MorganEricaMustang

Back in June of last year I went out of town on business travel for 2 weeks. Prior to that, I'd left my keys with my husband so he could start it while I was gone, only to find he'd had my car all over San Antonio. Needless to say, never again. Anyhow, when I got back from my trip, my battery was dead. As was to be expect. After I jumped it, I noticed the lights on my radio buttons no longer lit up and my auxilary input jack (AIJ) was no longer an available option when pressing the Aux key. I have satellite radio installed and the SAT options are still there, its just the Aux option that has disappeared. I just got done checking my fuse panel located under the dash of the passenger side, but nothing seemed to be obviously wrong. My questions are:

1. Is there a fuse inside the actual head unit of the stereo itself that needs to be replaced? (I have the Shaker 500 unit)
2. The manual indicated if a fuse is blown, the wire inside the fuse would appear to be broken. I don't know what that means? I checked all the fuses and they all appeared to be fine. Is there something i should be looking for specifically?
3. I removed each fuse that sounded like it may play a part in the stereo issue and replaced it with an equivalent fuse to ensure it wasnt blown, but nothing worked. What else can I do aside from taking it to the dealership?

Nuke

It's likely NOT a fuse issue. These S197's have chronic alternator issues and when the car sits with a low voltage condition (from not adequately charging the battery), it can cause some electrical glitches. I suspect your headunit has lost some of it's programming. Unfortunately, that info isn't in the owners manual. You'll probably need to get that from Ford.

Back to the charging system: You should have the alternator and battery BOTH load tested. But I'll suggest that you replace the alternator regardless, preferrably with one from PA Performance instead of another Ford product. Also, if you have the stock battery, you may want another NON-Motorcrap battery even if the load test shows it's good.

MorganEricaMustang

Great info. That's so much for the response!