93 Radio Keeps resetting

Since I bought my 93 Accord, I haven't been able to figure out how to get my clock and radio from resetting themselves whenever the car is off for more than a minute or two. I can't seem to find wiring diagrams on either of them and I'm just wondering if anyone can help me out with this before i start ripping apart my dash assembly --I'm at that point though, there's no point in resetting my radio stations and audio settings and its REALLY ticking me off

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Both of them have an "always on" feed to prevent the problem you describe. I am surprised that they are OK for even as long as a minute if that feed fails.

Try fuses first.

I already tried the radio in the kickpanel and the radio backup in the engine comp. fusebox -- I couldn't find info on any other possible fuses - if those are the only two, then everything is ok from that end

The clock and radio keep alive is controlled from a 7.5 amp fuse that is feed directly from the main 80amp fuse in the engine compartment. I think the radio backup fuse is the one. If it is OK you have wiring or connector problems.

Yeah I know it's wiring - My fuses are brand new and I just checked them again a minute ago -- its NOT them... ...I'm wondering if anyone knows more about the wiring that can help me out before i just go tearing stuff apart

One way to trace broken wiring is with a telephone toner and wand. The toner is a sound source which puts a sound on the suspected wire after it is isolated by removing the fuse. . The wand is an inductive amplifer which will pickup the tone (beeps) without actually touching the wire. Its' pickup range is an inch so you can trace the bundle until you lose the tone and that is where the break is. Most likely the break is at a connector.
os

sounds like an idea mpumas I'll try it out this week and let you know

: )

First off I have to ask you, is it a factory radio (I'm doubting), or an aftermarket one? If it's an aftermarket radio then it's fairly easy to find the source of your problem. There should be wiring diagram (or rather a color code readout) on the radio itself. If not, never fear, I can help you out I do a lot of audio installations.

On the radio's wiring harness (on the radio side, not the vehicle side) look at the colors. These colors are important to remember: Black, Red, Yellow, Light Blue, Orange. These are your Power, Ground, Remote, pwr Antenna, and Illumination wires (depending on deck type, and NOT in that order). The other wires you should seperate since they are your speaker wires and have nothing to do with the actual operation of your radio. They are the easiest to identify since each speaker has two wires (+ and -) and are colored similarly. Usually they are White, Grey, Green, and Purple. You can tell they are the speaker wires because you'll have two White wires: one Solid White, one White with a Black stripe running it's entire length. The same goes for the Grey, Green, and Purple wires. Now if they are not Wht/Gry/Grn/Prpl that's fine, you'll still be able to sort them out by locating the wires with the Black stripe running the length, then you just find the corresponding Solid to those colors and you've found your speaker wires (8 in total: 2 for each speaker, 4 speakers).

Now, the other wires are what you need to look at here. The Solid Black wire is your Ground wire. If your radio works at all then this wire is hooked up correctly, LEAVE IT ALONE, disconnecting this while the power wire is connected will result in frying the radio (bad). You need to look at the Yellow, and the Red wires. These are your power wires. Sometimes they will be labeled on the wires themselves PWR (sometimes +12) and MEM (sometimes BATT). Generally the Yellow wire is your main Power wire and the Red is your Memory wire, but they can easily be reversed depending on the manufacturer of the headunit itself.

Both the Power and the Memory wires supply a +12 volt stream to the control deck (headunit/radio). The difference between them is that the Power wire is run through the ignition so that it will only supply power while the key is turned. The Memory (or remote) wire on the other hand is a constant feed to the radio. The purpose of this is to supply the radio with the power it needs to retain it's memory settings (hence the name Memory wire) since car stereo's don't have batteries.

Some people would say that since they both carry a +12 volt stream that it doesn't matter how they're hooked up. Now in an operational sense this is true since the radio WILL function normally while the power is on. The problem is that since your Power is constant and your Memory is on your ignition, when your car is turned off... you see? Once you cut the ignition off you cut the power to your Memory and you lose any settings that have been stored.

An easy way to find out if this is the case is to try turning on the power to the radio while the car is turned off. If the power comes on then the Power and Memory wires are reversed. All you have to do to fix this is to snip the Yellow Power wire and the Red Memory wire and switch them. Problem solved, and all it costs is about $1.00 to buy the butt connectors to re-attach the wires together. You can do this yourself. Another way to test this is to turn your car on, set your memory settings, then power off the radio for about 1 minute, turn it back on and see if your memory settings held. If so, follow the same steps listed above to fix this.

I suspect that this is what your problem is, but don't take my word for it. You could have a deeper problem but I don't think it's likely.

Sorry for writing the book, but I hope it helps you understand a little more about how to go about solving your problem. Feel free to ask me if you have any other questions. I'll visit these forums every other day or so to see how it turns out. I would also suggest printing out this message so that you have a guide to refer to while your working on it. Good luck!

-Aaron

Ok that explains why the radio might lose memory, but why does the clock lose power. It is fed from the same bus and is on all the time, but the light comes on only when the ignition is on just like the radio.

Good question, I was assuming she meant the clock on the radio. My bad.

Yeah my fault -- its the DASHBOARD clock -- and yes, it is an aftermarket radio

This was an auction car... ...listed as abandoned when i bought it -- And it had no radio at that time - just a lot of loose wires (you could tell the last person didn't bother to properly remove the radio -- maybe it was stolen)

so i thought maybe that might have something to do with it -- but it doesn't explain the dash clock

ALso, my husband noticed the cigarette lighter doesn't work AT ALL (no power to it)-- are these the same circuit or is this a separate issue?

Separate circuit,different fuse, and a relay whose coil is powered off the ignition switch

alright -- well then ill try to fix the radio and clock thing first