We've got a 2017 Outlander SE 4cyl. The head unit has navigation and carplay, and there is a Rockford Fosgate sub in the rear. I was totally satisfied with the sound quality, but recently someone (one of the kids I expect) spilled enough liquid on the floor that it shorted out the amp. Didn't quite realize what happened, as we started getting CAN bus errors on the head unit. At first I was fearing rodent damage to wiring harness, but my girlfriend to the vehicle in to a stereo shop and they determined the amp was fried.

Seems like the options are:
Find a replacement amp from ebay or an auto wrecker. I'm not sure which range of model years would be compatible. I'm also not sure if there is some sort of firmware flashing that would be required, nor have I found out how I could do that if it's needed.

Another option looks like getting either an iDatalink Maestro AR or Rockford Fosgate DSR1 ($100 or $300 respectively) plus a special wiring harness to connect it to where the amp was connected. Then either another cable to get 6 channels of preamp out to an aftermarket amplifier, or in the case of the DSR1, 8 channels output via iDatalink connection to a iDatalink compatible amp.

Anyone have any knowledge about this to share? My preference would be to just replace the amp with another same unit and be done with it. Not excited to muck with a bunch of aftermarket gear. I'm not a big car stereo guy, just want it to work at least as well as before we broke the amp.

-Tom

 

Tom - I know it has been a while, but were you able to solve the issue? I also have a 2017 Outlander that is giving the same issues, and I suspect it happened when local parts store replaced the battery and used the battery saver. I think they fed power back through. I've checked all fuses in engine box and inside vehicle, but need to check to see if there is a fuse at the amplifier. If you had to replace though, that might be my issue.

 

I took apart my amp and did some research into fixing the blown parts on the 2 sided surface mount motherboard, but gave up after more experienced electrical engineer types told me that even after replacing the visually broken bits, it wouldn't likely work, and I'd need to isolate, test and repair the power supply section on the board first- which is way beyond my capabilities.

I ended up finding a used replacement on ebay after watching for 6 months or so. It was listed as "Radio For 2016 OUTLANDER 8701A565 AMPLIFIER".
Now everything works great again. Total cost was $220 with shipping.