I bought a new radio for my wife's 1999 intrepid 2.7l v6. It is manufactured by the dual audio/video company. This was replacing a sony xplod cd player. I took the old radio out and hooked up the new wiring harness to the wires in the dash. The radio worked fine for about 3 weeks and then we started encountering our problem.
One day my wife calls me at work and tells me the car died at our daughter's school. Car has power but will not crank. No power to the radio. I go and check the connections on the battery and find the negative connector to the terminal is loose. I firmly press the connector all the way down on the terminal and tighten down the connector. The car starts just fine. I reset the memory presets for the radio and reset the time. A few days go by and my wife tells me that the radio randomly resets itself after she shuts the car off. Also the odometer resets itself from the trip mileage to the total mileage when the radio resets. On top of that, there have been a couple of instances where the car only makes a clicking sound when trying to start but on a second try to start the car will fire up. And on top of that now the battery light will come on randomly now too, but the sitting voltage and running voltage are where they should be.
I have checked the battery terminals (which are tight, no signs of corrosion) and the battery jumper terminals at the top of the engine compartment (which are also tight with no corrosion). I have checked the wiring to the radio on multiple occasions to make sure my butt splices and tape are good (which they are) and checked all the fuses but still cannot figure out the culprit. If anyone can guide me in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it and so would my wife.

 

I’d say either the battery itself, or the connections. By connections, make sure to check the hot at the starter for corrosion/tightness and the ground at the engine/frame (wherever it ends). It may be something with the ignition switch, but because of the battery light, I’d lean more toward the battery. I’d also lean away from the charging system as you said it would start just fine on subsequent attempts. A battery can be intermittent when the plates start to thin. When they heat up (under a large load eg starting), they bow and short out causing the electrical system to go completely dead momentarily. That will cause the radio presets to dump etc. You can have a start load test done at an auto parts store such as Auto Zone fro free.

Good luck,

Kurt