Radio reverting back to the same station every time I turn on my car

Never had this problem for three years up until now but randomly, every time I turn on my car it automatically goes to a specific station. First, it was The Heat (preset on my lineup at #4). Then it was ESPN Radio (preset on my lineup as#11).

I called Sirius and of course they did the ol standard "let's refresh your signal!" as the solution. That doesn't work.

It's not the biggest thing in the world, but I prefer Sirius to return my radio to the last station I was listening to instead of always automatically resetting to a specific station whenever I start the car.

Anyone ever deal with this and has anyone ever been able to fix it/get it resolved?

If you turn the SiriusXM radio off before you turn off the car's engine, then the next time you start the car and turn on the radio, it should be on whatever channel you were last listening to. It's odd that it would go to one of your presets, though. In my own vehicle, if I don't turn off the radio first, it always resets to Channel 1.

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Originally Posted by Rewind

If you turn the SiriusXM radio off before you turn off the car's engine, then the next time you start the car and turn on the radio, it should be on whatever channel you were last listening to. It's odd that it would go to one of your presets, though. In my own vehicle, if I don't turn off the radio first, it always resets to Channel 1.

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Thanks Rewind. I'm going to try that after I get off from work and I'll let you know if it works for me. I'm in a 2016 Nissan Maxima so turning off my radio would entail me simply switching from XM to AM/FM, right?

You need to power off the SiriusXM receiver. I had an Onyx receiver installed in my car and to be able to hear it I have to have the car radio tuned to 97.9. The Best Buy installer told me they always set SiriusXM radios to that frequency, at least here in Southern California.

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Originally Posted by Rewind

You need to power off the SiriusXM receiver. I had an Onyx receiver installed in my car and to be able to hear it I have to have the car radio tuned to 97.9. The Best Buy installer told me they always set SiriusXM radios to that frequency, at least here in Southern California.

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I probably should have specified my 2016 Nissan Maxima came with the factory installed tuner rather than me having to buy a receiver.

Ok now it is going to channel 1 every time I start the car. It's not the worst issue to have but still annoying. I called Sirius again and the only solution they keep throwing out is the refresh signal option. I will just take my car to Nissan and see if they can do anything.

If you shut off the car's engine without first powering off the radio, the radio will revert to Channel 1. That is normal. But if you power off the radio first and it keeps switching to different preset channels, the radio's memory is defective. (Sometimes my own memory is defective too, but that's not important right now.) Is the problem so annoying that you would pay to have the radio replaced?

I have a Nissan factory-installed tuner in my 2016 Nissan Maxima so there's no turning "off" my radio.

Thus, since it is factory installed, I imagine I can just take it to Nissan and see if they can fix.

However to answer your question, even if it was a plug and play radio I probably wouldn't have bought a new one because while it's an annoyance, it only takes 30 secs-1min for my car to pick up the signal and then I just put it back on the channel I want.

I had the same problem. My Jeep Grand Cherokee sits in an underground parking garage all week. I bought it in February (five months ago). I typically drive only on Friday to Sunday, and it remains parked on Monday to Thursday.

If I listen to FM I get radio as I pull out of the garage. But, if I park for more than about three days, XM almost always comes up on channel 1, and sicks there. I can just drive around listening to channel 1 for a few hours, or I can call for a "refresh". The XM function apparently completely resets because it loses my favorites, but FM remains unaffected and has never been a problem.

Anyway, after many calls, I just gave up. Last month, I called and told them to close the account for good. I have since disconnected the antenna lead. I felt a bit smug about it. :rolleyes:

I have read a lot of comments, on other forums. The problem is most certainly with XM, and not specific to Jeep.

Edit: I do not remember the dealer telling me about XM. I only discovered it by accident while driving home. When it shut down after the first week, I assumed that was the end of the "free trial". When I got the letter in the mail I learned it was a one year free subscription. I thought the radio was broken because it kept shutting off. I am rid of them now.

I bought my Nissan to the factory since I was due for a checkup anyway and they told me in regards to my problem it is simply a signal issue and there's nothing they could really do to fix it. The service tech told me his Nissan Rogue has the same problem. So alas, it's something I've just put up with. I hope when my six months runs out, when I call to re-up my subscription maybe them cutting off the service then reordering it can miraculously fix it but if it's a continuous signal issue, I'll just deal with it.

Update: Last week it just randomly decided to fix itself. I don't know what happened but now the radio comes back to the station I left it on and it doesn't take 1-2 minutes to pick up a signal anymore. Maybe it was the New Orleans clouds. :confused:

Oct 2019 update: after a year of working great, it once again is now doing the thing where it turns to a preset station and it takes a good 1-2 minutes to pick up a signal. Very, very annoying as I thought I was rid of the problem. But alas, here we are again. Unfortunately there’s nothing I can even think to do. I just have to put up with it again.

Again, I assume it’s a signal issue and for whatever reason sometimes it screws up here in New Orleans.

Same here in the Dallas area. Turn off the car without first turning off the XM radio. Turn on the car and the XM radio defaults to channel 1. Had signal refreshed did no good. This problem did not occur when cars were new 2105 & 2016

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Originally Posted by Bob Burger

Same here in the Dallas area. Turn off the car without first turning off the XM radio. Turn on the car and the XM radio defaults to channel 1. Had signal refreshed did no good. This problem did not occur when cars were new 2105 & 2016

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It re-fixed itself for me againin December.

So this is twice now where it did this and then fixed by itself about a month or two later. Going by history, this means the problem will occur again in 2021 and will be that way for a month or two before it fixes again.

I wish there was a concrete way to fix it as soon as it occurs but everyone from dealers to Sirius has told me it's a "signal issue". So it's unfortunately an annoyance you have to put up with for a few months before the signal decides to fix itself.

Same issue on my 2016 Nissan Murano factory installed radio. This first happened a few years ago Normally, it takes 5-10 seconds to acquire an XM signal upon starting the vehicle, but when this issue started it took sometimes up to 90 seconds. During this time the XM radio plays, but I can't change the station and there is no station displayed. When I was finally able to see the station display, it would always be on channel 82, which is one of my presets even if it was on a different preset when I turned off the vehicle. Somehow fixed itself a few months later...didn't do a signal refresh. It is now doing the same thing, but this time always reverting to channel 301 (another of my presets) whenever I start the vehicle. Earlier this week I did a signal refresh and that did nothing. Read that others are having the same issue and seems many have a Nissan vehicle so this could mainly be a Nissan issue. Very frustrating! Not the end of the world frustrating, but frustrating nevertheless.

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Originally Posted by Jakeblues_1

Same issue on my 2016 Nissan Murano factory installed radio. This first happened a few years ago Normally, it takes 5-10 seconds to acquire an XM signal upon starting the vehicle, but when this issue started it took sometimes up to 90 seconds. During this time the XM radio plays, but I can't change the station and there is no station displayed. When I was finally able to see the station display, it would always be on channel 82, which is one of my presets even if it was on a different preset when I turned off the vehicle. Somehow fixed itself a few months later...didn't do a signal refresh. It is now doing the same thing, but this time always reverting to channel 301 (another of my presets) whenever I start the vehicle. Earlier this week I did a signal refresh and that did nothing. Read that others are having the same issue and seems many have a Nissan vehicle so this could mainly be a Nissan issue. Very frustrating! Not the end of the world frustrating, but frustrating nevertheless.

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Very sorry to hear that. Yes, it’s not a major issue but definitely an annoyance. Going by history, it will fix itself in a month or two. Hopefully you get lucky and it fixes itself sooner.

I too grew more annoyed at the having to wait 1 minute to 90 seconds for the signal to come on so that I could change the station rather than be annoyed at it going to the same preset station.

Just want to give an update that its 2024 and the issue is still happening. I continue to just live with it. But going by a Google history, looks like it seems to be a Nissan issue as every time someone has a similar complaint like mine, they own a Nissan vehicle.

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Originally Posted by Rewind

If you turn the SiriusXM radio off before you turn off the car's engine, then the next time you start the car and turn on the radio, it should be on whatever channel you were last listening to. It's odd that it would go to one of your presets, though. In my own vehicle, if I don't turn off the radio first, it always resets to Channel 1.

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