Sudden Audio/Antenna Loss

[Stanley]

I pulled into a parking lot today, listening to music. I shut off the car. 20 minutes later I turned it back on and the power antenna no longer rose and the head unit no longer had power. I've checked the head unit seating and it was fully attached. I also replaced the radio fuse, and I think it had an effect on the seatbelt lights (which are on the same fuse), but the radio and antenna still don't work. No other electrical issues that I've noticed.

It's an aftermarket deck so it's not exactly stock any longer, but it's been working for a year without issues and I'm not sure what could be going on. The antenna not working either makes me think it's not the deck in any case. Any suggestions?

 

[Kidd-7]

The deck sends a signal to the antenna to raise it, so if the deck is bad the antenna won’t raise.
Does your cruise work? In my 96 cruise ABs radio are in the same circuit.
Aftermarket radios usually have a fuse in the wiring harness, check that also.

 

[Grog6]

Yeah. You need to pull the deck out, and check wiring. Some amps draw too much power from the power antenna lead, and it kills the deck. Use a relay, in that case. I had to use one with my alpine; The antenna+amp drew so much current, the deck would freak out.

 

[Stanley]

Thanks guys. I'll dig into it and let you know what is the issue.

 

[Stanley]

It turns out that when the radio fuse went, the head unit then required a manual reset using a pin (I didn't know that was a thing): the software reset wasn't sufficient. Once I did that, it fired up and, exactly as Kidd-7 said would happen, the antenna raised as normal because the unit was functional again.

Mystery solved: thanks for the help.

 

[Grog6]

I've had to estart my Alpine a few times, when I ran the battery down. When I ran the shop, I used to see a lot of Blaupunkt radios, that came from the factory with an unlock code. If they had the code, I'd reset it for them. If not, I'd sell them a radio, lol. It always amazed me at the people that would replace a stock stereo with a cheap pos, 50 buck radio. The best radio we sold was only $250. Sanyo, with dolby c and dbx. It still worked, last time I saw it. It's in a 68 dodge dart.