Has Anyone ever had their radio short out?I know there has to be a short somewhere. One day as I was listening to the radio I parked and shut off the truck to do some errands. When I started the truck up again I didn't notice that the radio didn't go back on until I was almost back at home.After a few weeks of not having anything to listen to, I noticed after I started the truck up to go somewhere the radio went back on!I search all my fuses and even changed them out and look for any shorts. I even removed the bezel front from the dash and couldn't find a thing.Right now I am dead in the water.Does anyone have any thoughts of anything I may have over looked?ThanksSteve

Mine has that issue with speakers. Sometimes one speaker will not work, but if you punch the radio it works. Also works if you turn it way up to the point of arcing the wires back together. So I think the issues are inside the unit itself.

So what your saying is the unit might be trashed?Oh Joy! I guess it's time to look for another one.Thanks

Well yours could be a short elsewhere but it seems you have looked everywhere and found nothing, and I know mine is internal so I am just throwing it out there. I don't think they are made very well.

If everything quits it is lack of power.If the lights are on in the radio it's something else.Shorts blow fuses. Lack of power nothing works.

Your correct. It seems to me that there may be short because there is no power. I'm going to try tracing out the power source and use a meter again before I look for another unit.

You might just run a new power wire from the battery and bypass the oem harness.

I've still got my brand new Dodge OEM Cassette Deck...

That didn't last long... I pull it out and stuffed a MP3 player in place of it. All you need to do is pick out a nice stereo for the dash, pick up a bezel trim, and a wiring adapter. so this is what I got now...

No amps, no BS just Stereo and MP3's...

As for wiring check the Pink wire (+12V Batt) and Red-White (Keyed +12V) if those 2 wires are good then the radio internally is shot...

I thank all you guys out there for your help.I will double check the wiring as noted. After that I probably will just run another hot wire if I need to.Thanks again.

I just went out and tore mine all apart. I even left it tore apart and jiggled every wire I could get to and that speaker never came on, but if I tapped the unit with a screwdriver it would make a connection and work until I would shake it or something. So whatever thing internally that is doing it is beyond my grasp. You might take the connector and the ground wire off the unit and use a voltmeter to see if it stays at 12v even when you shake the wire around.

If you do end up needing a new radio, look at www.crutchfield.com . I have ordered from them several times with good experiences and they are very helpfull if you have any questions. I think anything over $120 is free shipping and free installation kit.

I do have a Crutchfield Catalog. If the deck is dead that's where I'll order my next one from.I did business with them once before and they were very helpful.

I do have a Crutchfield Catalog. If the deck is dead that's where I'll order my next one from. I did business with them once before and they were very helpful.

Good time for a upgrade...

I have had crazy issues with my factory stereo. Powers off entirely. Freezes up so the controls don't work (but the stereo keeps playing). Powers off partially that the clock still works.

I could always get the stereo to work again by pulling the bezel popping out the stereo and wiggling the connections. I got to the point where I could fix the stereo in about 2 minutes so I could have music for the next segment of my drive.

Tightening the ground to the stereo chassis helped at first, but there were other bad connections in the harnesses. In the end I spent a few minutes "tightening" the connections to both the power and audio harnesses. Power is grey and audio is black on mine. By tightening, I mean bending the thin spade connectors in the stereo chassis ever so slightly so they would make better contact with the harness when it gets plugged in. For good measure I added a teensy dab of dielectric grease. Problem solved. At least for now. I am sure the thing will shake loose again. But I love being able to find solutions like that that don't cost anything...

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