Audio Systems: Car radio power, factory radio, radio power

Question
Well I have been restoring a 68 GTO. The factory radio was gone when I bought the car and it had/has an Alpine AM/FM, no tape, no CD. The car also had the factory Pontiac 8 trk under the dash and it worked. Just like back in the 60's when you put in a tape the radio turned off and the tape played with its own volume, tone, balance. Ok so we torn the car down to bear metal and removed the dash and everything in it. We put everyhing back together and the radio played but did not turn off when a tape was put in. So we turned off the radio, put a tape in and it played as it should. I thought ok I could deal with that. The first thing that happened was when I tried to play a tape it you could hear it but it sounded like there was a bad connection, yet couldn't find one. Then I decided to just go with the radio until I could take the 8 trk out. The radio played great for about 2 weeks then it went off, no sound but still had power because the station light was lit but very dim. I was driving the car and suddenly the light got bright and the music came back on. It was good for a day or so then it happened again. This time it hasn't come back on. Light still dim and as a few minutes pass it just dims out. I can turn off the radio and it comes on but still dim and still no sound. So thats the story and the problem. Hope you can lead me in the right direction as far as fixing this problem. Thanks.

Answer
Chuck,


   this sounds like a problem of bad wires and connections.... the best cure all which is alot easier than going through a bundle of wires checking each one .. is to completely rewire the units, with all fresh wire, taking care with the usuals solidering connections using cable ties and black tape ect... will take a little effort but its the best way to kick the problem, also run all new speaker wires aswell just so you have a total fresh system of wires so to avoid any later problems... hope this helps you out if you need anything else just give me a yell

thanks

CM