Hi I am trying to figure out what the issue is with my gf's 2005 Grand Caravan, she bought it from her sister recently and the radio in it hasn't worked for some time. It won't turn on at all, if you hit the TIME button, the time will display briefly then disapear, also if you hit the eject button on the DVD player (it's a seperate deck on this model) it sounds like it's going to eject a DVD but nothing else happens.

I've checked all of the fuses and the are good and don't apear to have any corrosion, I figured that the radio might just be blown so I grabbed one at the wreker with the DVD/CD player combined, it has the same plugs but when I connect the DVD plugs the van dies, one stops the tack from working and the other kills the engine.

When I just plug in the CD player plugs the stereo does the same thing as the old one. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I know these things tend to get electrical issues, but other than the stereo everything works fine in it.

Any help would be appreciated, I'm kind of at a loss on what to check next

Thanks
kev

 

each of the connectors at the back of the radio have bus wires in them, the only reason I can think of that the vehicle would die if you plug in the radio is if the bus wire is getting shorted out somehow.

 

That was surprising to me more than anything else, you would think that if the plugs fit in the newer deck it would work (or at least not kill the engine)


Does anyone have any idea what is causing the stereo not to work in the first place?

 

Trace the wires could be a grounding issue. Over time wires might become exposed and ground out on something. Second always disconnect the battery prior to hooking up. In some cars if ypu disconnect the radio with the battery the radio will go into theft mode and brick meaning lock up so as to not be able to use in another vehicle. Could be a possibility

 

It's just funny that when both cd players only were installed they did the same thing


Is there a way to unlock the radio from a different car?

 

I don't believe they have locks. You should be able to plug one in and it should work.

 

Well I screwed around with it a bit after work, I checked the fuses again for corrosion, they're all good

Also checked under the fuse box and all the plugs were good. It seems to be getting power from the battery but it doesn't seem to be getting switched ignition power (I looked around and it appears to be the grey/pink wire)

Is there any fuses or anything between the out put and the ignition? All the wires are tucked well behind the dash and I'm hoping to not have to pull it all apart if I don't have to. Is the another switched power wire I can splice in?

 

There are 2 B+ feeds to the radio that are fed by fuse 14. Wires are grey with red tracer. There is one ignition feed and the fuse is 5. It gets its power from the accessory relay in the PDC. Wire color is dark blue with a pink tracer.

 

On mine it's a grey wire with a pink line, that's definitely the problem, I spliced into the rear fan switched power and it works problem is when I turn on the rear fan the radio cuts out, lol


Is there another fuse box under the dash somewhere? I don't know why that power source (the switched radio one) is dead obviously id like the fan and the radio to work, lol

 

no other fuse box. The fuse 5 has power to it key on?