So I just picked up a low miles 1997 neon that I knew had a bad radio because fm received no signal at all. Today I noticed the dome light was not working so after looking around I discovered the "interior light" fuse under hood was missing. After replacing it I discovered the dome light now works perfectly, but the radio is on with no key even in the ignition. I tried pulling the fuse in the dash panel marked "radio" but it didn't do anything. Do I have an electrical problem to deal with as well as a bad radio?

Thanks

Ps- what feels like an accessory position in the ignition switch does not power the radio and when ignition is turned completely off the radio looses all memory

 

How long does the radio stay on? My radio stays on for about ten seconds after the key is removed. But it has a capacitor built into the fuse setup.

There are two hot wires for the radio, three if you count the dash lights. One for the clock and another for the radio. Whoever installed the radio may have connected the clock feed instead of the radio feed to the radio. Meaning the radio gets juice 24/7 instead of just when the ignition is on.

Check to see what color wire is attached to your radio.... report back. Then me or others will go through the trouble of looking up the wiring diagram or ripping their radio's out to see what color the wire should be.

Every radio has a wiring schematic to show what wire is what.

 

So I was able to pull the radio out and found that someone had run a jumper wire from the constant hot wire to the ignition power wire. I am guessing there had been an aftermarket radio in there at some point that required this, have no idea why else someone would have done that. Also checked for continuity between the fm antenna and the plug into the rear of the radio and it is good. At this point it looks like I will have to grab a new radio.

Thanks

 

Imagine allot of people who work on cars have no idea what they are doing...

http://www.walmart.com/ip/SOUNDSTORM...eiver/37698097

Installed this in my car... Under $20. SD card slot, USB port and 3.5mm jack in.
Got the bundle with front/rear speakers and radio for $50 shipped.

I use the SD card... can fit hundreds of songs on them. Song picks up right where it left off. USB port puts out about 1ma. Was using it to charge my e-cig and cell phone until I picked up a 1ma/2.1ma USB port.