1999 Saturn SL2 - CD Player Drains Battery

GA for a really good and most likely correct answer.

Bob

That was going to be my first guess also...

If I designed the bloody thing, RED would definitely be BAT.

Sincerely

Bill

To the original poster: Please let us know what you find out.

Gm used red for battery. I think Chrysler used Yellow. Most of ford products used red also. Lucas used bare wires I think.

Hi, I believe bob is right about the colors, however an easy way of knowing this is observing if your station presets remain in memory with the key off. if the wires are backward they wont be there when you turn it back on a few minutes later. This being said, if the stereo is off there is no effective load on the system with the red and yellow wires backward. To check for current draw while the system is off (assuming you have no meters) simply place a small light bulb in series with the red lead, if it glows the radio is discharging the battery otherwise i'd suspect something else is the culprit, do you have an amplifier connected to the passive outputs? or is it wired from the internal amps to the speakers?

Good morning I believe both answers are correct.A sure fire way to see is remove the unit and with the key off use a test light on the cars wiring and ensure you have the correct battery lead.Then with the key turned to acc. or in the on position use the test light to ensure you have the correct acc wire.Some cars are equipped with more than 1 and some even have factory wires that will connect to the lighting system on the factory radio but will provide constant power and hence drain the battery.A simple solution could be just run 1 wire direct from the battery to the correct wire on the head unit and another from the acc. fuse panel to the correct wire on the head unit.If all else fails its most likely a internal problem in the head unit and will need to be replaced or hook the power supplies up to a toggle switch and run power that away.

When hooking up a new radio in these late model cars. The radio needs constant power source to operate the clock and problably some other things.

When hooking up the power(thats to say when you want the radio on) you need to connect that power source to the fuse box and that pwr supply would only be on when the ignition/key is in run mode. The way you check for this is with a 12 volt test light. connect the ground to a reliable grounding source and then with the car/ignition off see what extra connecting points are not constantly on and those which are. Once you establish that then turn the key to on position, in which your dash/idiot lights and the fan in the heater box will be on. Thats your main power connection. That way there there won't be any power/battery drain from your radio. You then need to check to make sure when the key is off that there is some accessarry power being supplie to the radio(it's minimum pwr) for the radio clock and station retention function.

I'm not sure but you may have your main power and accessary power supplies reversed. I think that the RED should be your main power source when the car is in on/run mode. Possiblly the YELLOW is for radio accessary pwr.

Brian

Some vehicle manufactures of vehicles will switch the ground on components in their vehicles, why they do this I have no idea, but it does happen.

I suspect that the radio head unit light is the cause in this case.

Use a test light to check the light circuit that feeds the dash lights, this may be causing the problem.

Automotive electrical problems are always interesting to diagnose.

Not when one is on the side of the road, especially if it is raining.

I once had a Plymouth Cricket. It was an English import designed to compete with the Vega and Pinto. It had only 3 fuses for the entire car. It probably needed at least one additional fuse. It burned to the ground from an under-dash electrical short while my wife was on her way home. It melted the side window glass that was in the lowered position.

Sounds like anything with Lucas electrics.

I am a big fan of British cars, in fact I own several Land Rover, I always re-wire then with wire that has good insulation.

Lucas wire insulation tends to be rather porous, rotting from the inside out for moisture.

The switches are great fun too, at least they are re-build able and once rebuilt they last for very long time.

Lucas isn't called the Prince of Darkness without good reason.

DONT EVER CUT THE WIRES ON A NEWER CAR BUY AN ADAPTER KIT - ADVICE FOR NEXT TIME - to help with the drain buy a solar charger. but the other answers are good for fixing the problem you have now