I recently installed a new radio in my 1993 Lumina (sedan). After a few weeks the radio started flipping out. It started turning on and off for no reason especially when I hit a bump. I also noticed that it would do it when the speedometer needle would start fluctuating it was doing it also. I decided to put my digital fluke meter across the the power wires of the radio. It turns out that before I start it, 12.5v +/-. Once I start the car, the voltage drops to a little over 10v. Then the radio starts cycling on/off when the voltage drops below 10v AND the the speedometer needle is fluctuating. With the car off, I took a resistance reading from the radio ground wire to ground of the lighter and I read 3 megs +/-. Obviously I have a ground issue on that wire/cable.
My question is this:can I just run another ground wire to the chassis or connect to another good ground, like the ground from the cigarette lighter, which I have no resistance to ground on, to the radio ground wire and back feed it? Any possibility of damaging or blowing up something? I understand that the circuits run from the fuse block to the various equipment/devices. I just do not know how the ground or negative connections are run. Are all the ground wires run to a central location or are thy run to the closest point to a chassis ground?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Monday, May 4th, 2020 AT 3:06 PM
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