No power for stereo

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GrumpyFJ

GrumpyFJ

10 Year
Joined
Jun 11, 2014
Threads
3
Messages
19
Location
Cary, North Carolina
Hey guys!

I’m having an issue with my stereo. It has no power. One day it just stopped working while I was driving. I checked the fuses under the dash. I’m not sure what other area I should check. The breaker for the AC keeps poping but I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. Any help would be great! Thanks,

James
 
A lot has to do with the radio, many aftermarket units have a fuse in the back of them. If your fuse is good it can be the wire to the radio itself, the connector pin at the radio, the radio fuse as mentioned above or something internal to the radio. Start at the fuse and work toward the radio.
 
Pull the radio out and check for loose connections. Does the radio turn on but no music or is it dead like no power at all? Did you smell any magic smoke when it turned off? Once the magic smoke is out, you can't put it back in.
 
Good answers above. Start with what @NCFJ said...BUT!...any chance you happen to have a bunch of aftermarket connections at your POSitive battery post? They can work loose or break off and the severity is related to how many connections there are and how little you know about wiring! It's not hard, just methodical.

This is a good time to buy a simple test light or digital volt meter (multimeter) and look up a few pointers on how to use them. It will enable you, once you've removed the radio and looked up the wiring schematic in the instructions (by model # online), to see if you're getting power where you are supposed to.

And remember that a fuse can look just dandy but not work at all. They're cheap. Swap in a new one wherever you find one.

Jonathan asked if the radio is totally dead or if it gets power but has no sound. That's important info for us to have.
 
Thanks for the info, it’s an aftermarket stereo and I don’t remember any burning smells but I do know the stereo is fine ( I swapped in a new one just to make sure). I am always finding things that were rigged up by the last owner so I don’t know what’s good and what’s not. I will start swapping in new fuses ASAP and get a tester.
 
I’m not sure what this does? Is it part of the stereo?

image.webp
 
GrumpyFJ said:
I’m not sure what this does? Is it part of the stereo?

View attachment 1654775
Click to expand...

That is ghetto fabulous right there! If it isn’t causing u problems, it certainly will.

Start tracing wires. Start by checking the power wire at the back of the unit, then start working you way toward the battery
 
Last edited:
GrumpyFJ said:
I’m having an issue with my stereo. It has no power. One day it just stopped working while I was driving....
Click to expand...

GrumpyFJ said:
...I do know the stereo is fine ( I swapped in a new one just to make sure)....
Click to expand...
So neither one works when installed, a new one functions properly or you just installed a brand new one and assume it works fine because it's new but it doesn't? Or was the one that stopped working a new one installed by you?

I agree with @RaleighCJ. You've got some sloppiness to deal with. It's not related to your stereo (better not be), but it's obvious from the dirt that there used to be some connectors on the relay (the cube with the Red and White wires). I wonder where they are now and what else isn't working.

Clean the actual wire insulation that you're holding. That will tell us what the real color is and that will help us find its purpose if it's OEM.

How long have you had this truck? Is it the 1985 FJ60?
 
I have had the truck for about 6 years. There’s lots that I want to do to restore it but a lack of funds at the moment. I installed the stereo around 5 years ago and it worked up to about 6 months ago. I am not super confident in my wiring skills, so this is new for me.
 


A good detail description of the basics.

I’m not a big fan of the crimp style connectors shown in the picture. I usually solder and heat shrink connections if possible. The crimp style can be too problematic when in the open elements.
 
If you need a help troubleshooting, you're welcome to bring your truck up to my house in South Durham. Depending where in Cary you are, probably a 15-20 min drive. We should be able to sort through it fairly quickly.
 
What I would check. There are two wires powering the stereo. A constant 12+ and a Key Switched 12+. With a test light confirm you have that. One pulls from the dome light circuit. Make sure your dome light works. Second is to use a new ground source. The original ground source ran through a junction block behind the gauge cluster. They are known to fail. Usually the fault of the blower motor with old wires. The wires are white with a black stripe. Like 6 or 8 of them in a block with a bunch of other blue wires on the other side. Untape the connector and inspect. It's taped to the main harness behind the cluster.
 
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