[Basshead]

I've done a search of the forum and other google searches and found nothing...

My wife's 2010 auto i30CW has recently developed a random clicking noise coming from the driver's door speaker.  I've managed to replicate it with the factory radio switched off and slightly tapping the accelerator pedal while parked (engine running) to get engine revs up a little.  It doesn't make the clicking noise every time I tap the accelerator pedal either.  This clicking noise isn't the old "alternator whine" which plagued older cars decades ago, but sounds more like the plastic dashboard trim creaking/rubbing against another trim piece, or plastic tapping aganst other plastic.  Initially that's what I thought the noise was; during driving it seemed to be rather random.  Is this perhaps a common issue with the factory radios?  We've had no recent work done (apart from minor smash repairs at the rear about a year ago).  Could the wiring loom have been damaged (and perhaps one of the speaker wires is shorting to the door frame)?

[Basshead]

Apparently the radio has now stopped working completely.  The temperature and time are still displayed on the screen (suggesting it's not a blown fuse)
 

[The Gonz]

The clicking you describe seems to me to be a DC bias coming and going. The radio dying tends to confirm this. There may be some stressing of the loom, perhaps even stripping of the insulation causing a short against the body somewhere out of sight, possible close to the accelerator linkage.

[Basshead]

Thanks for your reply; I'll have a look at the wiring near the top of the accelerator pedal.

I did replace the driver's "door card" (internal; with the window winder mechanism) over a year ago and I may have incorrectly reaffixed the door wiring loom in the process, so I might check that too.

While the clicking noise has stopped, the radio seems to be working intermittently; it was working again earlier today, after my previous post.

[Basshead]

Minor update...  speed humps and pot-holes cause sound to very briefly stop.  I thumped the top of the dashboard to the right of the radio several times with different results... clicking noise, crackling music, music stopped.  A few more thumps and it returned to normal.  Either the wiring loom plugs are loose, or there's a damaged cable affecting all the sound, or internal fault/loose connection within the radio itself.

[Basshead]

Not sure if YouTube links are allowed... - YouTube



Removed the radio, unplugged and plugged back in, turned on radio (and got rick-rolled by 101.7 playing Rick Astley).  Thumping the dash and radio had no effect, so I put it all back together and still no intermittent cutting-out, crackle or pops.  Might've just been a loose connection?  Will see how it goes over the coming week.