On your radio, if you want to stick with your stock radio (to keep the Jeep stock), take the top lid and bottom off your existing radio before you abandon is and see if you can find any problems. Look for some leaked-out goo from the electrolytic capacitors (do a search). It looks like a dark brown goo on the circuit board. It could be hard due to age. It only takes one failed capacitor in the wrong area to make the radio inoperative. Dried up or leaked out electrolytic capacitors are one of the top failure items on old electronics. And high vehicle summer temps are especially hard on capacitors. Be careful not to confuse 'goo' with any glues the manufacturer may have used to secure parts to the circuit board. If you find any, replace failed capacitors with new ones. Also look for capacitors with domed tops. They 'puff up' when they fail. Electrolytic capacitors help smooth out voltages. If you see leaked out capacitors, dollars to doughnuts that's your problem.

New same-size capacitors can be purchased from Mouser, Ebay or even Amazon ..or other places. The size of the leaked-out capacitor in the picture, for example, is a 4700 uf (microfarad) x 50v. You re-solder them with the stripe (neg) in the same orientation as the original. If there is a cassette deck, I can help you source a new belt/s ..if you get it working.

I guess first quadruple-check any and all fuses and connections. The fuses could be really old. I've had old car fuses which corroded across the fuse element usually where the element is soldered to the contact end (because solder flux can eventually become corrosive). The corrosion increased resistance and caused radio problems (due to improper voltage). A bad fuse is an easy fix. You never know.





Leaked out capacitor

 

Thank you! This will help immensely when ordering parts. Oddly enough this one didn't have the tinted glass in it when I picked it up in the National Park.

 

I am not 100% sure of this but pretty sure. When a build sheet says tinted they don't mean tinted like you or I would think.
More UV protection then actual tint.
I believe that when the build sheet says Privacy Glass then they are referring to what we call tinted. Darker.
Now also be aware that I can't really vouch for the accuracy of the build sheet.
For instance a lot of time sellers will post their VIN. Sometimes I run them.
Just did this with a Jeep that a friend emailed me a listing off Craigslist.
I found many discrepancies. No idea what to make of it though.
I can say that my build sheet for my '00 Sport seems accurate.
But it is not in a way.
While most guys build Jeeps to wheel I have been making a Limited/Up Country/European Orvis/Police clone of sorts.
I have sourced and added all sorts of factory options that she did come with. With more to come.
So if somebody were to run my VIN and see pictures of my Jeep there would be all sorts of discrepancies. LOL.