michiganman5

Ok guys, weird problem here:

For several months when I drive down a dirt road, or bumpy road, my aftermarket radio would shut off momentarily, then come back on. It's one of those removable face ones, so I thought it was loose and just never worried about it.

Now it's getting worse. I can go down a fairly flat paved road and my radio will kick off, and holding face wouldn't stop it from happening. Then I noticed at night, when this happens, my battery light would flicker just slightly, larger bumps would make it flicker on for a longer period of time.

When this happens, my headlights go dim (brief milisecond), my gauge lights dim, gauges even drop down then right back up.

Dome lights, clock all stay working through this. The car always starts, never stalls when this happens.

- First I cleaned and tightened battery connections, no diff.
- Removed fuse for cig lighter etc to remove that as a short, no diff.
- Pulled radio out, check all connections, no diff.

I am going to find the radio fuse and pull that next, see if that helps.

To me it sounds like either a power wire is frayed and touching ground somewhere intermittenly, or maybe the main ground is loose.

What do you guys think?

Please give exact proceedures and locations of possible fix.

Thanks in advance.

Jay

MustangSally94

the only thing i can think of is if the wires in the back of the stereo are good then its gotta be somewhere aroung the battery... Your best bet is to trace your ground wire and make sure its got a good ground

RyansQuick6

Sounds like a battery cable or the wire going to the alternator is loose.

crysalis_01

I'm with Ryan on this one. The Alternator connection needs to be checked.

uberstang1

Also check the main power wire on the side that attaches to you're engine compartment fuse box.

michiganman5

Ok, this problem is KILLING me..

I checked out the fuse box under dash, there were two "piggyback" lines coming out that go nowhere (old alarm that was taken out). I pulled them out, but now i am thinking the fuse for my radio is loose (one of the two places the piggyback was taken from). But if i play with the fuse, the radio doesn't seem to shut off, so i guess no biggy.

My battery light kept coming on during this problem, and when i play under hood sometimes the light stays on. Couldn't figure it out until last night....

I replaced the Alternator... Same problem. But while doing it, I noticed the battery light going off and on when i play with the wires. Speficially the single while (white) that attaches to the Alternator. After messing with it, and fixing several small breaks, i said f-it and cut the end off and placed a new end on it.

** Battery light doesn't come on anymore, ***

However.. the radio does still cut out from time to time. So apparently they were two separate issues.

I am now thinking of replacing the fuse box (far fetched, but and easy swap (OR SO I THOUGHT>> YIKES).

or back to the original thought, there is some wire somewhere that is touching a ground from time to time.

I have went under dash and pushed, pulled and shook as many wires as I could find and could not reproduce the problem.

I am stumped!

Thanks again for all your help.

michiganman5

Oh, i redid all the battery cable ends, removed reattached every lead I could find. No change.

03shadow

Check the antenna adapter plug in the back of the radio. ive noticed after putting radios in my cars, that the adapter is really sensitive on position, so if it is moving around, like on bumpy roads, it may move a little bit and temporarily turn the radio off. If you find it to be the problem, try to secure the head unit a little better. Should look something like this, if you didnt already know

michiganman5

Update again!

My troubles seem to be multiplying! In the last few days, my radio and now my clock seem to be going out. I tracked down the problem to one of the fuses (just touching it when the clock was out would bring it back. Bent the fuse a little bit on both ends, and that seems to have fixed the simultaneous clock/radio issue (but not the radio issue).

Oh, i have removed one of the fuses (just for radio) and the problem keeps right on going, so it's nothing to do with the radio/antenna.

i was wrong, when the radio goes out the battery light does flicker slightly. I also noticed that the Alternator gauge, speedometer/tack all seem to go nutty when it happens.

I played with all the fuses again and couldnt' get the radio to go out.

I am beginning to think I have a ghost! I have fixed several problems that were causing similiar issues, but am still not able to track down the remaining Radio/Gauge issues.

To throw a wrench into the works, my battery has been dead twice in the past few weeks. I know, I know, this points to a bad alternator, but I have check the alternator output it's fine, and also replaced it just to be safe, same issue. (once before the swap, once after).

At this point, I am going to track down the main positive wire to the Starter. maybe it's frayed/burned and touching ground causing the problems and draining battery.

Wish me luck!

Daehawk

When it starts flickering look up. maybe theres a UFO hovering near you.

My battery died recently with no clue why. was fine then sat 3 days and was dead. It still seems low on occasion. i now turn the radio and everything else off when I park.