I have an aftermarket radio in my car. It was in there when i purchased the vehicle. One day I plugged my TomTom GPS in the cig. lighter and while driving all of a sudden my radio cut off. Next day, I start the car and radio comes back on fine. I plug the TomTom back in for more use the day after that and radio cuts off and hasnt came back on since.

Ive checked fuses and they're all good and ive even checked the flaceplate to see if its making good contact and it is. Does this mean my damn radio has blown due to this damn TomTom??????

 

Remove the head unit and make sure it's wired properly. Sounds like it's not.

 

Head unit was wired off the cig. lighter wire, most likely.
Run a new dedicated wire for the head unit

Did you remember to check the back of the head unit?

 

step 1, remove radio and check to see if an adapter harness was used.
step 2, good luck

 

are you talking about life in general or working on his car?

 

took it to the car audio store (thursday). Whoever the previous owner was ran the ground to the antenna (wtf?). They ran a new ground and crimped all the other wires, but shortly after driving home, it cut back off...

Today (saturday) on my way back homw from work it was working fine so theres a short somewhere. Monday theyre going to look at it again...

 

um that is totally common /normal. from the factory our cars don't have a ground wire connected in the harness. It grounds through the antenna. I have done it with many aftermarket units too.

 

When I install head units I always hook up a new ground. Sometimes when you use the factory ground you can pick up static, distortion, even engine whine. Also, I always solder connections. I don't trust crimped connections.

 

Oh ok see i never knew that. I suck when it comes to the electrical part of a car.

Yeah they ran a new ground. From yesterday until right b4 i made it home today my radio as working fine. Then i hit a fairly rough bump and it cut back off

 

Don't give them any more of your money, find someone who'll do a proper job, first time, no hassles.

 

try another head unit...its either has bad ground connection or bad it self...where/how did they run the new ground connection to/from?

 

OK they say the problem was that the socket that holds the fuse in the back of the radio was allowing the fuse to shift, so everytime they would jiggle the fuse, the radio would cut on/off. They replaced the socket and so far my radio has worked fine. Ill update if it cuts off again (knock on wood)