What did I screw up?

[PJB]

Ive got a '92 and its got a JVC deck installed. Ive also got a B&M shifter on which the indicator light is powered by the stereo ignition feed.
I just had the heater core replaced and the guy that replaced it tore the wire off the indicator light- no big deal since I had another light.

I hooked it up and everything worked but then I shifted thru the gears to make sure the indicator still worked.

Then the light and the stereo stopped working.

The deck will accept cd's and eject them but will not turn on otherwise. Once it accepts/ejects a cd it turns back off and wont work otherwise.
There's power going to both sides of the fuse (checked with a test light and with a meter). There's 12.14 volts at the fuse.

The factory deck will not turn on either so Im pretty sure its not a bad stereo and its not the deck to car adapter harness since the factory deck doesnt work either.

I dont see any broken wires or other visual problems. Ive been trying to figure this out for over an hour now.

I dont understand what couldve gotten messed up. Any ideas on what to check?

[JiM P 2001]

Make sure you have ignition power (red wire on the radio harness)

Some decks allow you to put CDs in and out without ignition being powered up.

[PJB]

I thought it was something with the stereo wiring, but apparently theres more to it than that.

If I run a jumper wire off the battery to either the yellow power wire or the red ignition feed wire the stereo comes on and works fine, even after unhooking the jumper. With or without the ignition on the stereo works.

The shift indicator light now works with or without the ignition on as well when hooked up to the power wires.

However, once I connect the positive wire of the shift indicator light to the yellow wire the deck turns off and wont turn on again until the jumper wire is connected again.

Ive had everything connected for a few months now and it was fine (stereo, shift indictator light both worked fine) but had to take it apart yesterday to replace the shift indicator light because the power wire got torn off when my heater core was getting replaced.

I drove home with the stereo on and it worked fine. I took the stereo out yesterday to replace the indicator light and made sure everything worked and put it all back together and it worked until I shifted thru the gears. Then the indicator stopped working. I thought I had just pulled the wire off (easy to do) but then noticed the stereo didnt work either.

Even when the deck isnt working theres 12.15 volts to the fuse on the back. Theres actually less (11.9) when the deck is working.

What seems to be the problem here?

[PJB]

All this for a lousy blown fuse. I didnt know there were two radio fuses.

[19Cutlass94]

Well, atleast you found the problem!

[PJB]

Yeah, after spending about 3 hours last night and 4 today on it. Alot of time wasted for a lousy fuse. I looked in the owners manual and it said to check a certain fuse for the radio and that one worked. It never said anything about another fuse.

Now Ive got a new problem- the instrument cluster lights went out when I stomped on the gas and blew a fuse but now wont blow another fuse and still dont work.

[19Cutlass94]

You need to go through all the wiring is right. Sounds like it keeps on shorting out.

[PJB]

I found another blown fuse and replaced it and now the dimmer switch only works right before it turns the dome light on. I think it might be shot (common Mustang thing).

I just never had these issues before the heater core was replaced yesterday. The whole dash needed to come off so something might have gotten messed up there.

[mustangraven]

sounds liek the person who replaced the core toore up your wireing pretty bad. looks like you would be best serverd to pull the dash apart and find what was messed up and fix the problem before more than fuses start going.

[intern8tion9l]

wiring can def be a huge pain in the ass. i usually spend a few hours trying to find a problem, then get fed up and run my own wires

[19Cutlass94]

Thats why a DMM is/can be your best friend!