I have an 03 Ram 1500 with a CD Player which i bought new. The other day on my way home from work i stopped for a few minutes and restarted the truck and the CD player started making noises even though there is no CD in the radio, and i have not used it for a few years because i usually use just the radio. The radio was also not working and an error message was on the display, I shut it off and turned it back on and it worked fine. The next day on my way home i drove straight home and when i got home and shut off the truck the CD player started making noises for about 30 seconds and then was quiet. It does not seem to happen in the morning but in the afternoon when it is much hotter out. my truck should not have any power to the radio when the truck is off, it goes off when the truck shuts off. Please help!

 

Head unit probably on it's way out. It's 15 years old.

 

I had similar problems with my radio ('04 model). It eventually quit playing CD's altogether. I barley got the last one to eject when the CD player died.


I just had to pull it out and replace it last month, because it apparently had something get worse internally and it was pulling a draw on the battery. It would drain the battery after a day or two sitting.


I believe a few others on here have had the same drain issue before.


I pulled it, installed a new after market radio and no more worries. Drain issue solved.






DK

 

I pulled mine years ago because it quit playing cd's, and sounded like crap anyway and went with a budget pioneer, and budget speakers. Even these sound WAY better than stock

 

The head unit isn't actively on but always has power going to it from the bus (why do you think you don't have to reset the clock every time?). Try pulling the bezel, unbolting the unit and unplugging it from the harness. Put it back in and see if that helps. If not, you can find plenty of those units cheap in a variety of configurations or as suggested go aftermarket.