Radio power Accessories?

[Tripmiester]

Guys,

Couple questions on the radio power,

1. I don’t see a wire and plug coming out of the main wiring harness, I am reinstalling the factory radio and speaker I had serviced, is there a separate wire from the fuse box to the plug on the back of the radio from the speaker?

2. Will the radio only be powered up when the ignition is in the on position?
As I only have the power connected from the engine compartment to the fuse box. Still have to install the light and ignition switches, the radio fuse is hot but the male spade on the right side of the fuse is not.

Thanks
Trip

[ray_mcavoy]

Yes, there is a separate stand-alone wire (not part of the dash harness) that runs from the fuse box to the radio.

And yes, the radio is only powered when the ignition is on.

That's strange that the radio fuse is hot without the ignition switch installed yet. That fuse and it's corresponding spade on the side of the fuse box should be switched on/off via the ignition.

[Tripmiester]

Ray,

Thanks again for the great info,
In this diagram does it show power to the heater and radio fuse?
Tough to tell what is powers up at the fuse box with no labeling.
Maybe I will install the light and ignition switches and see if that spade lights up with the key in the on position?

Steve

[ray_mcavoy]

Yeah, those diagrams would be better if they had labeled the fuses as shown on the box itself. And they have the fuse box drawn sideways and are showing a view from the back side.

But yes that diagram does show the power to the radio and heater fuses.

It shows power for the "wiper", "heater", and "radio" fuses is supplied by the "14P" (14 gauge pink) wire. It connects to a bus bar on the back of the fuse panel that is represented by the thick bold lines on the diagram. And note that they do not show a fuse symbol in the location of the radio fuse (probably because of the radio being an option).

Following that pink wire back on the diagram, it leads to a factory splice (represented by a dot where the wires cross). One branch of it goes to the ignition switch (where it should receive power when the key is on). Another branch feeds power to the instrument cluster. And yet another branch feeds power to the ignition coil via the engine harness firewall connector.

So basically, the "wiper", "heater", and "radio" fuses should all have their power switched on & off via the ignition switch. The two fuses at the bottom of the fuse box receive power via the "14R" (14 gauge red) wire and that one is live all the time. The "panel lts." fuse (second down from the top) receives power from the "16DG" (16 gauge dark green) wire that connects to the headlight switch.

[Tripmiester]

Ray,

Yes I agree with all of that, does it still seem odd that the radio fuse is hot and the spade on the right side of the fuse is not?

Steve

[ray_mcavoy]

Yes, that does still seem odd that the radio fuse is hot and the spade is not.

Are the "wiper" and "heater" fuses also hot? Since they're on the same bus bar as the "radio" fuse, you might possibly have a problem with one of those circuits back feeding power to those fuses. If so, try pulling those fuses one at a time to help isolate the issue.

As for the spade not being hot along with the fuse, that could simply be due to a poor connection between the fuse and fuse clip. Sometimes the fuse clips (which are part of the spade assemblies) get a little bit of tarnish or corrosion on them and no longer make good electrical contact with the fuse.

[Tripmiester]

Hi Ray,

I think I misread the location of the radio fuse the ones circled in red are the only ones hot.

Thanks Steve

[ray_mcavoy]

Okay, looks like that mystery has been solved.

Those two bottom fuses you have marked in red are supposed to be live all the time so that's perfectly normal.