I recently had my L at the dealer because the radio quit working properly.Someothe little buttons did nothing when pressed. No am to fm (had removed the neg terminal for chip installation, when rehooked up radio was on am) and the seek doesn't go down, and the tune dosen't go up. Little things. Mr. radio guy removes head unit and says "so sorry, ford dosen't cover liquid damages" What the hay? Seems like someone had spilled, sprayed, fogged??? the radio with coke!! There was NO outside appearance of coke or ANYTHING in the trim around the unit. Or even around the buttons! Somebody had did an excellent job in cleaning up. While the inside had drops of dried coke everywhere sticky stuff, the outside was spotless. I never spilled coke, no one else is in my truck so I suspect Mr. Car Detail person @ dealer when I bought it. Who else can clean up the outside so well? Anyways, Mr. Radio guy says it'll be 350-400 bucks for a new unit. Like it was worth even half that when it worked right! I figue I'm gonna take this puppy apart myself to clean it up and try and make it work. How the H do I get the unit out???!!? Mr Radio Guy had a u shaped prong he pushed into the tiny holes on each side of the unit. Said I could get tool at Radio Shack. Turns out to be a lie. I've tried an assortment of wires, nails etc. to push in the holes but nothing releases the unit from the dash. Please, what works??

 

I think pepboys has the tool for about 5 bucks. If you can't get the radio to work, go for a Alpine or other aftermarket radio

 

Yeah, ditto on the Alpine unit. I told Mr. Radio Guy that I'd buy an Alpine before I'd drop that much on a Ford unit. He shrugged his shoulders....
Thanks for the info, I"ll try PepBoys

 

Might want to buy some contact cleaner from home depot or radio shack to clean it with.

 

I used to be a asst. technical mgr. at our local chuck e cheese's..some of ya'll might remember it as showbiz pizza..so I consider myself an expert at cleaning spilt pop off of electronics cuz lets face it it's one of the thing's kids do best...anyway's there's a few things you can use to clean it..I would 1st try QED electronic cleaner, its made to clean terminals circuits , etc..should be able to buy it at radioshack or local electronics store or at least tell you where to buy it..some computer shops even carry it...2nd would be isoprol rubbing alcohol...but i would feel safer using QED but the rubbing alcohol works in a pinch and dries quickly w/ no residue b/c of the alcohol ...hope this helps

 

If you can't find the removal tools anywhere, try cutting a couple of pieces of wire coat hanger (if you can find one of those!) and bending them to fit in the holes. I've had to do it before and it works pretty good.

 

Crutchfield has the tools for a couple of bucks. Buy it from them and you will get a free catalog and you will find out what kind of stereo $350-$400 will really buy! 1-800-955-3000 or better yet visit www.crutchfield.com. I do not work for crutchfield and I have not been paid for this endorsement

 

Circuit City has(d) the removal tools for ~$3.

The guy at Radio Shack told me they refused to sell the tool because "people were using them to take radios". Now that I think about it RS doesn't sell coat hangers either.