radio loses power when I turn on headlights.

[raceking46]

We've tried to wire the radio a few different ways including the correct way according to wire diagram. However everytime I turn the headlights on the radio loses power. Total power like you disconnect the battery...radio presets and all. It is an aftermarket cd player that I took out of another car but it worked fine in that car. Any ideas would be helpful?

 

[UNGN]

The radio illumination wire may be wired into the wrong wire (like the radio ground). I don't remember the exact details, but I do remember this was a pretty common error back in the 1980's when I worked at a stereo shop in college.

 

[mando13]

On that radio,you should have a Yellow wire,a red wire,and a black wire besides all your speaker wires.Make your connections directly to your fuse box.The yellow wire goes to full 12v constant.This is to supply panel and clock power.The red is connected to a switched 12v,which means you only get power when the key is on.The black wire goes to a good solid ground.
If you don't want to make the connections to the fuse box,than check the original wires and test with a volt meter to see which wire has steady 12v and which one has the switched 12.Once you know this,make your connections accordingly.
Hope this helps,
Mando

 

[pontiacgp]

when you turn on the headlights turn off the dash lights and see if power to the radio...

 

[UNGN]

I would be careful repeating this process. I remember once the Amp on one channel of a customer's radio was blown from this. Turning off the dash lights should be OK to test.

I think the illumination wire was brown (it has been 30 years) so it is a "groundish" color that can be mistaken for a ground. I think the OEM radio's grounded through the chassis and didn't have a ground wire, so people assume the illumination wire is the ground.

Not sure if this is the specific cause for this issue, but it was 30 years ago.

 

[SoFloG]

Take a test light, find constant 12+, keyed 12+(only on with ignition forward), and constant ground-(your best bet is running a small wire with a ring terminal to the metal frame underneath the dash to eliminate confusion) hook them up to yellow, red, and black on the radio harness respectively. To find the speaker wires there are numerous sources onlinedepending on the year of the car. From your head unit white and white/black trace will be front left, grey and grey/black will be front right, and purple rear right, green rear left.
The illumination wire from the light switch will show ground when it is off, but it changes when turned on.

 

[SoFloG]

Your antenna will also ground the radio just by plugging it in but is not suitable. That's why I suggest just an independent ground from the black wire on the harness to the dash frame. Good luck

 

[t01blaze]

I had the same problem, mine was a bad ground. Try making a new ground, go to the battery negative terminal to test if needed.

 

[Texas82GP]

Please let us know what the solution was if you are able to solve the problem.

 

[Dayzedandkonfuzed]

I had the same problem, mine was a bad ground. Try making a new ground, go to the battery negative terminal to test if needed.

X2

When I put the dash back into the Malibu I had this issue. I had forgotten the ground wire that screws to the bottom of the dash on the far passenger side. Even though there's 3 or 4 other grounds that seem to be doing the same job, you still need all of them hooked up.

My stereo would reset at any large power draw. Even just trying to read a CD was enough.