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npauli
07-09-2009, 09:42
I had a battery go bad on me a few months back. Since then, the radio has been intermittently losing power:

1) display goes blank for a fraction of a second, then comes back on displaying clock as 1:00
2) radio/cd quits playing if it was on
3) No apparent loss of power to anything else I can see at the time (instrument cluster, headlights, windows, etc.)

It seems to happen more often with cold, bumps, or when operating the windows, but I haven't figured out a way to make it happen on command.

Anybody seen this before? Do any of the following sound more or less likely than the others?

1) HW problem with radio or something else in the circuit
2) wiring or connection problem
3) Something else drawing a short gulp of power and starving the radio

My experience troubleshooting intermittend electrical problems is limited to guitars and amps. For those, I just turn it on and poke at stuff till I hear the problem show itself. In this case, I guess that means turning up the radio while I wiggle wiring harnesses.

conway
07-09-2009, 09:59
I had a problem with my radio restting the time. The solution, in my case, was to tighten the terminals on the battery.

Mark Rinker
07-09-2009, 19:53
Did you replace both batteries, or just one?

You are probably looking for a short, bad fuse connection, or loose wire harness at the radio, if both batteries load test okay, and battery connections are in good shape.

npauli
07-09-2009, 21:44
The solution, in my case, was to tighten the terminals on the battery.

It would be nice if it were that easy, but both were tight.


Did you replace both batteries, or just one?
2 new delcos

I parked it with the radio on (engine off) while I wiggled and poked at battery cables, the radio fuse, and a few of the more accessible bundles of wires under the dash. No luck.

I'll try more prodding another day, but it's really not that bad to live with for the time being. It's really rather nice to drive without watching the clock to see if I'm late.

Mark Rinker
07-10-2009, 04:28
LOL - same reason I don't wear a watch. Life is too short! :D

Sounds like a loose wire, bad fuse, etc on that circuit. I'd start by pulling the fuse and replacing with a new one of same amperage. If it persists, I'd start at the back of the radio, and work my way backwards to the fuse.

I'm betting its at one of those locations!