OEM radio is hot to the touch?

Tiny
RICH1VA
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
  • 4.0L
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 183,000 MILES
I pulled the front trim to expose the radio for cleaning. I placed my hand between the odometer bezel and the side of the radio. The radio was hot. Is this normal?

I bought two more stock radios out of Jeep's and installed and they are hot to the touch.
Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 AT 6:05 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
The short answer is yes. I have noticed this as well over the years that radios do get hot. However, all electronic components get hot when they are working as the current flow through the circuit board generates heat.

So it is not uncommon to notice this. The modern radios all have fans built into them just like a computer does. However, these older radio didn't as they just relied on venting the heat. These are noticeably hot because as you can see from the repair process below, they jammed these into a dash that doesn't get much air flow.

So that causes the heat to dissipate slowly and the side of the unit closest to the processor heats up.

As long as the radio is functioning and not shutting off, it is fine.

Please let us know if you have other questions on this. Thanks
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Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 AT 10:43 AM

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