Tom in Austin

Put in Hans' lovely speaker kit a couple of weeks ago and started using my long-dormant CR-1 again. However, I noticed the other day that the face of the radio stays lit after turning off both the radio and the ignition and my battery had gone dead.

I would think the only unswitched power going to the radio is what makes the anti-theft LED blink, but if there is unswitched power going in there, you would think simply turning off the radio would turn off any lighting. When I turn the radio off, it's off in every respect except that the face lighting remains on.

Since the radio's lighting is always on when the radio is on, and since the cluster and everything else goes dark like always after turning off the key (with the delay period for the dig odometer section), I am thinking the problem logically must be in the radio vs. any dash illumination circuit, the X-bus delay function, etc.

So, my question is, is there any reason to suspect or look for a cause external to the radio?

Alan

Do the brake lights work with the ignition off?

Alan

Tom in Austin

Will check and let you know ...

Tom in Austin

No brake lights.

Actually I've had two other electrical oddities in the recent past. At the end of last year I had a dead battery after a couple of weeks not driving the car and noticed the door-edge marker lights were staying on (wasn't using any of the interior lights at the time). Pulled the two bulbs and had no further problem.

Then in January, I removed the windshield wiper motor to get to the lower heater hose and drove the car a few times with it disconnected. After putting the motor back in, the wipers would run continually whenever the ignition was on, regardless of the position of the lever (low when set to off, low, or intermittent and high when set to high). I took out the 25A wiper fuse and have been driving without the wipers with no apparent ill effects.

pcar928fan

When was the last time you replaced your ignition switch??? Might be time to do that... When that goes bad all kinds of crazy stuff ensues. Things that seem completely unrelated even!

Tom in Austin

Good point James, lots of wierdness here. Getting the battery tested now, had it on the charger for six hours over the weekend and wouldn't even turn over the starter this morning, so I think it's probably on the way out.

jwillman

James,

I thought we installed one of those in one of your cars and Doesn't the display have a delay?

pcar928fan

Jim,

The CR1 is the stock GTS radio... We put the Boxster CDR-220 in the S4. TPWS did the ignition switch in the S4...

Tom in Austin

Bump for Alan ...

Alan

Well - pat of your problem is that the interior light relay is always on - so you need to fix that... that is likely about a 100mA-130mA extra drain - too much over a few weeks.

I think you need to get the wipers looked at - thats a safety issue in my book - even if you never plan to drive in the rain - you never know for sure... I doubt that it affects this though...

Does the radio always stay illuminated or just some of the time. Did this behavior recently change? what else was done around the time it started? if you turn the ignition off with the radio on what happens to the radio? stays playing?, goes off?

I'd remove the radio and bench test it with just ground & permanent power applied. It may be you have it connected wrongly (permanent vs switched) and may have the illumination set incorrectly if it supports remote illumination control

While its out - I'd also test the lead from the ignition switch (R) (dedicated switched power for the radio) that goes only to the radio switched supply and see what that is doing in various ignition switch positions.

Alan

Tom in Austin

Where is the interior light relay exactly? Looked at my CE list of relays and don't see one that says or sounds like interior lights

Alan

Its part of the alarm, central locking & interior light module under the passenger seat in a GTS

However its likely just the door pin switrches than need work - they are cheap so just replace both sides - read up on technique - don't break off the wire or loose it inside the door frame...

First check your rear hatch pin switch and all the interior light fixtures - any of these can cause the red door end lights to stay on if they are broken...

Alan

borland

I believe the interior light timing is controlled by the Timing Relay (also called Seat Belt Relay) located under the center console just below the stereo head unit. But the alarm controller does activate the interior lights when the alarm is deactivated with a key in one of the side door locks.

Alan

No - not on any year. early cars have no relay, middle year cars have a simple delay relay - clearly labelled on CE and late S4's and GTS have it in the combined alarm module as described.

Alan

borland

Sorry, thought the discussion was for GTS.

The GTS's Timing Relay has a BR/WT wire (special ground) that connects to the door pin switches.