ok, so i have never ran into a problem like this or even heard of this happening on any car so im just reaching out to see if i might be able to get some advice on this little gremlin.

so earlier this night i was heading to a car meet with some friends and when i turned the car on, nothing was coming out of the stereo, it wouldn't even turn on. (it is an after market stereo and it was already wired in the car when i got it). well the next thing i noticed was that the door light was coming on (the warning cluster light) and it would go out then start glowing brighter every second or so. so i go to try the air conditioning electronics and sunroof which all ended up working just fine and all the gauges were working fine. i also noticed that when the face plate was off the door light would stay off. then i tried the dome light and the door light would come on and the clock would go out and acctually reset but the dome light would come on real dim then just stay off. and that is basically everything i have noticed about the problem so far. the room and audio fuse are still good.

my first and only thought of the night is that earlier before the meet i might have hit some bumps on my friends drive way (which is dirt and rock) and that might have knocked a ground wire loose, but i have no idea where to start looking. any advice would be greatly appreciated guys

 

Probably has something to do with the wiring of the aftermarket stereo. It depends on how the installer tapped off for constant 12v, switched 12v, input from headlight switch, and ground. I'd recommend pulling the head unit and take a look at the wiring job to find loose connections.

 

i diddnt't notice anything obvious when i had it pulled out, but once i get a wiring diagram and figure out which wires are which ill check it out. any other ideas of what i shoud check out guys?

 

Sounds like the room fuse or weak battery connections.

How did you check the Room fuse? You know you can't check them by just looking at them. They can be bad (after 20+ years) with no signs of it being blown at all.

 

tried replacing the fuse acctually and nothing but the same thing. i first thought of the room fuse, but seeing as how the audio has its own fuse, wouldn't the stereo be run off just that? i don't know....its late and im fixing to go to bed. i didn't get a chance to crack open the dash and check the wires, but i grabbed my multimeter from my friend and will probably do that tomorrow since i don't have work. i should be able to probe all the fuses and double check all of them more accurately.

 

i acctually pulled the other fuse i had replaced the 7.5 amp with and saw that it too had indeed popped, i tried replacing it again and it instantly popped so now i think i have a bad ground connection somewhere within one of the circuits connected to the room fuse. time to break out the ol FSM and get cracking.

 

Bad grounds won't have anything to do with a fuse popping.

In fact the reason the fuse is popping, is because the voltage is going to a good ground.

 

i might have misspoken because thats what i meant, a power going to a ground. i just called it a bad ground by mistake. it infact was a power wire grounded to the body. when i had the sunrooof taken out to fix some of the rust, i had to pull the track for the belts off to get the tray out and when i put it back in, a power for the dome lights was mashed behind one of the bolts just enough that as i drove the vibration wore away the insulation. so now the problem is fixed. thanks for the input

 

7.5 amps for the stereo fuse is a bit low.

from memory mine is a 15amp in the fuse box, 30amp at the deck, 40amp on the power amplifier and 80amp at the battery