Hey i (unfortunatly) have a stock radio (dont plan on it much longer) every once and a while it just stops like there is no sound but the radio its self is still on. So when that happend i just hit it a few times and it starts back again has anyone else had this problem?

My Radio fuse is loose, I dunno why I never
even touched the fuze box in all the years
I've had the Kick, but the fuse stops making
contact and the radio turns off, not the same
as your problem, but it might help.

My old Kenwood tape deck, a few years ago was playing just fine, and then it stopped.  No sound but it was still on.  When I turned off the car and restarted it was fine again.

Pretty strange, eh?

The only problem I had with the stock radio was that it wasn't powerful enough to hear with the windows down or on the freeway even if the windows were up and the A/C was on.

I never had the cutting out problem but it could be a couple things, bad wiring or connector(s) on the back of the deck.  It's a single big molex type connector if I remember correctly.  It seems like there's a common ground wire that gets split to all 4 speakers if I remember the schematic correctly and then there's the "hot" wire to each speaker that is independent.  Might be wrong there, I'm at work so I don't have it handy to look at.  If it's that ground wire that's loose or possibly fatigued or the pin in the plug is being goofy then that would be the easiest thing to check first, the only problem is that you'd have to have the wires accessible (reasonably) and then wait for it to quit working and chase it down with a multimeter.  Not fun.

If it's not that then it's got to be something on the internal power amp circuitry that's probably vibrated itself loose or developed a crack from fatigue such as a lead to one of the power transistors.

When you smack the radio it jars whatever has created an open circuit back into place.  Since you're not planning on keeping it long anyway, smacking it around like a pimp is pretty much the only good option you've got until you replace it.

The factory wiring for the speakers flat out sucks. The common ground system is a waste of time. I pulled all the factory wiring and re wired it. Sound much better. I have all kicker 4" speakers in with an infinity 10. Sounds awesome. I had a huge stereo in it, but I sold it to pay the rest of the car off. Oh well...enough babbling.

yea it deff sounds like the wiring harness was might have a loose connection. also over time teh internal amp on the deck tends to go. If u do decide to go with a upgraded head unit these are some things u will need a install kit and a wire harness.
  Personnally i put a rediculous sterio in my tracker. they are good for getting high decibles cause they are small. with a hard top u can reach an even higher spl (sound presure level). Ive got two Rockford Fosgate 10 in hx2 1000 watt peak subs in a custom down firing box, a pioneer mpv-840 dual screen head unit, jbl gto power series 4 inch speakers, an mtx thunder amp for the internal speakers, a rockford fosgate 1501db 1500 watt rms amp for the subs, a 2.5 farad cap, a lightning audio 950 amp battery. Also i have a viper paging system alarm with remote start, best thing no more cold zuk in teh winter
   Unfortunantly i still have a soft top, with the subs it baloons out. if any one has any car audio,video,or alarm questions just ask

Sounds nice, but bet it wasn't as loud as my 2 solo 15's powered by 2 jbl 1200.1's in a ported box tuned to 50 hertz with a 15 farad power bank and a pioneer premier deh-p940! Kicker resolution components.  hehehe Those were the good old days too bad its all gone!

well that would deffinelty make the seams on my windows crack!

If anyone needs a stock radio I have one you can have for whatever you want to give me plus shipping. Its out of a 95, i'm not sure of the other years it woudl fit. It doesn't have a tape deck just a radio but it gives you tunes. Andrew

I like my MB Quart Separates,  They've got kickass tweeters which is really good for overcoming the softtop noise.  Even just using the mediocre 45W/channel amp in my CD player you can get the tweeters to an almost painful sound level.  Got em cheap on ebay too from a closeout place new in the box.  Need to get a real amp one of these days though.

Mahimhimo, do you have any recommendations on a very clean very low THD (I mean really low like .05 or .005% like on the McIntosh car amps) 4x75 or 4x100 RMS amp that would actually fit under a tracker seat and not cost a small fortune?  I can't stand loud but crappy sounding stereos.  Clarity over power in fact. (Yeah I know I'm fighting an uphill battle with a tracker there but it's what I commute in so I'd like it to be as clean as it can be anyway).

My stock radio was doing that same exact thing... My girlfriend at the time gave it one whack to hard and its life was over... she just couldn't do the right thump like i had to get it going.

After that being on the road radioless for hours on end decided to get a Cd/mp3 player in the car... and some alpines...  makes it a little funner having good hard rock when your climbing a hard rock.. or 80's when going fast... just anything any time... all my cd's on 9 of them... 120-180 songs each disk.

My stock radio was doing that same exact thing... My girlfriend at the time gave it one whack to hard and its life was over... she just couldn't do the right thump like i had to get it going.

After that being on the road radioless for hours on end decided to get a Cd/mp3 player in the car... and some alpines...  makes it a little funner having good hard rock when your climbing a hard rock.. or 80's when going fast... just anything any time... all my cd's on 9 of them... 120-180 songs each disk.