Hmmm...more electrical issues with my 98 Ram 1500. The radio would intermittently lose power (never while actually on..it would be fine then later when I'd come back to use the truck and turn it on, there wouldn't be power to the radio..no rhyme or reason. Then the next day it would work again). When I bought it used, the guy said the radio had just stopped working but he thought it was a fuse and sure enough when i put a 10 amp. in, it worked again. But no such luck now. It's worked off and on like this for awhile but now seems to be "off" for good. The weird thing is the lights on it all light up and such but the clock function doesn't light up and when I push the power on button, nothing happens. It's gonna be my sons truck when he turns 16 in 5 weeks and I was planning on getting him a new head unit and speakers but there is a CD in this darned thing that I want to retrieve before I pitch it! Also, I'm worried that maybe it isn't just the old head unit itself that is dead, that maybe if I buy a new unit it won't work either because there might be electrical issues leading up to the entire unit? I have changed out the fuse again but it didn't help. Why would I have some power to the unit (lights up) but not completely (no clock, no function)?? This is not my area of expertise folks...I'm in dentistry..nothing electrical there! Should I just pull the old head unit, pitch it with the CD in it and buy a brand new unit or does this need further investigating to find the source of the intermittent power before I invest in a possibly expensive stereo system? Thanks!

 

It is the circuit board in the radio itself. I just had this happen to me as well. i talked to a buddy of mine who is a mopar nut and he said every stock radio he ever had in his vehicles did the same thing. There was another thread on this issue about three or four days ago. I am putting an aftermarket stereo in to solve the problem for good. As far as retrieving your cd just disassemble the stock radio to get it out.

 

The display is tied into the truck's lighting and works independent of the radio. If the clock isn't working that is an indicator that the radio section is not functional. These radios are easy to remove. I would do so and then check the harness to see if you have both battery and switched power. If you do, then a new radio will fix your problem.

 

Sounds like the radio is near death, at the least the power button is defective.
As a last resort you could try getting some of that electric parts cleaner at radio shack, use the little straw, and try to blast some in the crack of the power button.
Wait a few minutes for it to evaporate, then give it a shot.

CD you should be able to retrieve by disassembling the unit.
Computer CD/DVD players have an emergency eject button, just a tiny little pinhole, you stick a thick needle in there and, power or not, it ejects.
Not sure if car CD's have these, never crossed my mind to look.
If you see a little pinhole in the face, that would be it.

 

Please let me know if the new head unit fixes your problem, i had the same problem on my 98 and after i insatalled the new unit i had the exact same problem. I've checked all the grounds i could see and to no prevail. Sometimes it works and sometimes it won't and will do exactly as yours where it illuminates but no funtion whatsoever. Thanks in advance!!

 

Thanks everyone. I was feeling pretty good about it til I read Ram80's comment..that's what I fear most is buying an expensive new unit and having it still do the same thing. Oh well...my sons bday is July 9th so I'll get back on here and let you know how it goes after he gets his new toy! Thanks again!
Oh and I checked, there is no emergency eject pinpoint button to remove the CD inside. But I'm sure I can get that out of the old unit when I remove it from the truck.

 

Did you hook into the factory harness when you swapped yours? Might have one of the 2 power wires bad in the factory harness. If so just run a couple new power lines.

 

i've got an alpine in mine and it was doing something similar, it would kick off and back on for no reason. i called alpine and they told me that there is a pink/black stripe wire that if it grounds itself that it'll make it have power issues. i taped up the end of that wire and it fixed it. so you ought to pull the radio out and make sure that there are no exposed wires in there and also make sure that the plugs for the radio have all the wires pushed all the way into them because sometimes the wires in those harnesses can work themselves loose. also you should pull the fuses and reseat them.

 

Well i looked at it for a while when i got off work and after some hair pulling i hooked the black ground from the harness to the radio to the power antenna coming off the wiring harness and she worked like a charm, Untill i turned on my lights and she went dead again. It will work with the lights on if i turn the lighting all the to the right.

 

We replaced the original 98 ram 1500 with a 96 ram 1500 radio. the "new" radio works but no illumination-except for the 3band eq. no clock, no read out. everything else works great.


putting the 98 ram radio back in it still works- except its possessed! lol
theres no control for the volume- its always full blast. turn the dial down , it only increases the volume.
any thoughts on whats going on? want to put the 96 radio in but need the illuminations.