DSM electrical problem

[amicheze]

this was meant to be posted a long time ago... but it wouldnt let me create a new thread until now.

the other day i was driving home from a friends house.. listening to a cd.. and all of the sudden i started getting static on my new-to-me cd player. it started getting worse and worse, so i just turned it off. i turned it on the next day and couldnt get any sound at all. nothing from the radio or a cd.. plus the light on my boost guage (which is right below the cd player) wasnt coming on anymore. i figured it was just some simple mistake i made when i wired it up, so today i decided i was going to go out and fix it.

i pulled it out and made sure i connected the right wires and that all the caps were on nice and tight. i turned it on and it worked just fine. then about a minute later, the display turned really bright and the sound cut out again. i disconnected all the wires and reconnected them, making sure everything was really tight.. tried it again.. and it wouldnt even turn on. after disconnecting them and reconnecting them again with no luck, i got frustrated.

since i was out there fixing things already, i decided to try to fix the boost guage. i pulled it out and noticed that the wire that powers the light was broken. i tried soldering it back together, but it was in a pretty tight spot, so it didnt work too well.

about that time i had to go to a friends house. i got there, unlocked my drivers door to get out, and noticed that the passenger door didnt unlock - the power locks dont work anymore either.

anyone know what the hell is going on? it couldnt just be because of that one broken wire, could it?

edit: sorry about writing a whole novel about it, but i figured i should go into as much detail as possible.

edit again: i checked the radio and power locks fuses and theyre both fine. havent checked the rest though.

[Guest]

hmm sounds like a shitty deal...check all the fuses but its probably not a fuse thats causing this....you must have some wires crossed or something somewhere.

[Guest]

sounds to me like you might have accidentally hooked up your ground wire coming from your radio to the wire connected to the dimmer switch (which would normally dim the OEM radio). Easy way to find out is to use a multimeter (or even a test light) and put one end of it on constant power (most likely a yellow wire running out the back of the CD player) and the other end to the wire that you used as a ground. If my theory is correct you should have ~12 volts (or the test light will be on and bright) with your headlights turned off, however as soon as you turn the headlights on you may notice a drop in voltage (or a drop in brightness of the test light) as you adjust your dimmer.

[amicheze]

could be.. but im pretty sure i hooked it up the same way i did the other 2 cd players i had. there was only one black ground wire that i saw.. and the problem was kind of gradual. it worked for a week or so.. then slowly it stopped working. would it be more of a gradual thing or would it just stop working all of the sudden?

[Guest]

what I'm thinking is that you hooked the black wire from the cd player up to the wrong wire from the car (I'm purely speculating mind you). Do the tests I listed above and get back to me if that doesn't fix it.

[amicheze]

funny story..

so i go out there and check the wires like you said. looked all over inside and couldnt find another black wire.. or another wire at all actually. so i knew it was hooked up right. so then i figured id check the rest of the fuses. i thought maybe there was a slim chance that it wasnt the fuse for the radio or the power locks that was the problem.

very first fuse i pulled out was burnt. luckly, i had a spare. i popped it in, and heard the cd player and the power locks click. now everything works. i dont remember exactly which fuse it was.. but it wasnt for anything remotely close to the problem. thanks for the help though.

[Guest]

Yeah...checking fuses isn't a bad idea either....sounded like it was a wierd grounding issue by how you described it...ehh...at least it was easy to fix.

[weshole]

I dont remember my factory radio harness in either of my previous dsm's having an actual ground wire. I thought I grounded it to the chassis along with the other junction of grounds on the passenger side of the ecu. You might want to try hooking it up there.

[Guest]

yep, no dsm's have factory ground wires for the radio

[weshole]

You're right. I just looked at a friends of mine. But You still might want to try and use another ground just to see.