10 replies to this topic

[jakejakejake1]

Hi everyone,
Yet another electrical glitch with my car haha, it appears when you turn the ignition off the radio doesn't want to run off.
But you can make it turn off by operating either the full beams or by putting the heater fan on - strange.
This problem was first noticed after I took the steering column shrouds off to have a look at the broken clip for the full beams.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Cheers,
Jake

[jakejakejake1]

Ok, went out and had a play, and I seem to have made it worse haha
Now when you turn the ignition off/ take out keys the radio stays on, if you put the heater on the radio and the heater are off as before. But now if you turn the heater off the radio turns back on again.

[maccers]

Your radio live and switched live may be wired to permenant live. Usually there is a constant live feed for memory settings etc, and a switched for when you actually use it. I've wired mine to be both permenant live, so I need to remember to turn it off.

[leroy26]

take the fuse out for now if you want it off!

[jakejakejake1]

The problem has only just started though, over a year after the radio I first wired it in haha
And I dont understand how operating the heater turns it off?
This car can actually amaze me sometimes with the stuff that goes a bit funny

[robminibcy]

Could be an earth fault trace the earth for each of the devices and ensure its got a proper connection the the shell.

[jakejakejake1]

Tried followed the earth for each and they are earthed separately and the connection to the battery is good, so I'm thinking it must be something to do with the switched/ perm live, but Im away working so dont have access to a multimeter or anything.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

[KernowCooper]

Case of checking each of the circuits one by one, disconnect all the affected and switch the radio on/off see it behaves? connect up the next circuit and so on. Look for any connection showing signs of corrosion on the connection blocks as a component will find a path to earth. For instance if the radio is finding a earth through the heater, by switching on the heater the path is broken and the radio goes off.

Have you removed the fuse box on the bulk head and checked for corrosion on the rear? and look at all the connections at the base of the steering column,Its time for the voltmeter!

[Dan]

I used to have a radio that did odd things with its power settings. If you switched it on while the ignition was off, it would ignore switching from the ignition assuming that you wanted it to be on all the time. If you wanted it to be switched by the ignition again, you had to switch it on and off again with the ignition off and it would then work as normal. Most head units now use the ignition switched supply just for switching and not for power so its possible to change the switching priorities in this way, try playing with its settings as these things aren't in most manuals. As said above though problems in the fusebox cause weird things like this to happen.

As for the other problems it sounds like the earth is causing the problems. Are you sure its earthed properly? What colour cables are you tracing?

Edited by Dan, 12 March 2013 - 10:21 AM.

[tiger99]

I would suggest checking as Dan suggests, and also consider that an internal fault in the radio may be allowing it to be fully powered from the permanent supply which is only supposed to be for memory backup.

There are people around who repair car radios, as a price. Mostly they are throwaway items these days, due to lack of spares, and cost of a new radio in relation to labour charges.

[jakejakejake1]

I am certain I have followed the correct earth, as I wired the radio in last year with the correctly coloured wires (earth being black, connected to the lower dash rail just by the radio). But as I don't have access to a multimeter at the moment I'm kind of stuck as to how in depth I can check things, but I will try disconnecting the heater and seeing if any difference is made.

Thanks for the help everyone