Today, I finally got my truck all back together (except for a grille, bumper.., but that doesnt matter). I installed my new battery, filled up the radiator with distilled water, then cranked it. It started up great, and sounded really good. I knew something wasn't right though. I stepped out of the cab to go see if my dad had found any leaks, and there weren't any. Everything checked out ok, so I go back into the cab to shut it off, then it hit me: there was nothing on my radio. I messed with it, trying to make sure it wasn't anything simple, but nothing showed up on my screen. I shut the truck off anyway and was very frustrated..

What I'm trying to figure out is what may have caused the radio to quit working. Last thing I messed with in the interior was the cup holder install, which required me to remove the dash bezel. I removed it, screwed in my cup holder, plugged in the light bulb (which apparently doesnt work..), then reinstalled the bezel. Other than that, nothing else was touched. The only other electrical thing I have done was reinstalling the ground wires after my dad painted the inner fenders. I really don't see how that could have affected my radio, though.

I tested all my other electrical stuff in the interior, and the only other thing that seems off is the left turn-signal which is blinking twice as fast as the right. I have no idea if that is remotely related.

Anyway, any ideas? I didn't want to tear into it tonight since Im pretty frustrated at the moment, so I'll see what I can do in the morning, but I'd like to know where to look.

 

when i installed new speakers it kept on blowing my radio fuse , check that out , make sure its pluged in tight, and that the ground is connected , not touching any metal of any sort

 

First thing I did was check the fuse. The fuse is fine. Ill jack with the grounds in the morning, but I figure that if a ground isn't right, more things than just the radio would be messed up. Im starting to think when I installed the cup holder, that I pulled the wiring when I pulled on the bulb to pop it in.

 

Is it an aftermarket radio? sometimes installers run a line from, or to, the battery. Was there a loop around one of the terminal connections you forgot to reinstall?

 

When the flasher is blinking fast, that usually means you have a bad turn signal bulb. In this case LF or LR.

 

+1 for a bad bulb. I highly doubt its related to your stereo issue.

My 1995 Dakota's signals would stay on solid, not blink at all, when a light was burned out. Most newer vehicles either blink very slowly or blink extremely quickly when a bulb is burned out.

Are you sure you got all the grounds? The radio has its own, separate ground wire. Not sure where it grounds to, to be honest, but I remember when installing my stereo that there was a ground wire from the wire bundle I had to connect to the radio that was separate from the wiring harnesses.

 

Yea, I figured out that it was the turn-signal bulb while I was lookin in the service manual tryin to get some info. The bulb more than likely broke since it had dropped on the concrete a few times, after I pulled the fenders.

I installed the aftermarket head unit myself, a Kenwood. It worked completely fine before the fenders went off and the cupholder wasnt installed, so it has to be related to one of those.. I used the usual Scosch head unit install harness, nothing special. Im going to check my power cable to the head unit tomorrow (pull off the bezel, unbolt the head unit..), just in case I somehow pulled a wire. Then Ill retry my grounds. If that doesnt do it, then Im in trouble =/.

 

ya then a wire came apart , there isnt anyroom to push wires back there, wires kept on coming apart when i put my unit in. so i put terminals on, then i electric taped the whole thing together solved that problem. make sure you check all wires, and put something on the end of your ground so it doesnt hit the metal or something

 

Since its aftermarket, there is probably a fuse on the back of the head unit itself. I'd look at that first thing after you pull it.

 

yeah if the ground hits something there could be a chance it blew the fuse on the back of head unit too