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Radio Ground Issue? - Please Help!

One would hope that the ground for the radio is not relying on that coax cable connection only.

I agree 100%.

The fact that you can unplug the coax and the radio dies only supports the theory (missing ground in harness) even more.

Years and years ago radios, motors, etc would use the shell or housing for a Battery return path. It is Rare you see that these days. It would be insane not to have a ground wire in the Harness.

Hoop!
 
FenderHeavy,
Just curious. Did you ever experience this: While the radio was playing with the engine running, did you ever hear "alternator whine" (dentist drill whine) coming from the speakers? The whine would change with engine RPM and would be noticeable with Bass low & treble settings High... Especially during silent passages of a song with volume turned up.

Have you ever heard anything like that coming from your speakers?

Hoop!
 
10/4. Then just delete entry #12 and continue as planned with checking harness for (B-) lead.

Hoop!
 
I think what Hoop was eluding to is you might have a noise suppressor network, i.e. series parallel capacitors and inductors, that maybe when you "surge" the input side, you temporarily "bond" the bad connection (electrical arc), and the whine may be a symptom prior to the circuit opening up. Did it come with a "lump" that you had to wire into the harness?
 
No lump in line with the harness. Just harness to back of deck, insert antennae cable, and rip roar some Montrose... The more I think about this the more it must be a ground issue in the harness. I mean, I have nothing to back it up, really, but it's completely logical. Could it be some voltage regulator issue? How about a capacitor or something in the radio? Wait, that's what you're talking about, right? Anyhow, no strange noises during normal radio/CD play, or just prior to failure.
 
Why not just run a new ground wire direct from the -neg. terminal of the battery to the radio housing bypassing the harness completely?
 
NewHD, That's pretty Heavy.... you have a Magic 8 Ball?:s

Hoop!

Funny you should ask, but in my office at work I do...:small3d007: Every so often when I have a visitor come in they pick it up and make a wish...I really am a nostalgic kinda guy! :D

Regarding the opening up capacitor/part...possible, but in my experience, normally root causes are a lot more simpler than that... :eam

In todays electronics world that run on 5V low voltage, grounding of the radio electronics is tricky because they step down the 12-14V to 5V using an active DC-DC converter or more simply a series regulator circuit, so just putting a ground on the metal parts like in the old 12V car radio days is problematic and "dangerous"...notice most cars & bike dashboard panels are plastic, there is a good reason for that, but it makes it all the more likely a bad connection in one of the connector harneses...likely a bad crimp or connector contact "creepage"...the other thing is since you are on your 2nd/3rd radio, less likely it is the component sustituted...JMHO.
 
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Steve07, I ran one from the triple tree ground to a mounting bolt. and it failed. I guess we've determined that the radio mounting bolt doesn't ground the deck, sort of! :)
 
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