[79chevybigred]

This problem is probably right in front of my eyes but im not seein it and any help would be greatly ppreciated. I installed a cd player into my 79 chevy 1/2ton 4wd pickup. now the power comes straight from the bttery to the radio. then the ground went to many places, on the dash, under the dash, to the brake harness thing. all at seperate time of course. now when i touch the ground wire to find a ground i shouldn't get a spark correct? well all those ground attempts failed and i now ran the ground to the headlight ground. Still no joy and i am getting confused because my fog lights are doing the same thing. they are getting power for sure but no matter where i put the ground nothing is happening. any insight to this problem woul be greatly appreciated.

Thnx,
Trey:headwall

 

[wyldman]

Depending on the current draw,you may or may not get a spark when you touch the ground wire to a good ground.

If you ground it directly to the battery,does it work ? If so,i'd suspect a bad body ground strap or cable.You would think you would see other problems though.

 

[79chevybigred]

hats what i was thinking. If it were a bad cable the headlights, panel lights an so on should not work as well. im gonna go run out and try the straigh to battery deal. thnx.

 

[79chevybigred]

ok nothing is working yet. but im gonna throw this lil bit of info in. before i had my cd player i had fog lights hooked up. i had them grounded to one of the mounts for the screws to hold on the dash panel. They worked for a while then quit. Then the ther day out of the blue they werked. but now they dont. and i moved the ground since then but stil no joy with either cd player or fog lights.

 

[wyldman]

OK,check the grounds first.Get a DVOM,and measure the resistance from the negative battery terminal,to the firewall,dash brace etc,and see what you get.If everything is less than 5 ohms,then the grounding is fine.

You can also use a test light (may need a longer jumper to get to the battery) for the above tests as well.Connect the test light to the positive terminal of the battery,and the go around and touch stuff with the light.If it comes on,then the grounds are fine.

Are you sure this stuff is wired up correctly and its not not the wiring,or the accessories themselves causing the problem ? Connecting them directly to the battery,both power and ground should verify their operation.

 

[79chevybigred]

alright here i go i appreciate your help. This thing is so old who knows how many times this thing has been Jimmy Rigged. thnx i'll get back to ya if all else fails.

 

[festerw]

Did you connect both the power (usually yellow) and accessory (usually red) from the cd player to a positive source, if you didn't that may be why the cd player isn't working.

 

[79chevybigred]

thats exactly what it was geez lol. all that. thnx for the help anyway guys.

 

[festerw]

It's usually always the simple things you overlook. One of those "No it can't be that easy"