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| How to fix car stereo not powering on guide |
A car stereo is the main component in a car audio system because it provides input signal to your speakers and possibly an external car amplifier. If your car stereo is not powering on, the first thing you should check is the radio fuse located inside the car's fuse box. Usually the radio fuse will be within the cabin of the car. The usual fuse box locations are underneath the driver’s side steering wheel or behind the glove box. Sometimes in longer style vehicles, you will find the fuse box in the trunk. Please refer to the supplied user handbook with your car and find the fuse section from the contents page. Look for 'car stereo fuse' or 'car radio fuse' in the book it will be labelled what amp the fuse should be and also the number position in the fuse holder.
Once you have located the car stereo fuse that is not powering on, simply remove the fuse by using a pair of nose pliers to pull it out, using your finger is possible but it can sometimes be a bit fiddly and you may end up dropping the fuse. A fuse has a small silver metal wire inside it, when a car fuse is bad or blown, this small wire will be snapped in half. What this will do is break the electrical circuit to stop power going to your car stereo hence why it could not be powering on. Furthermore, sometimes also a fuse fitted directly onto the back of the radio. So, you will need to remove your car stereo from din slot and check, usually the fuse is hidden behind the wiring loom that plugs into it. Usually there is a fuse for the actual radio and also a fuse for the actual circuit that controls power to the car stereo. Remember to replace the car fuse if it is blown with the recommend fuse amp rating specified in the user manual. In correct fuse ratings often damage cars wiring and equipment if something actually does go wrong.
If you have checked both fuses and your car stereo is still not powering on, then you will need to troubleshoot this car audio problem further. The 12 volt constant wire from the vehicle itself could not be powering on the radio as there is no power go to it. Try find a wiring diagram for your car radio and cars internal wiring to help you locate the wires we need today. Get an multimeter and measure the voltage of the constant wire? Do you get a reading of around 12 volts? If not, this is the cause to the problem and it might be easier just running a new constant positive feed from the battery to the car stereo. The car stereo also has a separate ignition wire that controls the car radio when to switch on and off with the ignition system. Get your multimeter probe onto this wire and turn the key, do you get any readings? You should only be getting no readings from testing this wire when the key is off. If you get no readings at all, the ignition live circuit is the cause to your car stereo not powering on. For this reason, your best bet is to get a fuse tap and find a circuit that has a switched within the fuse box and run a new ignition live wiring in.
Worst case scenario, your car stereo could be faulty. The best way to test is by directly connecting it to the car battery. Find the constant and ignition live wires from the car stereo wiring loom, usually constant is yellow and red is ignition live for aftermarket radios such as pioneer kenwood alpine and jvc. Connect the constant live and ignition lives wires together and attach them to the positive terminal on a car battery. Get the ground, usually black or brown and attach onto the negative battery terminal. Do you get any power? Is the car stereo powering on? If it is, you have got a wiring fault in your car which you need to attend to, if you have got no power at all on your car stereo, then its evident the car stereo is faulty and you will need to order a replacement. Search ebay android car headunits if you want something cheap with modern features such as Bluetooth and satnav. If you want something more expensive that has apple car play and good sound quality find a kenwood or pioneer car stereo.
I hope this car audio guide has helped you fix your car stereo that is not powering on. This is a common question that gets posted in the comments section, so I thought I write an post on it as it may help many people out there with this car stereo no power problem.
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