Harmon Kardon Radio Problems

J

Joe Español

New member
Man, my bike's radio exhibits these exact symptoms. Just recently (about 2 weeks now) the volume began muting for no reason. Didn't matter what the temp was, how loud I had the volume, how fast I was going, whether I had the Cruise set, nothing. It would just auto mute every 30 minutes, sometimes up to an hour. Had my bike into the dealer for some warranty wirk last week (rear brake light switch was leaking) and I mentioned the radio problem to them. Of course they were unable to duplicate the problem in the shop so I'm back to square one. The radio cut out three times on the way home from the dealer. I still have warranty thru April '11 but I'm thinking very seriously of shipping my unit to Ironcross.
 
If you have an Extended Service Plan you should give Iron Cross a call. Talk to Maria. She can get the warranty company to cover the cost of the repair
 
My warranty is still the original factory warranty. I agree that H-D should make good on this, however, the radio works perfectly while I'm at the dealer. Unless they see what I'm talking about they won't swap it out. The radio shows no codes. Everything checks out.
 
You are correct.On my second replacement.

My radio sound shuts off also.It wont do it in the morning while commuting to work,but does it almost every day in the afternoon within 30-40 minutes.

Been thinking its the ARC amp getting hot.
 
yeah, harley will try their best not to replace your unit as they don't want to get stuck with the cost if that isn't the problem. pulled my unit out yesterday and sending to ironcross today. the stealers know there is a problem but since they are just a bunch of corporate puppets it's hard to get anything done. the radio i pulled out of my bike was marked as a refurb so chances are any warranty work will get you a refurb unit so it's almost worth all the extra aggravation just to get the unit fixed yourself. i have yet to hear or read anything about repeated failures of units that repair. Kinda hard to buy piece of mind for $250 anymore Tony@ironcross says my audio problem sounds like a vibration issue but will see once they get the unit. my new unit lasted about 16k miles while these refurb units have only lasted about 5k each. will be getting the display upgrade, preout, and possibly the ipod upgrade when i send mine in.
 
You should'nt buy a new harley from harley davidson unless you get it without the junk radio they are selling in the big bikes ! buyer beware ! the Harman Kardon / harley radios are junk and both hd & hk know about the prob. and still havent done a recall, the internet if full of people who have the same issue with the radio with...in weeks of the end of warrenty ending, and then knowing the issue still try to charge you 999.00 for a new radio that in many cases starts shutting down again after a yr. or so. i spoke to the dealer and hk and they both spun me in the other direction,same as they did to all others who have contacted them on the junk radio issue....this looks like a good time for a class action law suit. 24.000 for a bike with a junk radio kinda sucks,and they make the radio so only there radio fits the hole,so they have it all figured out ahead of time it seems to me ? and from what i see on here OTHER Harman kardon stuff shuts down also, so they know about the prob. and neith hd or hk will fix the issue....
 
http://www.hdforums.com/forum/touring-models/333455-anyone-ever-use-iron-cross-audio-in-nj.html

This thread refers to Iron Cross Audio. You'll finds tons of information about the intermittant speaker problem in lots of threads here.
 
My radio shut itself off once about three months ago , thought nothing of it.
Yesterday on the way home from the JOB it shut off than came back on, off again until i got home. looked for a short or pinched wire since i had adjusted the handle bars, found nothing. Went to get on it this morning to go to work and the radio is fine. But wait just before I get to work there it goes off, than back on and stayed on until I shut it off. Got on it to come home Working fine ..cruising listening to tunes watching for cagers being stupid. Pulled up to a stop light ... it shuts off... been home for about 2 hours cant get it to come back on. NOT a pinched wire it sounds like after reading this thread its a common problem and i'm going with out a radio for a while cuz in this economy I dont have 250.00 to have it fixed
 
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