I'll start this question with a little background information. My company has assigned me a 2004 F-350 Super Duty as a work truck. And of course the truck came with the lowest grade AM/FM only radio (model #3L5T18K810-AA). I drive a lot of miles and spend a lot of time in this truck during the year so I thought I might be able to upgrade the radio with a Ford OEM unit. I was able to get my hands on a used but in very good condition AM/FM cassestte unit (3L3T19B132AB) which I hoped with the addition of a cassette attachment would be able to play my MP3 player. I did the swap which was pretty straight forward but am finding some of the functions on the new unit do not work correctly. For instance I assumed the fade control would not work since I don't have rear speakers, however, the balance control will only move to the right and will not come back to center. In addition once I have found a radio channel to keep, I can't get the number button (1-6) to acknowledge it.

Any help with fixing these little annoyances would be greatly appreciated.

 

Without getting either another radio from Ford (I would suggest that if you love the Ford radio that much, get a reman. unit); you could even upgrade to a CD PLAYER! for not alot of extra money.
In the real world, if this is an everyday driver or something you spend a lot of time in, then it is most cost effective to get an aftermarker radio. Since you know the drill, with the harness connectors they have for the wiring, they're a snap to put in, and have it work right.

 

One other thing; unless this is like the cheapest truck on earth (which I in NO WAY put past Ford), most of the trucks from that vintage came with rear speakers in the doors. Are they not there or not working?