Stereo Issues
 

Hi, I installed a Kenwood aftermarket stereo years ago in my 2002 Blazer. Most of the time things have been working fine. Over the past couple months I've been having the following issues.

1) Radio does not usually stay on when turning key to off position, sometimes it immediately shuts off, other times it takes a few seconds to a few minutes. It should stay on until I open the door. Also turning to accessory does not turn on stereo. All other electronics, lights, windows seem to work fine.

2) This is even more intermittent and rare, but sometimes when using the power windows the radio will restart (power off and power back on), sometimes it even seems to be consistent with applying the brake pedal.

3) When the above things are not happening all of my speakers are usually not working at once, some work others don't, and sometimes they all work and sound great. I have all the speakers homing back into an aftermarket amp and then speaker wire going to my aftermarket stereo from the amp.

Could this all possibly be related to a bad ground cable connection for my stereo?

That could be a number of things.How did you hook the wires from the new stereo to the factory wires?Did you use the aftermarket wire harness that comes with the install kit?Or did you just hog tie them together?What about the grounds for both amp and stereo..What are they grounded to..The grounds have to be connected to a clean area with no rust,paint or dirt in between the connections.There`s also a safety device that the factory installed with the factory radio`s,not sure what it`s called.I would suggest you to contact Crutchfield.com.They will be able to tell you more about this device I`m talking about.I`ve read that while replacing factory radio with a aftermarket radio,you will need to buy this device in order to be able to keep the same safety features you have now.Ex: Radio stays on for about 10 minutes, after you turn the ignition off,radio turns off when you open the door .

I used the aftermarket wiring harness. I took the dash all apart again yesterday and looked at all the wiring. I noticed there are two black wires, are these both ground connections? Should I use them both to the ground wire on the harness?

I have to admit my ground for my amp wasn't the best. It is mounted to a bolt under one of the back seats. I cleaned off all the paint really well this time and will see if it helps.

So far this has been working well since my last post. I really think it was the amp ground causing issues and not clean enough. Thanks!

Nice job, thanks for the update!

Is there any way to replace the radio lights? Most of mine are burned out.