I recently got my car fixed after having it sit around in the garage for a while. The battery was dead after leaving it sitting for such a long time. After I got it jumped and drove it to the shop, I noticed that my radio wasn't working, it wouldn't power on. The radio was only purchased not long ago before my car was put in storage and it was working perfectly fine. I thought it might have been the radio fuse, but I checked it and it was fine. Does anyone have any idea what the problem may be?

Since I'm not a audio expert, my one guess was that since I have a aftermarket sound system, it might have been my battery, the shop had to charge my battery with low voltage due to it not being charged by the car and being dead. I don't think this would be the case though since it wouldn't really matter when the car's on.

I have aftermarket deck, amp and speakers on the car.

 

No quick answer for this one but replace the fuse if you haven't (they can crack in ways that aren't easy to see). Also, the radio itself might have a fuse on the back side of it that popped. So you might have to pull it out and check for that.

Other then that you'll need to pull out a multimeter and start checking for power at certain locations. This is easiest at the back of the radio (where the harness plugs in).

You want to check yellow (hot) to black (gnd) and red (hot) to black (gnd). With the key on both those circuits should have power to them.

Check that first and get back to us. This will help isolate the problem.

 

Forgot to add, there are two fuses to check. One is marked as the radio, the other is, probably, marked as ACC. Since there are two circuits into the radio, you need to check both of the fuses. Try that before pulling the headunit out.

 

Thanks for the response, I just quickly checked it today, and both the fuse under the hood and under the steering wheel seem to be fine. You're saying that even though it looks fine it might have been cracked anyway? I might end up changing them just to see whether if that's the case.

I did not check behind the HU yet, I might end up doing that this weekend.

I don't have a multimeter, so I guess I will have to see if one of my friends has it, so I can check on that.

any clue on what might have caused it? I really don't understand why, since it's just been stationary.

 

ok update, I just checked the fuse behind the HU, and it's burnt. I replaced it with another one and it immediately got sparks and popped instantly. Any clue on why that's happening?

 

That's not a good sign... Was any work done to the car while it sat in the garage? Like wiring or the like? and How do you have it wired?

 

nothing was touched in the car, while it was in storage. it was just left there. It already didn't power on when I drove it to the shop and got the kit installed, and I doubt the front bumper and side skirt install would have anything to do with the wiring.

 

With the spaking and what not,... it sounds like a short in the wiring somewhere. Your going to have to trace it out.

 

Do you have an aftermarket amplifier? I had a fuse keep blowing like that, and it turned out that the remote wire was pinched under my grounding bolt...

 

I would check all you power lead for fraying of the insulation. Based on my experience as a Residential Home Inspector, rodents REALLY like rubber wire insulation. They must think its chewing gum or something. Check for any power wires contacting ground directly. I have been popped a few times by accidentally touching a chewed power wire in an attic....not fun! And if the car sat untouched for an extended period of time.....who knows what could have gotten in there....

This might also explain the dead battery. If a hot contacts ground, they will arc (like when you connect a battery in the wrong sequence). If the arc is large enough, it will FUSE the wire to the ground, thus draining the battery exponentially fast.

I did it a few times in my old miata....connected battery in wrong sequence with a metallic wrench.....when the wrench got close enough to the metal trunk wall, it popped, fused the wrench from positive lead to the body. Hurt like hell, sparks flew, and had to use hammer to break wrench free. After only a few minutes, the battery was almost 1/2 dead!

John