Shaker 500 problem
 

Hi, I have a loud squeal in my driver side door whenever the radio is off, as long as the radio is on - no noise. I saw there was a TSB 8-20-2 on this but cant find a copy anywhere. This also is draining the battery, if I disconnect the battery or pull the fuse for the amp it will go away until I use the radio again. Does anyone know if this in the radio and will go away if I replace the radio? Is there a separate amp? I know there are a lot of issues with the 500 system. I also think I saw that the door sub-woofer has a built in amp? Thank you.

EXACT same thing happened to me not more than a month ago. One day I hear a squeal from the driver's speaker...sound came through, but always that squeal. I'd take the key out, open the door squeal would go on for a few seconds then stop. So I went for a short drive and it kept doing it. Went to store, same thing. Came home, I sat in the driveway with the door open, car running and the squeal got really loud, then started getting deeper in tone until it stopped, and hasn't done it since.

I wonder if perhaps a drop of water got on the plug and as the water made contact with both connections, perhaps it finally boiled away without blowing a fuse. It's not done it since.

Never did find the cause, and it's not just you and me...it's probably something in the head unit. If you have the navigation head unit, (it's essentially a computer) it could be a hardware glitch....who knows.

Let it run for a bit see if it goes away by getting deeper and deeper in tone.

If it's coming from the 6x8, it's the radio, there are no amplifiers for the door and
deck 6x8 speakers, only the subwoofers are amplified.

The amps for the subs can only turn on when commanded with the turn on
voltage from the head unit, unless there is a short at the harness at the power
and turn on lead, for the left side.. If water got in it, then perhaps that's possible,
IF the squal is coming from the subwoofer, not the 6x8.

So, you could not find the TSB? Then how come when I did a YAHOO search
on "Ford TSB 8-20-2" was it the SECOND result in the list...
DOOR MOUNTED SUBWOOFER—STATIC, CRACKLE,TSB 08-20-2

Go ahead, try it...

The FIX is replacing the effected amplifier, that's it....

The left door amp is the one on the right...

Thank you both, I was able to view the TSB - I think the site had an issue when I first tried because it came right up when I tried later. It was the sub woofer in the drivers door - I ended up up disconnecting the speaker for now and the squealing has ended.

It would have been easier to disconnect the amplifier, rather than pull the door panel off.
Amp is also easy to replace, and they're on eBay...

I guess I should have disconnected the amp - was sick for a few days and the battery is dead