I have a new Kenwood CD player that came with the car, but since I didn't have and speakers, I never actually had the faceplate on the stereo. So when I finally threw some speakers in, I left the faceplate on this time when I turned off the car, completely off, and pulled out the key completely, the stereo was still blasting away, even though the key position was not on acc or on.

I know the battery is definately the wrong size and I can assume the previous owners did a hack job on it like everything else on the car. But where would I start out tracking where this problem stems from? I'm just paranoid that this winter I'll be walking 10 miles in a blizzard because the battery will be dead.

The two major wires from the car I can assume are hooked up correctly, the car starts and always has juice, but there are two smaller leads, both with terminals on both the pos and neg that don't go anywhere.

Pics will come if needed, I'm too sick to even venture out in this gloomy weather right now.

 

sounds like the stereo is hooked directly to the battery or connection str8 to the battery, try turning the radio off............not really a big deal is it ?

 

It gets annoying that in order to shut the stereo off, I have to detach the faceplate and carry it wherever I go. It has a standby mode, which for this model unfortunately is not the same as off, where there entire screen is lit up with the word "standby" until I take the faceplate off. Big deal, no. Annoying as snot, yes.

 

I sounds to me like they wired in your radio wrong. There should have been a wire labeled switched power, which would have been connected to the wire that was switched by your ignition. If they connected it to the wire that was always on, you would get your problem. Pull the head unit out and look at the wiring, knowing how to use a multimeter would be helpful here.

 

my bad, sorry, thought it was like my alpine , actually having an off button. I take the face off at nights usually.

 

My friend has a volt/multimeter, and I've never had a Kenwood before, all my other headunits have had actual off buttons too. Until I can get in there and dig I'll just keep taking the faceplate off for now.

Speaking of Alpine, the local junkyard just sold me a nice set of Alpine 6x9s for 20 bucks, they sound great almost matching the sound quality of my JL Audio 6x9s I had in my previous car.

More random info, I love locally owned and run junkyards, I've picked up so much stuff already that would have cost me an arm and a leg at a retail store for pennies on the dollar, and they're actually nice!

 

Just look under the dash at the wiring and trace the power back to where the two sources are connected. One is constant, and one was supposed to be switched. Probably find they're both constant.
Go to Kenwood's web site and see if you can get a wiring color code, if the wires aren't marked presently, then cut the switched lead and connect it to the fuse block on a switched fuse. (like the one that reads"radio")

 

the yellow wire is usually the "memory" or "constant" power. sounds like they used this to go to your power wire on the stereo.

from your dash there will be 2 wires that give power. one is "constant" and one is "switched".

connect one side of your volt meter to a decent ground somewhere in the car, like a door hinge or something. test the wires with the key on and with it off to find those 2 wires. usually on the back of the stereo there is a sticker that says which is which for at least some of the stereo wires. hope that helps. should be an easy fix.

 

thnx guys, me and my pal will take it out and check later, she's done quite a few stereos, i don't trust myself with all those wires, lol.