after market stereo problem: no power

I was recently driving to work and out of nowhere, my radio just shut off and wouldnt turn back on. I checked all the fuses and even the fuse on the stereo, all are good. what could be causing this problem???

Is there a reset button? Small little button that you would have to use a pin to push. If so reset it and that might fix the problem.

tried that, but theres still no power. if it helps, its a kenwood kdc-215s.
looked up the user manual online, doesnt help.

maybe you burnt out ur deck, are you sure you didnt over load it with to many watts?

Did you test the fuses? And have you checked for voltage at the wiring harness? And of course ensure that the wire harnesses are all connected and are correct. I looked the manual also and your right no help there. If it has power to the harness and those to the head unit then I hope you bought the warrenty.

all the fuses are good, even pulled out the stereo and checked the fuse on the back of it. also, the door chime stopped working same time as the stereo.

That sounds like maybe a power problem upstream somewhere. I would check for power with a 12 volt test light very cheap at any auto store at harness. If its not there than you will have to work your way back. Did you install this radio or did a pro do it? How long was it installed before this happened?

it was installed before i bought it, but looks like a professinal installation.

I would check to make sure you have voltage that's all I can think to tell you. It sounds like there may be a bigger problem. Did you check the fuses under the hood?

checked the fuses under the hood, all good. i have experienced other electrical problems to, though. there was also an aftermarket power sunroof installed, and it seems to be jimyrigged into the fusebox, and the fuse for the cig. lighter/horn keeps blowing.

I would unhook whatever they did with the sunroof. Do you have a manual for your cav? I never worked on a cav but I know some vehicles have fusible links that acturally look like part of the wire. Almost like a butt spliced covered with heatshrink(if you know what that is). Maybe look for that. But it sounds like that sunroof may be a problem worth unhooking. And I would check everything I could to make sure they didn't screw with anything else.

unhooked evrything with the sunroof, not the prob with the stereo. i think the problem is with the car wiring, but im no pro. gonna run to wallyworld in a few to pick up a 12v test lamp. but again, i think its the wiring, cause the door chime went out too. btw, is that linked through the speakers?

btw, will it hurt to drive with the stereo unplugged?

I don't believe so. But I think if they screwed with wiring you could have a fairly large problem. Finding the source were something burned out won't be easy. That's why electric shops charge 50 bucks an hour even if they don't find the problem. But I would bet you don't have power at the head unit or the door chimes. Good luck sounds like you have got a mess on your hands. Let us know if it turns out to be something small. I would love to know whats wrong.

No. Just unplug the stereo and leave the harness the way it is.

LOL. great. maybe i should look into trading it in.

ok, got the tester, tested from grnd to red power wire and its live. tested from grnd to mem wire, no good. ??? also, accidentally connected mem and pwr wires and door chime went off (doors were closed).

did you turn the key on and check for voltage on mem? The power wire was probably back feeding the door chimes.

Check from ground on harness to power wire. Unless thats the way you already tested. You may have power but lost the ground.

i figure its the radio now, cause when the car is on, theres power from ground to the red power wire, but nothing from groungd to yellow memory wire. still nothing on the radio tho. should i just chuck this deck and buy a new one?

What about the door chimes? Do they work with the deck out? Because if I remember correctly you said the chimes and deck stopped working at the same time. What ever happened may have killed your deck. But it could happen again to a new one. Worth thinking about. I know nothings ever easy.

yeah, thats why I'm hesitant on buying a new one. im ot even sure if this one is bad yet. and the door chimes dont work. i still can't get any juice to the mem wire. ARGH.

i figure its the radio now, cause when the car is on, theres power from ground to the red power wire, but nothing from groungd to yellow memory wire. still nothing on the radio tho. should i just chuck this deck and buy a new one?


if you did this check and there is a power on "red wire to ground" and no power on "yellow wire to ground", the problem should be on the car wiring. You can check if your deck is not working by:

- ground the deck
- hook the red wire straight to battery or anywhere that has 12V constant
- if the deck didn't power up, connect the yellow wire to 12V instead of the red
- if there is still no power connect both red and yellow at the same time to 12V
- if it powers up, it is still good
- if not chuck em'

hope this helps before you garbage that deck.

thanks honeybabes, good thing i didnt toss my deck. works fine. i figured out what the problem is i think. the memory wire isnt getting any power, so i think it shorted out somewhere upstream. i tried putting power to the mem by connecting main power and mem, worked for a minute, then blew a fuse in my box. i think the short might be with the horn's wiring, or the cig lighter. i looked in the haynes maual, and the mem wire also connects to the "multi function alarm module" so i think thats why my door chime isnt working. its on the same circuit.

when you hooked up your radio did you use the factory ground? if you did try grounding it to a bolt or something that is near the front of the car where it can be hidden