Headunit cuts in and out

[boulky12]

Normally I don't chime into radio issues cause I know we have better people for this. But clear something up when you unhooked the speakers how did you do that? I would of took the wire nuts off every wire and disconnected each on on the stereo side of the pigtail. Then either capped them off or put tape on them and only have a new hot wire wired into the power and memory and then a new ground. If the radio still shuts down and powers back up would say it's a radio issue itself and might be time for a replacement. Unless it's a bad connection right in the back of the radio.

When I unhooked the speakers I just pulled the Positive and negative on each one and set the speaker aside.

I kinda hope its not the radio itself cuz it's probably one of the nicest radios I ever had. I never had one with Cd player and aux or any Pioneer. But it did come with the truck when i bought it, so I wouldn't feel too bad about replacing it.

Would I be able to find another radio that uses the same connector I have now or are they all the same? (the connector right in the back of the radio)

[boulky12]

ok, so we are worried about power not speakers. a bad ground is still a possibility, i know they've caused me a ton of head aches before.  Another quick test, run a ground directly from the battery as well. you may want jump the red and yellow together (main power from battery with both yellow and red wire twisted to it) in-case its losing power. if that doesn't help i would get a multi meter and check battery while someone put it in revers, you could have something lose and shorting out causing the issue. If straight wiring it to the battery fixes it then check each wire for power while someone put it in reverse and look for a voltage drop. also check original negative for voltage drop when putting it in reverse. if you find one of the wires is losing voltage start tracing back to the fuse box

So I ran the ground and power to the battery, and I did twist the red and yellow together to the main power from the battery.

When I did this it worked great! I drove it around my bumpy yard and it worked great. Didn't cut out at all.

I wanted to isolate if the problem was power or ground, so I took the power off the battery and hooked it up like I had before. Yellow from stereo to fusebox, and Red from stereo to factory harness. Ground still on battery. When I tried this, the stereo didn't turn on at all. So I tried checking voltage on the power wires. The yellow was good but the Red was reading -2V with the key forward. So then I decided to hook up the Red to one of the empty IGN slots in the fusebox, and I was getting the correct voltage.

When I did this it worked great again! No cutting out at all. So the only thing that was left was the ground.

I would really like to use one of those ground tabs inside the dash on the drivers side, but when I connect to it, it cuts out, and for some reason it cuts out as soon as I apply pressure on the brake. I even tried removing that whole piece with the ground tabs and sanded and clean every part that was making contact inside and out. Installed it back on and its still cutting out as soon as I apply a little pressure on the brake? I also noticed when I apply that little pressure on the brake, the parking brake light dims, and a couple of my gauge needles move?

Will it hurt anything if I just hook up the ground for the stereo straight to the battery? I might just do that cuz I'm getting fed up with this. Or what do you guys think.

Thank you all so much for helping me get this far.

[bd]

Connect your voltmeter: positive to bare cab sheetmetal and negative to the battery negative post.  Switch on the radio and accessories as usual then step on the brake and watch the meter.  What happens?

[boulky12]

Connect your voltmeter: positive to bare cab sheetmetal and negative to the battery negative post.  Switch on the radio and accessories as usual then step on the brake and watch the meter.  What happens?

I just did this twice.

First time what it did was: Power On 2.3V, then brake on, 1.3V, then brake off, 2.3V, then brake on 1.3V...

Second time: It just stayed at 2.3V whether I hit the brake or not.

What does this mean bd

[VileZambonie]

Get rid of those quick connectors. Solder and heat shrink all of your connections. Run an auxiliary ground from the dash to the kick panel bus. Run another auxiliary body ground to the engine block. Run another one to the radiator support and back to the battery.

[bd]

Poor cab ground.  The cab is actually grounding through the brake pedal arm and connecting pieces.  Move the brake pedal with your foot and the ground path is interrupted. 

Follow Vile's advice.  At minimum you need the following grounds to function perfectly: 1) battery negative-to-engine, 2) battery negative-to-right (passenger side) frame rail, 3) back of engine right side cylinder head-to-cab sheetmetal, 4) battery negative-to-radiator support.

[boulky12]

Get rid of those quick connectors. Solder and heat shrink all of your connections. Run an auxiliary ground from the dash to the kick panel bus. Run another auxiliary body ground to the engine block. Run another one to the radiator support and back to the battery.

By kick panel bus, do you mean those ground connections, on the drivers side, in the dash?

And by running all these extra grounds, is it gonna make the ground stronger or something?

And do I have to make new holes for these grounds or can I just put them where there's already a ground?

Poor cab ground.  The cab is actually grounding through the brake pedal arm and connecting pieces.  Move the brake pedal with your foot and the ground path is interrupted. 

Follow Vile's advice.  At minimum you need the following grounds to function perfectly: 1) battery negative-to-engine, 2) battery negative-to-right (passenger side) frame rail, 3) back of engine right side cylinder head-to-cab sheetmetal, 4) battery negative-to-radiator support.

Alright I'm gonna try to clean some of these up and see if it helps. Thanks guys

[winky]

basically your cab isn't grounded at the moment. What they are telling you to do will guarantee your cab is grounded well, he is talking about the current grounds you mentioned. You dont necessarily have to make new holes. On my truck i ran a ground from the battery to the engine,  ground from the radiator support (where headlights are grounded) to the battery, A ground from battery to frame, a ground strap from engine to the firewall of the cab, and i also have a round strap from the back of the cab to frame (stock location)

Also make sure all your grounds are clean bare metal

[boulky12]

basically your cab isn't grounded at the moment. What they are telling you to do will guarantee your cab is grounded well, he is talking about the current grounds you mentioned. You dont necessarily have to make new holes. On my truck i ran a ground from the battery to the engine,  ground from the radiator support (where headlights are grounded) to the battery, A ground from battery to frame, a ground strap from engine to the firewall of the cab, and i also have a round strap from the back of the cab to frame (stock location)

Also make sure all your grounds are clean bare metal

Alright thanks for the clarification winky.

 The rain started coming down on my last hours of sunlight, but when I was taking a quick look @ my wires, I noticed the ground strap from the firewall to the pass cylinder head was just hanging and not even connected to the head, so thats probably a big part of it ha.

I can't wait to finish this up tomorrow and be done with this. I got my 3.5 inch kickers in the mail today and got the 4x10's coming soon.

I can already see myself jammin out in my old truck. Can't wait!

[boulky12]

Fixed it! All it was was the ground from the firewall to the motor. It wasn't even connected.

My cylinder head actually didn't even have the bolt hole for the ground, so I just put it on one of my valve cover bolts.

It's not cutting out at all. I didn't add any auxillary grounds or clean up any of my old ones even though I should've, but it was getting dark.

Thank you guys so so much for the help. I really appreciate it.

[Irish_Alley]

i would take that ground off the valve cover as its not really a good ground. attach to the intake or block. theres no bolt holes in the passengers side read head?

[boulky12]

i would take that ground off the valve cover as its not really a good ground. attach to the intake or block. theres no bolt holes in the passengers side read head?

Alright thanks for the advice. If it starts giving me issues again, I will do so.

And yeah I was feeling all over the back of the passenger side head, and didn't feel any holes suprisingly. Maybe heads were swapped @ one point.

[Irish_Alley]

the only heads that i know of (might be mistaken) are double hump heads and if you want accessories you have to drill and tap them for it.