I have a 97 tj. Owned it about a year. Radio has only worked when it rains out, one it dries out, no power to radio. Went to replace the radio this weekend, cant get any power to it. Used a wiring harness. Rewired the harness to make sure....still nothing. And i have changed fuse in glove box....nothing. Please help
1997 Wrangler TJ radio wont work
- Thread starter 97 jeepgirl
- Start date
Starkiller
New Member
Another fuse under hood in the block going to the positive battery side. Can also try unhooking the negative ground from the battery - wait thirty minutes, hook it up again and see if radio resets....*Starkiller.
Do you have a voltmeter?
If so the best thing to do is to chase down where the power is coming from.
1st, pull the fuse and check that there’s power at the fuse. Stick one of the probes in one fuse slot. Press the other against bare metal. Try both fuse pin slots. One of them should have power.
Besides the constant power, there is a turn on wire that turns on the stereo when the ignition is turned on. Perhaps the PO messed with the turn on wire. Does it turn on when the wipers are on or something?
If so the best thing to do is to chase down where the power is coming from.
1st, pull the fuse and check that there’s power at the fuse. Stick one of the probes in one fuse slot. Press the other against bare metal. Try both fuse pin slots. One of them should have power.
Besides the constant power, there is a turn on wire that turns on the stereo when the ignition is turned on. Perhaps the PO messed with the turn on wire. Does it turn on when the wipers are on or something?
30 seconds would probably be more than enough. Turn on the headlights to discharge any capacitors.
Edward Turner
TJ Enthusiast
Are you saying that it only works when you use the wipers or it only works when the Jeep is wet?
Edward Turner
TJ Enthusiast
I was hoping for just wet which would point to that ground strap on the back of a 97-98 not going to a good ground point. If she just plugged the new head unit into the wiring harness it won’t be seeing a ground point and that’s a pretty easy fix.
It only works when the jeep is wet or there is himidity in the air. Turning the wipers or lights on has no effect on n radio. I have plugged the new head set into the originaly jeep harnesss. It appears like some previous owners have spliced into the harness for new speaker wires but the rest appear to be in tact.
Edward Turner
TJ Enthusiast
The original harness doesn’t carry a ground, that’s what the strap attached to that bolt in the back of the old unit was. Maybe that wasn’t hooked up when you got the Jeep which would explain the intermittent operation. You most likely need to supply a chassis ground to your new head unit...if that strap isn’t readily visible where you can attach a ground wire to it you'll need to run a new wire from a bolt in the firewall to the ground point on your new head unit. I'm going to guess you’ll need a ring terminal on one end and a butt splice on the other end of maybe 12~18” of 14 ga. wire.
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I did not notice a ground wire when i removed the old head unit but i did notice that there was a ground wire on the harness that came qith the new radio. I attached that to a bolt in the dash, but maybe i will see if there is another ground wire to attach it to, or run a new ground from the chasis directly to the radio. I will be playing with this later this week when i have more time. Thanks for the help!
Edward Turner
TJ Enthusiast
Take a look behind the glove box, I think there’s a good place next to the fuse box to attach to metal, I’m betting the bolt you’re using now just goes to plastic and doesn’t provide a ground.
DRT BG
New Member
I took mine apart today. There should be a flat strap ground behind the units install area as shown in the previous picture Ed posted.In mine it runs down to under the steering wheel and is grounded there. Its fairly easy to get to a couple screws and you are there. But running to the glove box fuse location will work also but you have to pop the fuse box off and all that mess. Good luck!
I ended up grounding it to a bolt in the firewall near the fusebox. Works great now
thanks for all the help!!
Starkiller
New Member