Warning: Rather long entry. Please read, I could really use some help.
A little background: I bought this truck (in very good condition) from a friend, who was the original owner (well, his mother was...we were freshmen in college at the time) about 2 years ago. Everything on it has worked perfectly (with the exception of the back hatch I had to fix because of an idiot friend shutting a zipper in the mechanism) up until the last few months.
I just (as in, today) replaced the alternator after a complicated string of events. One place told me the alternator was good, but the computer was bad. Another place told me the computer was good, but the alternator was bad. Long story short: It was the alternator. Fixed, no problem.
However, for about a year I've been having some strange problems that all seem to be electrical. First, I noticed that the interior lights (dome lights) wouldn't turn off when all the doors were closed. I checked to make sure all the doors were tightly closed, and then even tested, one by one, the switches on the door frame to be sure. No results; the lights stayed on. The only thing I could do to prevent my battery from dying was to pull the fuse to the interior lights. It has been pulled ever since, except every few months to see if the problem has miraculously resolved itself
It hasn't :-(
Also, in about the last six months, the door locks don't like to activate all the time when I press the lock button on the front driver's or passenger's side door panel. The front driver's side will always lock, but the other three doors are hit-and-miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Third, most importantly, and related to the title, also about six months ago I noticed a strange (and extremely irritating) feedback-type noise from my speakers. Initially, I thought a friend had turned my radio too loud and blown the speakers. However, I had another friend who is good with electronics examine my car and he came to the conclusion that the speakers themselves are perfectly fine.
When I bought this Jeep from a friend, he had installed a new radio receiver/CD player. From the beginning, the display was messed up, but the thing worked just fine. After hearing that my speakers were OK, I bought a new radio receiver/CD player thinking that would alleviate the problem. It didn't; same feedback-type noise.
I have completely run out of ideas on troubleshooting this problem. I'm not prepared to shell out a few hundred dollars to take it to an audio electrician for repairs, as the truck itself only cost me $2k. Has anyone had similar problems?
A little background: I bought this truck (in very good condition) from a friend, who was the original owner (well, his mother was...we were freshmen in college at the time) about 2 years ago. Everything on it has worked perfectly (with the exception of the back hatch I had to fix because of an idiot friend shutting a zipper in the mechanism) up until the last few months.
I just (as in, today) replaced the alternator after a complicated string of events. One place told me the alternator was good, but the computer was bad. Another place told me the computer was good, but the alternator was bad. Long story short: It was the alternator. Fixed, no problem.
However, for about a year I've been having some strange problems that all seem to be electrical. First, I noticed that the interior lights (dome lights) wouldn't turn off when all the doors were closed. I checked to make sure all the doors were tightly closed, and then even tested, one by one, the switches on the door frame to be sure. No results; the lights stayed on. The only thing I could do to prevent my battery from dying was to pull the fuse to the interior lights. It has been pulled ever since, except every few months to see if the problem has miraculously resolved itself
It hasn't :-(Also, in about the last six months, the door locks don't like to activate all the time when I press the lock button on the front driver's or passenger's side door panel. The front driver's side will always lock, but the other three doors are hit-and-miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Third, most importantly, and related to the title, also about six months ago I noticed a strange (and extremely irritating) feedback-type noise from my speakers. Initially, I thought a friend had turned my radio too loud and blown the speakers. However, I had another friend who is good with electronics examine my car and he came to the conclusion that the speakers themselves are perfectly fine.
When I bought this Jeep from a friend, he had installed a new radio receiver/CD player. From the beginning, the display was messed up, but the thing worked just fine. After hearing that my speakers were OK, I bought a new radio receiver/CD player thinking that would alleviate the problem. It didn't; same feedback-type noise.
I have completely run out of ideas on troubleshooting this problem. I'm not prepared to shell out a few hundred dollars to take it to an audio electrician for repairs, as the truck itself only cost me $2k. Has anyone had similar problems?