Car Stereos: Volume gone wild..., pioneer deh 3400, volume buttons

Question
Justin,

I've been having a problem with my car radio for a few months now (a Pioneer DEH-3400).  When I turn the knob, the volume control is very erratic.  It can get super-loud with just a few turns, and it takes major fiddling to get the volume down to an acceptable level. Sometimes turning the knob does nothing at all.  Sometimes when I turn the volume down, it goes up, and the opposite.

I tried cleaning the contacts between the faceplate and the head unit (but I could try that again, if you think it would help).

I also found a fairly cheap faceplate on eBay.

Any ideas?

Many thanks,

Christina

Answer
Hi Christina,

This is a pretty common issue -- the potentiometer that controls your volume has gone wonky.  This means cleaning the contacts won't help.

The bad news is, it's not (reasonably) repairable.  A new faceplate on eBay should work just fine.

Alternatively, if your deck has a remote (and you still know where that remote is), the remote volume buttons should work just fine.

Justin