Quick car radio question

[pacaveli]

Ok so I'm in college and drive a 98 olds cutlass. Got it for 2000 bucks from a lil old lady who barely ever drove it. got it last year and i had 38000 miles on it. SO not too bad a deal for a college kid.

Installed a new radio so i could hook my ipod into it once the tape deck player ate my ipod tape converted and refused to give it back.

had the radio in for about 8 months and a fuse blew. It was the Rad Bat fuse. (guessing it means radio battery). Put a new fuse in and it blew while the car was off. the second it went in saw it spark pulled it out and it was blow. Took the radio out put a new fuse in and it was fine. the second i put the i think 20 pin connector in the fuse blew again.

I don't have another radio to test if it's the radio or not since the old one was destroyed trying to retrieve my ipod tape. Trying to fix this as cheap as possible. anyone ever run into a problem like this?

any suggestions?

[RogueGypsy]

Sounds like the radio has a dead short. That's assuming the harness is wired correctly.

Did you install the new radio?
Did you follow the schematic for the harness exactly?
Was the radio on or off when you plugged in the harness and it blew the fuse?
Does the radio operate when the key is in the 'off' position or only when the key is 'on'?
What harness did you connect, the end to the radio or the end to the car harness?


Make sure all of your connections from the radio harness to the adapter harness are tight and correct.

Closely inspect all of the wires between the adapter and the radio, make sure none of the wires were pinched or have bare wire showing.

Let me know what you find.

[jewels]

My car's not that old (2004) and although mine don't blow that fast, I change the outlet fuse for the Monster cable to my iPod anywhere between every 3 - 6 weeks.

I asked my mechanic about it and he explained it but I didn't quite grasp it. Something about the way the power is drawn causes it to drain quickly and since the fuses are cheap that I should just carry a few spares (which is what I've been doing anyway). Not sure if it's the cable or the iPod itself, so I'll be waiting to hear what it is, too.

[pacaveli]

Originally Posted by RogueGypsy

Sounds like the radio has a dead short. That's assuming the harness is wired correctly.

Did you install the new radio?
Did you follow the schematic for the harness exactly?
Was the radio on or off when you plugged in the harness and it blew the fuse?
Does the radio operate when the key is in the 'off' position or only when the key is 'on'?
What harness did you connect, the end to the radio or the end to the car harness?


Make sure all of your connections from the radio harness to the adapter harness are tight and correct.

Closely inspect all of the wires between the adapter and the radio, make sure none of the wires were pinched or have bare wire showing.

Let me know what you find.

i did install the radio
i did follow the schematics
it turns off when u pop the head unit off so its been off
radio doesn't work at all the fuse blows if its plugged into the pin connector
end to the radio, i can't find the end to the car pin connector

I'm going to sit down and redo all my harness to harness connections this weekend when i have some free time. no bare wire showing anywhere. I was driving when the fuse blew the first time. had the radio on went on the highway and it stopped working, didn't notice right away cause i was talking to my GF then it got oddly quiet and i realized the radio wasn't working lol.

I'll let you know how the rewiring goes as soon as it's done.

[RogueGypsy]

When you say 'head unit' are you talking about a removable face plate (the whole unit, radio & face plate are referred to as a head unit usually)? If so, does it blow the fuse before the face plate is put on?

If not, check socket that connects the faceplate to the unit. I've seen debris and bent contacts do what you're describing.

Also try moving the harness around, shake it and wad it up without the radio connected. If the fuse doesn't blow, it probably isn't the wiring.

Open the radio case and look for loose wires and scorch marks were something may have shorted. If you bought the radio new, take it back before opening it up. It should still be under warranty if it's been less than a year.

What is happening with the inline fuse between the radio and the fuse panel?





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---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------

When the radio worked, would it turn on if the ignition is off?


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[pacaveli]

Originally Posted by RogueGypsy

When you say 'head unit' are you talking about a removable face plate (the whole unit, radio & face plate are referred to as a head unit usually)? If so, does it blow the fuse before the face plate is put on?

If not, check socket that connects the faceplate to the unit. I've seen debris and bent contacts do what you're describing.

Also try moving the harness around, shake it and wad it up without the radio connected. If the fuse doesn't blow, it probably isn't the wiring.

Open the radio case and look for loose wires and scorch marks were something may have shorted. If you bought the radio new, take it back before opening it up. It should still be under warranty if it's been less than a year.

What is happening with the inline fuse between the radio and the fuse panel?
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---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------
When the radio worked, would it turn on if the ignition is off?
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i think in my previous post i meant the face plate, when i take that off the radio turns off

nothings in the faceplate connector either.


What is happening with the inline fuse between the radio and the fuse panel?

are you referring the fuse on the back of the radio? it's still fine and functional not blow.

[pacaveli]

re did all the harnass wires it still blew the fuse, might take it to a professional :/

[RogueGypsy]

Originally Posted by pacaveli

re did all the harnass wires it still blew the fuse, might take it to a professional :/

If you have a volt meter or a multi-meter, check your power lines. You should have two. One is continuous, to hold memory. The other is the main power that should only come on when the key is turned on. Make sure you have 12-14.4v on each line and no more. And that there is no power anywhere else.

Not all harnesses are the same, but most have power on the yellow and blue or red lines. The yellow is the main power and should only come on when the key is on.

If your power is right, the head-unit is the problem and will have to be replaced.

I don't know where you live, but if you're in the US most electronics shops that sell car audio, will do a free basic install with purchase and you can pick up a head unit for less than a $100. If that's the direction you have to go.

If you're looking for something better and feeling confident with the wiring. Fleabay has some great deals on car audio. I picked up a $600 Eclipse head unit a couple of years ago for a little over $200. It plays MP3 or WMA cd's and SD memory cards as well as regular cd's. So one cd in MP3 format will hold about 24hrs of music and a 32G memory card holds about 96 hours of music. I no longer have case of cd's floating around the truck, just a small wallet size case of 8 SD cards that never skip when I'm bouncing down a dirt road. That's roughly 96 cd's in a case the size of a wallet. Tech is awesome!

There are a lot of mid level cd players out that play mp3 cd's now, the memory card reader is rarer, but the mp3 cd will still cut the bulk of cds in the car by 75%.




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---------- Post added at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:48 PM ----------

Originally Posted by pacaveli

i think in my previous post i meant the face plate, when i take that off the radio turns off

nothings in the faceplate connector either.


What is happening with the inline fuse between the radio and the fuse panel?

are you referring the fuse on the back of the radio? it's still fine and functional not blow.

The unit should shut off when the face plate is removed, so that is good. If the fuse doesn't blow when you put it back on, that is good too. If it does, make sure all the little contacts are straight, clean and there is no debris that could cause a short stuck in there. It could be something as small as a hair acting as a jumper. If it's the older Alpine style contacts with the small wires, the wires bend and can cause a short. Make sure both sides (the main unit and the face plate) are straight, tight and clean. In my 7yrs of car audio, the number one problem with removable face plate units was a bent contact on the face plate. Face plates get abused.

The fuse on the back of the unit not blowing when the cars fuse does, tells me there is something wrong with the continuous power circuit, which is display and memory. 95% chance it's a face plate problem, 5% chance it's a memory problem in the main unit. If it was a main power issue, the fuse on the back of the radio should blow first.