My husband pulled my stereo out to see why it wasn't working and it was hot to the touch. Why would this be? Little background on it, something was killing battery so while trying to diagnose that, it was unplugged. Been plugged back up for a few days but I couldn't get it to come on. When he pulled it out it was hooked up so done know what prob was. Got it unhooked right now for a bit to see if it will cool down and gonna try plugging it back. It only has that one port to hook besides the antenna. By the way, after $2000 the electrical issues are fixed so it wasn't stereo.

 

Been sitting unplugged except for "antenna wire" and still feels just as hot.

 

Is it an aftermerket stereo or oem? What kind of electrical problems are you having?

 

i would say theres a short in the unit. there should be a heat sink inside it so it will take a while for it to cool.

 

It works fine so if there's a short would it still work? It's a Sony. About 3 yrs old or so. It has a fuse in the back of it but it was fine.

Electrical issues was 16 months of mess. 2 owners ago decided to bypass fuse block with as many wires as they could. I had all that fixed back with the correct fuse block and new relays and fuses. Battery had bad daily drain but after all that work (which needed done anyway) it was determined to be the electrical ignition switch. It was a fried mess and was constantly on. Got all that behind me. I'm not as much bothered by my radio anymore. Now I'm on to the oil pressure light!

 

Oh and the reason stereo "wasn't" working was just faceplate put on wrong.

 

A stereo will get hot to the touch as it has amplifiers and heat sinks and other electronic devices, all of which put off heat when in operation. Now if it is hot enough to fry an egg on that is not right and could possible be a short inside or your using the wrong ohm speakers or some other issue. If it is working now, I'd put it back in and start enjoying the tunes.

 

This makes no sense unless you have some odd powered antenna that is shorted or something is shorting to the antenna. The antenna is just a piece wire not hooked to anything. Also if something was shorted to the antenna to make heat the antenna would need to send the power to ground, a grounded antenna will not work. The radio could not function. A car radio is passive meaning no power is put to the antenna by the radio, not that it matters because the radio is unplugged. Even if a wire was shorted to the antenna that power would need a place to ground to convert to heat. Without a ground plugged into the radio it cannot complete the circuit.

Here is the basics, heat is never free it requires power. Heat requires a lot of power that means it should be drawing down the battery. If your radio is getting hot and your battery is not draining the heat is coming from someplace else. It would have to be either the engine bay or the heater core. If your unplugged radio is drawing power your electrical work is not done yet. You still have some non-stock bad wiring.

Now if you remove the radio and sit it on the bench and it still get hot I may be interested in buying it. An unpowered heats sourse may have some value to someone

 

^ Since she said "antenna wire" I figured she was referring to the wire that would operate a power antenna, not the antenna "jack".
Maybe the power antenna connection isn't wired correctly.

 

Antenna wire, cable whatever it was called was unhooked and it still stayed hot to the touch. Not hot enough to fry an egg or hot enough to even burn your hand if you kept it on it. It may just be because it's a metal object sitting in a hot car in 90 degree sun. It's the first time I've ever taken one out so maybe it's normal. either way, I'm ok with it now. It wasn't working and that's what I was trying to get to, it was just the faceplate.