# Radio losing presets when car is turned off, resets time to 12:00 and tunes to 87.9



## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

Have a 2016.5 Cruze premier with 39k miles.

About a month ago I started the car and the MyLink display didn’t work at all. Completely blank. I’ve had the issue before where it doesn’t turn on and I read that it’s clearing the cache and driving it a bit then restarting it always fixed the issue. A year or so ago I had that happen a lot, then stopped doing it for a long time. When that was happening the screen backlight was on, just blank. This time when it didn’t work there was no back light.

The radio didn’t work at all for a couple ignition cycles and then started to work again. But now when it turns on, probably 8 out of 10 times the presets are all blank, the time resets to 12:00, and the radio tunes to 87.9. After about 5-10 seconds the presets pop back up and the time jumps to the correct time. It doesn’t seem to matter whether I was listening to music on my phone, or FM, or XM, most of the time I start the car and get static on 87.9, no presets, and a clock that says 12:00. It works normally after that.

Any thoughts? So far I’ve disconnected the battery in hopes that it would reset the system but that didn’t seem to help. Another thing that’s strange is auto stop hasn’t been kicking in as much as normal lately - not sure if that could be connected?


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

The radio requires constant power to maintain memory. Since yours comes and goes. Either a loose wire or radio going defunct. 

Don't know if it would be related to your AS issue though.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I know the Gen 2 MyLink is different, but I'm surprised. With the Gen1 I can completely remove the radio from the car and it will remember presets as it's stored in flash memory.

For kicks and giggle, try turning on the radio before starting the car and check the status of the radio. I've heard stories that when car batteries get weak that the radio will lose the presets as the battery voltage drops too low during cranking. Gen2 is getting old enough that it might be time for a new battery. Likewise, low battery voltage will likely prevent the start/stop from working.


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

Thanks for the ideas. I considered the weak battery avenue as a link between the radio and auto start. I find it hard to believe that the battery could get weak enough to lose the presets but still sound good cranking the engine over. When I disconnected the battery I checked it with my volt meter and it was holding steady 12.7 volts, but I know that a battery could still be weak and show good voltage. 

That’s a good idea on turning the radio on first. I just tried it twice and it kept the presets, but since it doesn’t do it every time I’ll have to try it for the next few days and see if that helps it. Both times I started it after the radio was on and the radio kept the presets after starting. 

How does it get the presets back? Are they stored “in the cloud” over the data connection? I also notice the compass says CAL sometimes before the car gets moving - right now when I just did the couple starts in the driveway it says CAL. Not sure if that’s normal and I’m just noticing it now but it always acts properly as soon as I start driving the car. 

Just trying to avoid bringing this thing to the dealership as I don’t have a lot of time right now and I’m a few thousand miles over the warranty although I’m not to the 3 year mark yet. Not sure if they’d help me out any if the unit is going bad. Would rather do as much as I can first, especially if it turns out to be something simple.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

bandit2941 said:


> I checked it with my volt meter and it was holding steady 12.7 volts,


The question is what is the voltage during cranking.




bandit2941 said:


> How does it get the presets back? Are they stored “in the cloud” over the data connection?


No idea. If it does come back on it's own, then it suggests it was in the memory all the time, but the radio booted up funny. 



bandit2941 said:


> I also notice the compass says CAL sometimes before the car gets moving - right now when I just did the couple starts in the driveway it says CAL.


I'm not sure if that's normal, but it suggests something else has lost it memory. In the case of the compass, it can recalibrate itself after a few turns.


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## Terry B (Oct 18, 2018)

I'm having a similar problem - as of Sunday morning my clock is stuck on 12:00, the temperature is lit up and showing, but the time shows as 12:00. I've gone into settings and put the correct time in but it will stay at whatever time I enter and not advance - then go back to 12:00 when I turn off the car and restart?? Anyone else having this issue?


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## Cruzen18 (Jan 28, 2018)

ChevyGuy said:


> when car batteries get weak that the radio will lose the presets


My Saturn would do that when the battery was nearing it's end, in addition to triggering the alarm at odd times.


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## Ravenkeeper (Sep 10, 2017)

Get your battery checked. At 3 years old, your battery should not be causing any issues, other than maybe "hard to start." The stock battery in our CR-V was randomly giving us problems starting it, wasn't giving us any issues with the radio. If all of the cells are good, then maybe get the firmware re-flashed on your radio may be the cure.


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

I’m definitely thinking it’s the battery. The presets keep just fine if I turn the radio on first, and today I entered service mode (hold the start button for about 5 seconds without your foot on the brake) and the three times I’ve checked it it’s been 12.2 12.1 12.2. That baby should be 12.6+. I just put my volt meter on my drag race car engine and it’s 12.71 after starting the car twice earlier. And that’s a 1000 HP big block with an optima, also an AGM. 

At under 3 years old with less than 40k I find it hard to believe that an AGM battery is bad but it must have a weak cell. Goes down to 12.1/2 after sitting for awhile and must be dropping pretty low when cranking and losing the presets. It’s the only thing that makes sense and connects the intermittent auto stop and the presets.

I’ll probably get the battery from advance auto. They always have a good deal on buy in advance online then pick up in store. If you’re logged in and look at an item then close your browser they send an email with a 20% off link to whatever you looked at. So the battery is $195 less almost $40, not horrible. 

Planning on grabbing the battery tomorrow so I’ll report back after driving for a couple days to confirm the fix for anyone else having the same issue in the future.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

My car sat for 13 months before buying. 3 months later dealer warranteed battery.


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

So I installed the battery on Friday. Of course the first time I started it the presets were fine but after that the next few starts were fine. 

Until I left work today. Back to 87.9 static, 12:00, no presets, and CAL on the compass. Auto start did work normally the entire ride home.

Any other thoughts?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Any aftermarket add-ons that might be draining the battery?

Other than that, I'm thinking it's a poor connection somewhere.


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

No aftermarket accessories, it’s bone stock. I don’t think it’s something draining the battery since it sat all weekend and didn’t lose presets when I started it Monday morning, but when I parked it at work for 7 hours it lost them. 

I’m still thinking battery or connection issue too. Next time I get some time I’ll go over connections by the battery, starter and alternator as well as grounds.


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

Checked and cleaned some connections yesterday but didn’t find anything obviously wrong. But I did find another clue today. 

Usually when you open the door the radio turns on and shows the mylink splash screen. The two times today it started without presets, the radio was completely dead when opening the door. I hit the start button without my foot on the brake to enter accessory mode and the radio didn’t come on at all. This morning I had presets and I had the splash screen. So that tells me it’s not happening due to a low voltage connection at startup. 

Any thoughts on what would make it behave this way?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I'm not sure what to suggest at this point. I don't have a wiring diagram, but I'm pretty sure the signals (door open, car start) are sent over the computer bus, not though dedicated wires. So, either those commands are not being sent, or the radio is missing them for some reason. If they weren't being sent, I'd think you'd have some oddities from the other modules. So, I'm inclined to think the radio is missing them for some reason. Perhaps it's crashed while the car was parked.


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

So I took the car to the dealership yesterday. The service manager consulted with the head tech and looked up all possible updates and said that it’s not s software or programming issue. 

They suspected a voltage problem but not sure if it’s on the car end or inside the radio itself. They said they could work on it but it would likely take a lot of hours to diagnose at $100/hr. So I think I want to do some more looking. I found a voltage data logger on eBay for $25 so I’m going to grab that and log the voltage to see if it drops. They also said look for wet fuses or other evidence of water intrusion. Have done that already. 

Another thing that happened this morning is the turn signal clickers and chimes if I take my seat belt off stopped working. Did the same thing last week and started working again next time I started the car. That’s all controlled by the radio these days, right? So does that point me in the direction of a bad head unit?

A replacement head unit is $325. The dealership said Gm might help out by covering half of the part but not the diagnosis or labor to install. So I can figure it out myself and maybe replace the radio for $325 or pay them a bunch to diagnose and if it needs a radio get a break on half of it. Sucks!


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## bandit2941 (Oct 7, 2018)

Just to conclude this saga, I went to a different dealer who charged a flat $129 for diagnostic. They had it for an hour and said they couldn’t reproduce the issue which seems crazy because by that point it was doing it 90% of the time. I emailed them a video of it happening, they spoke with Chevrolet engineering who said the radio is bad. GM ended up covering the cost of a new radio and installation. Not too bad since it has 46k on it now. About 2 weeks from the radio swap and it hasn’t lost presets yet.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Thanks for updating us.


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