotely possible your cable is damaged. Or, do you have an Ipod or anohter phone you can hook up to test it? If that isn't the problem, check your output from your phone by hooking it up to either ear buds or another external amp/speaker. If you are not getting any sound from the phone, either, the phone is somehow muted or it is broken.

On my set up, if nothing is attached to the AUX jack, it does not come up as a choice on the head unit. Since you are not getting this as a choice, it appears as if it is not getting a signal from your phone.

 

The phone is definitely functional. The weird thing is that before I even realized I had an aux input in there, before I even had a cable hooked up to it, I could always switch the radio to AUX mode.

 

I have the OEM aux cable, and the aux selection is available whether or not anything is plugged in. I believe this is the correct behavior. There is a small resistor and capacitor circuit embedded in the cable that the headunit can detect, which causes it to enable aux mode. There might be a loose or broken connection in the circuit. I suggest unplugging and reinserting the connector at the back of the headunit.

 

I had the head unit out yesterday and everything seemed fine. I didn't have much time to fool around with it, but I guess I'll pull it out and try disconnecting/reconnecting the AUX input.

 

Ok so I just got done disconnecting and reconnecting the wiring harness for the AUX cable and everything is back to normal.