Switched wire now non-switched??

[getsum111]

Hello all. I have a question for the electrical/audio gurus. A couple weeks ago, my radio began turning itself on after I had turned off the key and removed the key from the ignition. FWIW, I am using a wiring harness to the factory wiring for the 12V, ground, and Mem wires. I ran a remote wire from the HU to the trunk for my amps, and 2 RCA's from the HU to the amps.
Fiddling around with my multimeter, I have found that the 12V wire, which only used to have voltage when the key was on, now has voltage all the time. :shrug: I have made no changes to any of my wiring, and I'm not experiencing any other issues that I know of.
I traced back the wire through the dash as far as I could, and saw no places where it seems shorted. But even if it is nicked somewhere, why is there voltage going to it now, when then was not before?

I can run a new 12V source to the HU, I'm more concerned about leaving a wire somewhere that is shorting/grounded out, draining the battery. Any ideas on where to start looking/testing? All the wires look fine to me. Thanks all.

 

[CSVT_2004]

Hello all. I have a question for the electrical/audio gurus. A couple weeks ago, my radio began turning itself on after I had turned off the key and removed the key from the ignition. FWIW, I am using a wiring harness to the factory wiring for the 12V, ground, and Mem wires. I ran a remote wire from the HU to the trunk for my amps, and 2 RCA's from the HU to the amps.
Fiddling around with my multimeter, I have found that the 12V wire, which only used to have voltage when the key was on, now has voltage all the time. :shrug: I have made no changes to any of my wiring, and I'm not experiencing any other issues that I know of.
I traced back the wire through the dash as far as I could, and saw no places where it seems shorted. But even if it is nicked somewhere, why is there voltage going to it now, when then was not before?

I can run a new 12V source to the HU, I'm more concerned about leaving a wire somewhere that is shorting/grounded out, draining the battery. Any ideas on where to start looking/testing? All the wires look fine to me. Thanks all.

You can check current at the battery through the negative terminal to see if you're drawing more than usual, I'm not entirely sure what the normal draw is in the off state.

When you were testing, did you have the radio hooked up still or disconnected? Sounds like the issue might be the radio?!

Here's my ideas, possibly the radio itself, test with radio disconnected.
Try pulling the radio fuses, and see if the power stays on, that would be really messed up if it did...
Try pulling both battery terminals off and touching them together, then let them sit for 15 or 20 mins. Could be something with the central timer module, I've seen once where the interior lights were acting really weird after a jump during the winter... (contour had a Viper Remote Start) reset the central timer module and things went back to being fine..... Seeing as how the radio is mostly controlled by the ignition switch, the only other thing I can think of is maybe a bad ignition switch.... ?

 

[getsum111]

Yes I tested the voltage at the harness, with the HU part of the harness disconnected. I'll check the radio fuse next, but I would suspect if there were an issue there, I wouldn't be getting power, instead of getting it all the time? So wierd.

 

[CSVT_2004]

Yes I tested the voltage at the harness, with the HU part of the harness disconnected. I'll check the radio fuse next, but I would suspect if there were an issue there, I wouldn't be getting power, instead of getting it all the time? So wierd.

My thought was a possible back feed from the radio itself... technically if the radio switched wire is getting power then the interior lights and something else should also be getting power... and I know the interior lights go through the central timer module on the fuse box.... that's why I suggested a battery disconnect and letting it sit...

 

[getsum111]

Well, disconnected battery, left terminals touching each other for about 25 minutes. No luck. I could use some opinions. Should I just run a new power wire (w/ fuse of course) to the 12V lead on my HU? Will having the "hot" factory power lead cause any issues if I cap it off well? What do you all think?

 

[Ray]

Assuming there are no nicks or frays in the line anywhere and its just a relay that is stuck on? If you cap that wire you won't see much extra draw at all.

You aren't going to be powering anything with that unused lead anymore so there won't be any current draw across that wire. Now, in the case that I described earlier, there WILL be a relay that is still powered all the time even though you aren't using it so that will be a little draw but not much.

 

[sosaudio1]

Another test you could do is to start the car, shut the car off, open then close drivers door, see if the dome light goes out. Once it goes out, try turning the HU on. If it does, go the fuse panel and begin removing fuses until the radio turns off. Now, with the radio off at this point, note the fuse location, now try turning the car over. If the car starts, you have not removed the IGN fuse. Could be enough to remove this fuse, then reinstall it to drain power off of a bad relay to cool it down and then get it to run normally until it gets warm enough to stick again...may not mess up ever again...You could run that remote line to the Foglamps fuse...I think that is where I had mine run to keep memory.....not sure....

Now here is another question....did you say, it was installed using harnesses? And now you have a problem? If that is the case, I would suspect the HU...because unless you installed the system and paralleled in a line for switchable power (instead of using the one from the factory harness to the deck), I would say that everything within the harnesses should be the same unless you did some work to the backside of the fuse block that would affect the layout of your wire harness. Which would be weird....other than that, I would do a new run if need be and just keep an eye on what is going on there

L8R

 

[getsum111]

Now here is another question....did you say, it was installed using harnesses? And now you have a problem? If that is the case, I would suspect the HU...because unless you installed the system and paralleled in a line for switchable power (instead of using the one from the factory harness to the deck), I would say that everything within the harnesses should be the same unless you did some work to the backside of the fuse block that would affect the layout of your wire harness. Which would be weird....other than that, I would do a new run if need be and just keep an eye on what is going on there

L8R

Yes, I did use a wiring harness. The HU was serviced back in December, started doing this about mid-march, maybe? Just out of the blue, very wierd. And no, I'm not contacting the folks who repaired the HU, it took them over 6 weeks to get it back to me the first time. :nonono: Guess it's time to run a new wire. :laugh:

 

[sosaudio1]

Yup...try the new wire...not sure if it will fix, but doesn't hurt to try.

 

[fordsvt98]

Maybe you have them reversed?

So both wires have 12v with IGN off eh?

I seen this page http://www.installdr.com/InstallDocs/FLM/PDF/356041.pdf

But its for a "standard" deck, not "premium" contours,

But, I think the general idea is the same,

The "thin black wire" should be 12v switched.......

and "green w black stripe" should be 12v constant,

This is assuming the colors are the same between premium, and standard ford harnesses wich I believe are.....But very possible it is not the same colors, and I can't find a diagram for Premium colors online

Just seems unrealistic that the switched wire isnt switched anymore lol....