Ok so the kid that had the car before me(1982 Camaro Z28) someone broke in and stole the deck. They did a complete hash job, snapping the stereo mounts, busting up the heater controls and slashing every wire in sight. Well so I'm normally good with electronics and I got all new stereo mounts and a new heat control unit and I wired up a cd player. At first, when I turned my gauge lights on, the speakers cut out. I've been really busy working this christmas season so I havn't had much time to take a look at it and about five days ago, the cd player cut out entirely, than three days ago it magically turns on again, but cuts out completly right away. My idea Is they sliced a ground somewhere because there were two or three black wires to choose from, one I identified as belonging to a little lightbulb, the other, not sure, so I just picked one. I'm going to be messing with it in a few days so I wanted to ask for suggestions, in case this doesn't work. Thanks,

 

a ground is a ground, it shouldn't matter which one you use really. they are all constantly connected unless something is haywire in there. What is sounds like to me is that there is a shorted wire somewhere in there. Try running a new constant and switched temporarily to see if new wires solve your problem. If they do then run them for good and leave it at that. If your speakers still cut out then try disconnecting one at a time to find the culprit channel. then just trace the wires down and find the short or run new wires to that speaker.