I've had my 1993 Nissan pickup for over 2 years now. The electrical problem I am going to describe has always occured since I got the truck but now I am going to install a new radio and I need to fix the problem.

The electrical problem is that there is no power when the car is turned off. The dome light does not work and the radio does not receive power to save the station list. This makes it difficult to find my way around when getting in the truck when its dark out and makes it a pain to use the radio because it does not save the time or the stations.
One other thing I noticed the other day, which doesn't happen all the time, is the headlight warning chime sounds if I open up the door, take my keys out of the ignition and have my foot on the brake.

Any ideas on what the problem could be?
I am installing a nice stereo and need it to receive the trickle power to keep the time, stations list, etc...

Does the chime work when you leave the headlights on and take the key out of the ignition?

Yes it does.

Have you checked to see if the dome light is turned off or burned out. I believe the radio problem is in the radio itself.

I forgot to ask if the clock worked.

Unfortuantly it doesn't hae a clock.
The dome light does work when I have the engine running.
In otherwords, when the engine is running if I open the door the dome light turns on but if I turn off the engine and take out the key the dome light does not work when I open up the door (along with the radio)

Unfortuantly it doesn't hae a clock.
The dome light does work when I have the engine running.
In otherwords, when the engine is running if I open the door the dome light turns on but if I turn off the engine and take out the key the dome light does not work when I open up the door (along with the radio)

did you check fuses and relays?

is it a factory harness in the back of radio or a splice job?
(if so you must ensure accessory wire is hooked up

also some vehicles have dome light radio trunk light all hooked together
and something as silly as a burnt bulb can cause probs

kieo to acc position check key tight or loose? check voltage at fuses and relay check voltage on accessory wire on radio either blue or purple i believe it should have 12v all the time.

sorry for the rambling style hopefully you can make sense of it.

did you check fuses and relays?

is it a factory harness in the back of radio or a splice job?
(if so you must ensure accessory wire is hooked up

also some vehicles have dome light radio trunk light all hooked together
and something as silly as a burnt bulb can cause probs

kieo to acc position check key tight or loose? check voltage at fuses and relay check voltage on accessory wire on radio either blue or purple i believe it should have 12v all the time.

sorry for the rambling style hopefully you can make sense of it.


Thanks for the suggestions. It was a fuse. I replaced it and everything works fine now. Thanks.