QuestionHello I have a chrysler sebring 2002 model. I hope you may know how what may be happening with the radio and sometimes the battery. I bought this car last week used. When I turn onthe radio it plays and shuts off for a second then back on. The clock also resets each time, so I'm thinking there is a short. Also, if you don't turn the car on for about a week, the battery dies. I checked the alternator and it was fine, the I got the battery recharged. The radio however still cuts in and out. how can I remove the faux wood panel to check the cables? do you think that would probably resolve this?
Thank you in advance,
Robert
AnswerHi Robert,
The bezel pulls straight out toward the rear, being held in place by clips on the side, according to my '98 manual. Then there are a couple of screws, one on either side of the radio that you remove and then you can pull out the chassis. Make sure the radio and ignition switch are off when you remove it.
The two radio supply fuses are #5 and #14 under the dash. You could remove one or the other and see if that prevents the battery from draining. But a more sophisticated way would be by use an ohmmeter to measure the resistance that each of those fuses is looking at when it supplies current. Here is how I describe that process to others, but in this case I would start by assessing those two fuses:
"The other approach is to use an ohmmeter to measure the resistance that each of the fuses is supplying current to.
If you can get a hold of a volt-ohmmeter with a digital readout you could differentiate a too low but finite resistance from moderate acceptable resistance. One of the fuses is supplying power to a circuit with a too low resistance and that is why the battery is running down. Begin with the fuses under the hood in the power distribution center box near the battery. One pin socket of each fuse is the hot side which has 12V on it from the battery, so don't touch that one with the meter in the ohmmeter position, just use the voltmeter to find the "cold" pin after removing each fuse. The 'cold' pin is the one to measure for resistance(i.e. all the lamps and devices are attached to that one). If you set the meter to read ohms (200 ohm full scale) and touch the - lead of the meter to any shiny metal body surface and the + lead to the cold pin of the fuse socket it should read more than 50 ohm, the more the better. Make sure all the doors are closed when you are doing the measurements.
Then the question is how to find which of the many items on a given fuse that is suspect is causing such a low reading.
So first go thru the power distribution box under the hood to find a fuse whose cold side reads less that 50 ohm, and let me know which one(s) it is (its label by number and/or purpose). That fuse will supply several fuses in the fuse box under the dash, so we will do the same testing on those fuses once we identity the 'master' fuse which is carrying too much current.
Then we can go on from there to isolate what component on that secondary fuse is drawing the current and check it out."
In your situation, you can skip the power distribution center and go right to 5 and 14 under the dash to see which one of those shows a very low resistance. Notice that 5 will have 12v on it all the time because it is direct from the battery (it maintains the preset memory, among other things) while 14 is not supposed to get 12v until you turn on the ignition switch. For that reason, I would suspect 5 is the circuit that is shorting and thus draining the battery. See what it reads, and if it seems OK you might want to drive with the meter attached to the fuse socket to see if the reading changes due to motion of the car. Then try the reading with the radio unplugged and that will show you whether the problem is with a short in the wire between the fuse and the radio or inside the radio proper.
Check your labels on the fuses or the owners manual to verify that my '98 manual still applies to your '02 vehicle. I would be interested to know what you find.
Roland
