3278

I just pulled my battery, and when I put it back in, I noticed the stereo was turned on. I double-checked the ignition, and the keys weren't in it. But my stereo (and amplifiers) are getting power, irrespective of where my ignition switch is turned, AND THIS WASN'T TRUE BEFORE I REPLACED THE BATTERY!

Any idea how that could happen? Any suggestions for solutions? For now, I can just pull the negative cable whenever I need to park it for a while, but...how does this even happen?

kjc

Turn off the radio when you park.

3278

Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately, my stereo and amplifier still use power in standby mode, so that won't really work for me. Plus, I'd like to track down the actual problem and fix it, rather than finding a workaround. Any idea how, after reconnecting the battery, my XJ would be stuck in Accessory mode?

fb97xj1

I am confused. You dont want to turn the radio off when parked as you consider that a "workaround"? But you will take the time to disconnect the negative battery cable to turn the radio off. Unless i am missing something, just push the power button to turn it off. Does that work, or does it remain on? It should turn off. Which head unit are you using? If its aftermarket, some of the fancy models have a menu to turn standby mode off.

Its a different make, etc, but with my uncles 2013 or something f150, the radio will remain on for a short time after turning the engine off. First time i drove it, i thought i did something wrong. It turned itself off after turning the engine off, getting out, locking the door, and walking away. It took a couple seconds, but the radio turned off on its own. Stupid standby. My vehicles dont seem to have that feature, and i have never needed it. My 97 XJ never had this issue. It uses the factory tape head unit.

Red1992XJ

Are you using a factory head unit? Also, is there any other accessory power going to say, the cigarette lighter, or anything else that may be powered when the key is in the accessory position? Sometimes the ignition switch can become fouled up.

PatHenry

I would look at the aftermarket connections for the stereo and amplifiers. It's almost certain that you jiggled something or blew a fuse or blew out a relay or something when you were disconnecting the battery.

Take a look at the instruction manual for the amplifier (and any other stereo components you have installed) and see if there is any information about proper disconnecting from the battery. If there's nothing there, you could search on the specific amplifier/wiring manufacturer and see if this is something that other people have experienced. If you had the stereo installed by a shop, it can't hurt to give them a call and see what they think.

Typically there's an "always powered" wire for the head unit (for the clock, saved stations, etc) and a "switched powered" wire for when the key is on - it's possible that the wiring got crossed up (melted connector maybe)..

In a 95, A LOT of the accessories route through the ignition switch (have you noticed that if you switch to ACC the HVAC fan will run...) - it's possible that the switch overloaded and you've got crossed wires somewhere. If you haven't done the headlight harness upgrade - do this immediately to take some of the load off the circuit. I'm assuming your amp is properly installed with a fused wire directly to the battery and relays to power the amp/etc - if you can, make sure everything is powered by the relay switch to the battery and that the relays are high quality. As I mentioned, I'd suspect one or more of those relays are bad... which isn't surprising, they're probably super cheap "made in china" parts.

3278

Yeah, I don't WANT to disconnect the negative battery cable, either, but it's a workaround that works for now, so it's what I have to do - but it's not a long-term solution: I want to actually fix the problem. Turning the radio off when parked is a workaround that won't work - because the (aftermarket) stereo goes into standby, and still uses power. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

No standby like that on my XJ. I don't have doors, so it'd shut off right quick if I did. 🤣

Not the factory unit no: sorry, I should have mentioned that up front. I can't figure out if there's power going to anything else, because I can't think of anything else that would get power in ACC but not all the time. Any thoughts?

That's my guess, too, but I can't figure out what I would have bumped to move the stereo over from ACC to always-on. Very weird.

That's how this one works: yellow is always powered, and that one's acting as it should. Red is switched, and it's gone to always-powered for some reason. I pulled the head unit and dug into the wiring, and the red ("switched") wire is going to what I'd call violet/white, but what on my wiring diagrams is listed as violet/orange, which is the factory switched connection. I followed it all the way to the fuse box, and all's well, so my guess is --

--that the ignition switch might be messed up. I live in northern Michigan, it's my daily driver, and I don't have doors, so there's a lot of salt spray into the dash, and I don't think it's at all unlikely that something has shorted in the ignition switch. Going to have to test other ACC accessories and see if they're on.

HVAC does NOT run until I switch to RUN, but IIRC it won't come on with ACC, so that might be a good diagnostic indicator that the ignition switch has had it.

I was being dumb about the amp, as it turns out: it ALWAYS has power because, as you point out, it's directly onto the battery (fused, heavy-gauge wire), and only comes on when it gets the turn-on signal from the head unit's remote turn-on lead. So the amp is doing what it should: it's only the head unit (and maybe other accessories, but I can't think of any to test!) that is the problem.

I guess the power windows would get power in ACC. They're obviously not hooked up, but maybe I could probe those connectors for voltage, if no one can think of another device that'd be live in ACC but not all the time?

3278

Tested voltage at the fuse box on the ACC, IGN, and BATT positions, and they're getting power when they're supposed to, suggesting my ignition switch is good. But that just begs the question of how the switched lead for the stereo (basically ACC), which I can follow all the way from the stereo to the fuse box, has suddenly started being on all the time (basically BATT).

There's no particular reason I couldn't just rewire the lead directly to the known-good ACC position in the fusebox, but I'm still left with the question of how did this happen, and if I've got a short somewhere that could cause a dangerous situation.