Merry Christmas! 🎅

• Water in the trunk issues here.
• Bose Amp issues here.

 

Merry Christmas! 🎅

• Water in the trunk issues here.
• Bose Amp issues here.

Great thanks for that will have a good read.

 

Unless you have the battery monitor module on the negative/earth lead to the battery as pictured below, you shouldn’t lose any settings etc. No reprogramming needed if changing a battery, no issues if just disconnecting/reconnecting apart from having some warning lights on the dash that clear themselves after a short drive.

I think the battery module only came in on facelift cars, so yours being a 59 plate, you should be golden, I know my 57 plate doesn’t require any special actions……

 

I'd pull the amp out and blow it out, either with just a cold air stream or a hairdryer, if you want. Note that if the amp has an internally shorted component or excessive corrosion you may not be able to revive it should it go out completely. But, drying it out and fixing any water leaks/intrusion is usually sufficient. Problem with water getting in there in the first place is regardless of what you do corrosion will have started to some degree on the amp internals...meaning in the future, even w/o more water you may run into problems with the amp. Of course that could be a year later or 10 years later, can't say with any certainty.

You should also install a "water guard" or shield as the factory TSB/updated part or, relocate the amp into the styrofoam under the floor cover--some have done this or at least suggested it in other threads too. The best idea of course is to get rid of the Blose amp altogether and install real stereo gear, but I understand not everyone wants to do this or spend the money for it.

 

If you’re going to open the Bose amp to inspect the circuit board make sure you have a tube of thermal grease handy to replace the dollops on each amplifier chip. The case is the heat sink and it needs to be in good thermal contact with the hot parts, otherwise they will overheat and shut down (temporarily).

 

It’s fairly likely you’ll need to have your amplifier repaired if you have been having liquid ingress for quite a while. I had this same problem nearly 3 years ago and I sent my Bose amp to a repair outfit in Edinburgh and they were fantastic.
https://boserepairexperts.co.uk/
It cost me £150 back then and I was very impressed with the speed and quality of the repair. They also ruggedise the amp by encasing the main board in epoxy to prevent it being damaged by liquid again. 3 years and hundreds of hours later I still have strong bass and the rear speakers work flawlessly.

 

Sorry for the late reply but thank you for all of your comments.
I haven’t been able to do much recently regards to the removal of the Bose amp as the weather has been so wet and cold, I have checked the battery area again and it is still free of water so haven’t needed to remove the battery.
Problem I have got is in order to get the amp out the back panel with the two metal attachments needs to come but not quite sure how to remove this.
I had completely removed everything in the boot and unscrewed the side metal hanger but struggled with panel. A You Tube video suggested you just pull the panel up but found this difficult and didn’t know if the rubber Round the boot needed removing first.
As there and PCB board cleaner that can used on the amp once out that can be suggested.

 

Sorry for the late reply but thank you for all of your comments.
I haven’t been able to do much recently regards to the removal of the Bose amp as the weather has been so wet and cold, I have checked the battery area again and it is still free of water so haven’t needed to remove the battery.
Problem I have got is in order to get the amp out the back panel with the two metal attachments needs to come but not quite sure how to remove this.
I had completely removed everything in the boot and unscrewed the side metal hanger but struggled with panel. A You Tube video suggested you just pull the panel up but found this difficult and didn’t know if the rubber Round the boot needed removing first.

The Blose amp is held in by only two nuts. One is at the top right of the amp and the other is at the bottom, it's flat against the trunk floor. They're just nuts mounted on studs. Once you remove the two of them you just lift the part of the bracket off the stud/post at the bottom (trunk floor) and then you'll be able to wiggle out the bracket from there with just some side-to-side or up-and-down motion. Nothing else holds the amp in. There's another mounting hole on the amp bracket but that just goes over a rubber grommet type thing that is not secured by anything (no nut or bolt here) so it just slides off that.

After you have the bracket out you can remove the wiring connectors (which are around the "back" of it, on the side of the quarter panel) and then can remove the amp from the bracket if you want to.

As there and PCB board cleaner that can used on the amp once out that can be suggested.

Any general electrical contact cleaner/IC/board cleaner will work fine here. Will both displace any water and clean up the board. If you have some good corrosion on there you might want to use some DeoxIT D5 and brush away deposits with a soft toothbrush or whatever. Some prefer to clean the DeoxIT away afterwards with contact cleaner, as it leaves a residue which may attract more dirt/dust in the future.

There's another thread (link below) that describes removing the ICs and replacing them though unless you are very versed/skilled in doing such things and/or have the equipment, I suggest you leave that to a pro if yours is severely corroded and damaged so as to require chip replacement.

Repairing a BOSE amp - some notes

#include I am not a repair technician and this isn't an exhaustive step by step guide to repairing your bose amps. It you try this there is every possibility you will end up destroying the amp, especially if you don't first practice the required techniques on some scrap electronics until you...

www.ttforum.co.uk

 

Can you post a few pictures to clarify exactly what you are having problems with...?
Be sure to check this post as there's a lot of good information on this topic -

FAQ - Bose Amp Technical Information and Repair Guides

Bose Amp Technical Information and Repair Guides - For anyone with questions about the various revisions of the Bose Amp over the Mk2 production years, or who wants to trouble shoot and repair their Amp, here's some additional information on those topics. As always, the workshop manuals can be...

www.ttforum.co.uk

 

Hi, I'm repairing it, Can you tell me correct way for cooling fan connector in the case? I mean it has red-green-black wire but is the black or the red close to the edge of the case? Thankyou


snaptube vidmate

 

The Bose Amp has a cooling FAN inside the case...? Okay, please post a picture because I was not aware it did...

 

Took mine apart yesterday and posted to Bose Repair Experts for the corroded chips. Can confirm no cooling fans in mine....

 

Once you’ve lifted the lid and cleaned the board, make sure to reapply thermal grease to the tops of the ICs.

 

Nope, no fan, if it had a fan it wouldn’t have the bloody great heat sink on it. To be honest a fan would allow for a more sensible case design and with some decent design remove the water issue completely.

 

Does any one know if there is a plug and play alternative to the 8 ch Bose amp on the market? I’ve seen 8 ch amps by Alpine and other car audio suppliers - would these work? Or does the Bose system do more than just amplify the signal through DSP functionality?

 

There isn't a "plug and play" aftermarket replacement. The "Bose Sound System" is exactly that; a system. The Bose speakers are matched to the Bose amp and its DSP functions. In addition you have the Bose microphone which is linked to the DSP programming.

Also the multi-pin plug into the Bose amp is unique and won't fit any aftermarket amp.

 

I thought that might be the case. My Bose amp went nuts a couple of weeks ago with the front driver side channel going pop and a loss of bass and a slight drop in overall volume for a given volume input. It announced its departure by sounding morse code at high volume with a background chorus of shrieking. I was just pulling on to the motorway at the time and it was so loud and sudden I literally jumped in my seat and veered across my lane. I couldn’t turn it down and turning the radio off made no difference. After about 15 mins and with bleeding ears it stopped leaving a background hum. All other channels are working albeit bass feels light and you need more volume.

I have bitten the bullet this afternoon and packaged it up and sent it to bose repair experts in Edinburgh:

https://boserepairexperts.co.uk/

Hopefully they’ll be able to fix it!

 

I couldn’t turn it down and turning the radio off made no difference. After about 15 mins and with bleeding ears it stopped leaving a background hum. All other channels are working albeit bass feels light and you need more volume.

Yeah this is because the audio system (and nav if you have the RNS-E) is actually active from the time you unlock the doors. If you don't actually start the car, it will turn off after a few minutes but otherwise it'll be active the entire time the car is running, even if the HU is turned "off". For the RNS-E, this avoids delays in bootup/readiness time for the driver. The Blose amp will be on though and if it's malfunctioning your result can be the case because there's really no way to turn it off unless the car is off for a few minutes where it will finally turn off/go to sleep.

The Bose repair place will be able to fix it up I'm sure, they also put a conformal coating or whatever on the board I believe, to make it water resistant--that will avoid the problem in the future. However you may also want to install the plastic shield thingy (just DIY it from a piece of acetate or thin plastic sheet) anyway.

Personally I'd just get rid of the entire Blose nonsense instead of spending any money on it, but as you've already sent it off at least it'll come back better than new. If your board is really burnt up and they end up not being able to fix it, I'd honestly forget about replacing it with another and go aftermarket. No it's not going to be plug & play but it's really easy to add an amp to this car given you can work entirely in the trunk and don't really have to worry about running wires if you don't want to--the battery is back there to wire for power, and all the wires for signal and speakers are back there as well, making it probably the easiest aftermarket amp install you can get outside of anything plug & play.

 

That’s pretty much where I’m at TTsRevenge. I’m a veteran of in car installs and at my age I don’t want to slip back into the habit!

 

The biggest problem is finding a good quality canbus amp. Bose sound is not that good but it's better than no amp. It's not that very irritating & annoying like the stupid bi-xenon headlight with the high beam focus on a very narrow spot. It's like driving without peripheral vision. I really wish my TT's headlight is as good as my Honda's.

Fully tinted windshield