primer84z

This post is long so bare with me. Ok heres the deal, i bought this car about a year ago and when i got it, it had the factory radio in it. The radio never retained the preset stations or the time, and if you didnt drive the car at least once a day, the battery would be dead. now i have done all the mods in my signature and put in a panasonic radio, and the battery will drain in about 12 hours. And every time you turn the car on the radio acts as if it is the first time it has been turned on showing the scrolling messages and what not, also the memory and the clock on the radio does not work and the flashing security light only flashes 3 or 4 times and then goes out. i preveiously had this radio installed in my truck and i know that that light is supposed to flash all the time to imitate an alarm. Has anyone had this problem or know how i could go about fixing this? Having to disconnect the battery every time i go to work is really annoying and makes my car look ghetto.

Andy Fanshawe

iTrader: (1)

Your stereo is not retaining memory/codes etc, because there isn;t a permanent (Hot at all times) feed to it. Did you check one of the wires was hot at all times when you installed it?
The draining of the battery could be a separate fault. But may not be.
If you have a multimeter, disconnect the battery, set the multimeter to amps (current) and put it in series with the battery.
If it reads 50 mA or more (0.05A), the car is draining current somewhere. I would then pull each fuse one by one until the reading drops to zero. Sometimes the alternator is responsible for this, so I pull the 2 wire connector off to start with and see if that affects the reading.
Once you have found the circuit that is responsible (the circuit the fuse controls that caused the trouble), it is not to bad a job to trace it.

Let me know please! I have the 84 shop manual.

Regards.
Andy.

1986redbird

the first place to check for the power drain is the rear hatch pull down, they are notorious for getting jammed up or broken and they can and will drain a battery. try charging the battery and disconnecting the hatch pull down motor in the trunk.

TheCamel

Make sure you have the doors closed and all oter accesories off when you do this test or you will get a false reading from the dome light trying to come on. And before you try to check for a draw with a Multimeter I suggest you check it with a 12v test light. attach the clip end of the test light to the battery cable, and the pointed end to the battery post and slowly remove the battery terminal from the battery keeping the test light leads firmly attached. if the test light comes on, you now there is 12v flowing accross the circut. if it is dim then it may be clock or radio memory. The reason you do this first is that most multimeters are designed with a 10 amp fuse in them, so anything drawing more than that will blow the fuse in the multimeter and give you a false reading anyhow, the brighter the light, the more likely you will blow that fuse if you test it with the multimeter. Again while being able to see the test light (have someone hold it if possible) begin pulling the fuses as mentioned above. Key should be off at this point as well for all tests.

Sean