Heyas all.
I'm in trouble again, seems to be the only reason for me to comment or post in this forum but hey, you're just too good ppl

I have had this MK1 -unit for 3-4 years now, every now and then at cold (read freezing, up to -25C) or rainy times where's been alternator whining but that haven't really bothered me so much that I'd do anything for it.
Now the last 6 months I have been experiencing random tugs/pops/cliks etc in the sound while driving. Now the last month has been bad and the sound has really went bad, even when the car is not running.
Today I finally teared up my dash. I'm not expert on these things, but hey, I'd like to learn Checked all the connections from the cradle and added RCA-3.5mm cable from the empeg AUX to get a nice 3.5mm end into the car.
Couldn't help the original problem, the empeg is still scheesing and making noise from all the speakers (2 front, 2 back). Seems like the connectors have gone bad, since moving empeg in and out just a little bit in the cradle might help to the noise (or on the other side make it worse). I have cleaned the connector pins multiple times with cleaning fluids / cotton buds. Checked the cradle's connectors by eye and couldn't find anything odd in them.
What would you suggest me to do in this case? How would I get the random noise go away? The sound system is really unusable right now, random noise comes in and out too often and I'm sick of moving the unit back and forth :I

2nd problem.
As I said I added the AUX-cable. When I tested this I couldn't get the sound working ok from the portable CD-player or portable MP3-player. Some sounds were coming out (mostly bass thumbs) but they were really quiet in volume and very very noisy in quality. Should I ground the RCA's? I remember this was an issue, since the MK1 has floating ground point? I'd like someone to confirm this to me.... I think I have and female rca - ground - male rca cables lying around I got with the Empeg, are these good for this? Any tips for the grounding point?

Haven't used my english in a while, I'm funny tired and prolly forgot lots of important things. So please if you can help me, ask me more info Oh, and I did search the BBS, and check the loose connector FAQ/mpeg But notice, this ain't no MKII.

The docking connector on my Mark 1 needed frequent cleaning with alcohol in order to keep it from making strange noises and having speakers cut out. It was especially bad when the weather was cold.

Thanks for the quick response Tony.
I have cleaned the connector pins multiple times with cleaning fluids / cotton buds.

Have been doing the freq cleaning. Not with alcohol though, that has other uses for me d=)
I have this cleaning fluid specially for electronic devices. It has helped before, but now the system is still quite unusable after the operation I'm desperate

Can anyone help me with my 2nd problem, the AUX RCA-3.5mm cable? Is the problem with the grounding or what's wrong here...