My car radio channels disappear when I restart my car>?

Question

I can preset all my channels on my cd/radio player but whenever I turn off the engine, all the channels disappear which means I have to retune my radio. Any ideas?

ps. This used to work fine in my last car but only just refitted in a new car.....

Answer 1

There are two Positive Power Wires that go to your Radio.One is only activated whenever you switch the Key on & off.The other Wire supplies Power all the time.This is known as the Memory Wire, since it's sole purpose is to keep power to the memory backup terminal to your Radio.That wire has either come loose, or was never connected.You'll have to take the Radio back out.Did you use an Adapter Plug, or did you hook it up, one Wire at a time ? Once you get your Radio back out, see if there is a Sticker on top of it that has a Wiring Diagram.It should show both + wires, Power, and Memory.Okay, once you get that, then, go back to the Wiring Harness in your Car.Have you got a 12 Volt Test Light ? Or, a Volt Meter ? Test any unused Wires, carefully, one at a time.When you find one that has power all the time, then that's the memory wire.Also, make sure your regular power wire cuts on & off with the Key.It already does ? Okay.Also, check to see if your Radio has any plug in fuses in the back.It might have two, one for power, and one for memory.Or, there might be a fuse holder in line with the memory wire.Anything is possible.But remember, you're doing this yourself, so you're saving a bundle ! Hope this helps !

Answer 2

run a wire from the plus side of the battery to the yellow wire on your stereo

Answer 3

You need to hook up your memory wire...It wasnt hooked up when the new radio was installed.. Its a constant 12volt supply for memory & clock!!

Answer 4

you need a permanent live to your radio memory.

Answer 5

The radio unit will have 2 live wire connections, 1 is permanently live and the other is usually switched through the ignition switch.

In this case, it sounds as though;

a, the permanent live and switched live are cross connected

or

b, the permanent live is broken

A cross connection is quite common with stereo units fitted after production, particularly Vauxhall cars.

Answer 6

There should be a live fused wire going to the radio, as well as an ignition controlled wire.

Get a bloke in who knows about car electrics, not a strip and twist bodger.

Answer 7

you have a yellow , red , and black wire your yellow wire will be a hot wire all the time the red wire will only be hot when you turn the key in your car the black is your ground so the yellow wire is what keeps your radio settings

Answer 8

there is no power source for the radio when the car is off.  Somehow, to get your pre-sets to work you have to make sure that there is minimal power going to the radio when the car is off.  It seems that your radio may have been installed incorrectly or that it draws too much power from the battery when it is off and was intentionally installed this way.

Answer 9

simple solution is to pull out the radio and swap over the red and yellow wires you cant go wrong as they can easily be pulled apart.. do that, preset the channels turn off the car and remove the key wait 10 seconds put key back in then Wala!