my ea82 gl wagon has an aftermarket radio in it, and it only works when the head lights/running lights are on? not much of an electrician so I was hoping someone could shed some light on the situation!

 

Thanks!!

Sounds like something is wired funky, did you install the radio? Curious if its using an adapter or spliced in?

sounds like you have the dimmer wire from the car wiring harness hooked to the radios main power input. depending on your aftermarket radio, this is understandable, as there is no constantly live power source like in newer cars. i had to run a dedicated wire straight from the battery to get my aftermarket radio to function properly. shouldnt be too hard to figure out which wires are what.

    just get a repair manual (if you havent already), and it will tell you which color wire is connected to which component in the car. and once you have the wireing harness wires all identified, just match them to the radio. the radio manual will have a similar wiring diagram as the car repair manual. after all the wires are matched properly and splied together, all you have to do is run a wire (i think i used a 12 or 14 gauge wire) from either the battery or if you can find one, a live wire from inside the passenger compartment.  its a simple process, but obnoxiously tedious.

The info I have for an '88 model shows two power sources tie to the radio. One for the radio and one for the memory. The power for the radio is on a blu/yel wire and the memory power is on a green wire. It sounds like your radio has mistakenly been hooked up to the lighting circuit for power to it. There is usually wires tied to the lighting system for the radio display, but not to power the radio.

The info I have for an '88 model shows two power sources tie to the radio. One for the radio and one for the memory. The power for the radio is on a blu/yel wire and the memory power is on a green wire. It sounds like your radio has mistakenly been hooked up to the lighting circuit for power to it. There is usually wires tied to the lighting system for the radio display, but not to power the radio.

 

+1

 

your 12v supply is hooked to the Red/Green wire for the illumination.

 

Hook it to the Blue/yellow wire instead.