durango4819

I have the OEM head unit in my 98 xj and whenever im driving the jeep and come to a stop light or any situation where im idling and not moving the radio flickers on and off. if i give it some gas it kind of helps but the radio wont remain on unless the jeep is moving. any thoughts on what that might be? i was thinking maybe the alternator or battery are going?

GreasyDugan

Sounds like your battery, but it would make me think that you would also have some issues starting the jeep as well. Id say your nearest auto parts store would be your best bet for a load test on the battery. Ive seen some radios shut off when the volumn is turned up due to a bad ground. The radio will grab a ground through the antenna which is enough for it to turn on, but not a good enough ground to allow the internal amp to produce any power. If your battery/alt is good, id check the radio ground.

durango4819

jeep seems to start fine. a few more cranks when its sat overnight or something but it always starts. and everything else works fine. i have power windows and if i roll 2 up at the same time it cuts the radio out too.

playbass

Could be a bad ground.

GreasyDugan

Ok good. Ill re up on my suggestion of a bad ground or power connection. Pull your radio and look at the factory ground wire or ground strap. It should either clip to the back of the radio with a black female spade, or held on with a 10 mm bolt in the center of the radio. One easy way to test is to grab another small piece of wire and wrap it around the factory ground on the radio, then connect the other end to the cig lighter ground(OUTSIDE RIM) then attemp to replicate the issue as you normally would.
If it now works properly, you have found your issue. If the same thing occurs, you may have a poor connection in one of the power wires, or a bad radio.

durango4819

took the radio out last night. the ground wire was barely plugged into the back of the head unit so i just clipped it back in and its all good now, thanks everyone