It has never done this before until the other day...

Okay so the other day I started up the car and there was no power going to the radio. I turned the car off, then back on, and the stereo worked again. Then yesterday it turned off by itself while driving. Turned the car off, then back on, and it worked again. Hasn't done it since, but it's kinda weird and bugging me. Any ideas?

I guess the first thing I should do is start off by changing the fuse because it could have a weak internal connection.

 

Yes the first thing should definitely be to switch out all the fuses that are related to the radio.

Also, does the radio still remember all of your presets? or does it forget everything and completely reset like its brand new?

 

hmm, good call, i would have never thought to mention that
it remembers everything

 

since it remembers everything, you know that the 12V+ constant and ground are good. so its going to be something with the ignition wire, which is one of a few things. Go get a voltage meter and test the ignition wire. hopefully you can do this while the radio is not working.

- If you show 12V+ and it doesn't work then the problem is somewhere other than the wiring.
- If it doesn't show 12V+ at any time that the key is on, something is wrong with the ignition wire. and it may be one of 3 things.

1) the physical connection at the back of the radio is loose.
2) the fuse is bad.
3) something crazy happened and the wire got split or something and its just barely hanging on by a thread. In this case the easiest thing is just running a new ignition wire to the ignition harness.

 

Alright, thanks. I'll replace the fuse as a precaution and if it happens again i'll get out the multimeter and start poking stuff.

You mean the accessory wire, not the ignition wire, right?

 

yes i meant accessory. but most aftermarket electronics simply use ignition as a label for all types of switched power. so if you actually look in manuals or on the radio it will still say ignition even though Hondas truly use an accessory.

and just to make sure we are on the same page. in the third possibility, I don't mean that the actual accessory or ignition wire for the car might be messed up. just that the part of the wire going to the radio might be messed up.

 

Alright. Yea, we're on the same page. Thanks for the info, i'll be using it if the problem comes up again.

 

Trust, if Sigracer's suggestions don't lead to a solution, then your information is also consistent with a faulty ignition switch specifically in the ON(II) position. In the ON(II) position, the ACC terminal of the ignition switch may have contact problems. This would explain why just the radio turns OFF. Here's how to test this idea (keep in mind that you may need to repeat the continuity tests multiple times to reveal the problem):

 

you got any bass in the car? if so your accessory wire conection might just not be crimped tight enough and coming loose with a bump or hard bass note. ive had that happen before out of now where! i just cut that crimp conector off and used anew one and it never happened again...

but another time with a different radio it did that afew times and then one day wouldnt come on so i just bought a new radio since it wasnt that great anyways.

its defiantly a hard to find problem since it typicaly happens when driving and then works fine afterwards.

 

yea there's bass in the car. It's possible that it's loose at the back of the stereo. Next time it happens (hope it doesn't) i'll check that.