When I got off work and went to my car and opened the door, there was static coming out of the speakers! It was louder than normal volume. I looked at the radio, to see if it was on, and of course it wasn't, I still had the keys in my hand! I looked at the radio display (one of those Jim Dandy digital Beckers) and it was blank. First thing that came into my mind was, "Drats, the battery is going to be too low to start. It's been sitting there since yesterday morning, and if this has been going on since then, then I'll be looking for some jumper cables! Then I pushed on the two spring loaded switches in the door jam, thinking that maybe they may have something to do with this senerio. Nope! Still had the static! Then I put the key in and turned it to "On" then "Off" and the static stopped! I started the car with no problem at all, leading me to believe that this whole thing probably started when I opened the door.
OK..anybody have a clue?

and how "used" it is -- in our family there is a rusty '83 Toyota Celica with enough wear in the ignition switch so that it is easy to make a mistake and pull the key out with the switch still in the accesory position. You might be developing a similar problem if it's an older car with lots of use.

It's an 81 300SD with 147K. They could all be city miles for all I know. So do you think that the key switch may have been still been on? If so, then why was there nothing showing on the radio dial? And the antenna was still down.
Ernie

The speakers may be powered by a seperate amp, and that is what may have been on, even if the radio wasn't. Although, I would think the amp(s) have a turn-on lead?

Did ALL of the speakers make the noise or just one? Perhaps a pinched lead? One stereo trick I learned in the old days was to short the leads with a 9-volt battery...the associated speaker would make a "pop" sound, indicating that it was hooked to those leads. Helped to determine if the correct leads were connected to the correct speaker during installation. Perhaps a ground lead pinched against a "hot" wire somewhere?

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Is your work located near any corn fields with crop circles? Aliens may have taken over you vehicle.

Do you work at the Jack Daniels distillery??

No corn fields....but one of the first things that came to mind was "ET call home".
No Jack Daniels either but I have been "burning both ends of the candle", I do have about 80db of ringing of the ears 24 hrs a day, maybe I should have just shook my head like an old Hound Dog, and opened my jaw really wide a few times!

Sorry to hear this Dirty Ern but at least you still have your sense of humor. I would disconect the fuse to the radio if it doesn't overlap with other critical accessories or disconnect the radio itself for a while for some relief until you can figure it out.

I second Fimum Fit's opinion. -Bad ignition switch.

I have seen cars turning radios and power antennas on and off whenever they felt like it, due to a worn out switch.

Do you by any chance have a 'heavy' set of keys dangling in the ignition? (lots of keys in your keyring). The weight from this will put a lot of unneccesary stress on the switch.

Freestyler

Tank...It only happened that moment when I got in the car after work, that was Trurs. evening. I drove another car the next day, but last night I sneeked up on it and poked my head in the drivers window....no noise, then I opened the door, and still no noise. When I rolled it out of the garage this morning, there was no noise. Maybe its one of those intermittent things that nip you in the rear when you least expect it. I don't know if it was related or not but about six months ago the battery was next to dead, I recharged it then took it down and load tested it, it tested OK and has been OK since....Who knows??
Freestyler...Theres about seven or eight keys on two rings connected together with a light weight clip. Probably slightly more than there should be. But then theres the factor of how much weight the PO packed on there for many many Moons prior.
Im just going to have to keep a close ear on it.
Ernie

OK Guys...I think we're getting closer, my wifes "Piece of Jeep" shares the same garage with my 300SD with the mysterious unsolicited speeker noise.....and her battery went from "750 cold cranking amps" to "Zero" in one fell swoop! WERE GETTING CLOSER!

Remember that in "Close Encounters of a Third Kind" when the spacecraft passed over Rechard Dreyfuss' line truck, all the electrical components failed at once.

Sorry - had to...really bored at work today.

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David

His:
2003 Dodge Durango SLT
2002 BMW E39 530i Sport
1988 Mercedes 300TE
Hers:
2003 Chevrolet Suburban
1999 E430

Check the speaker wires in the door -- the seat switches are hot when the door is open, and if the insulation is worn between the seat wires and the speaker wires, the speaker will be, too.

My brother and I spend forever trying to get the power windows to work reliably in his old Buick -- passenger sides would go down but not up, replaced switches, checked motors (all good), finally looked at wires -- all of them were crimped and most were broken. A couple hours of soldering in VERY tight quarters, and all the windows work again.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!