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New CD Deck Loses Settings Everytime Car Shut Off!!!

1160 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  powerglide
I just had a brand new alpine 9851 installed in my caddy. Everytime I shut the car off and come back all my settings are lost. Does anyone know how to fix this or know what the problem could be. Help!
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the problem is most likely the "constant" power source, which on radios is usually a yellow wire, red is switched power, which makes the car cut on when they key is turned forward or back, who wired it up,

check your fuses, all of them since i cant remember which would be constant power, it would probably be labeled clock or cig lighter, wither way, the radio isnt gettin constant power
This sounds very familiar......like the CEO says it probably the power source.

I have read that you need to rewire the power to the battery directly instead of using the wire that connected to the factory unit. (apparently that shuts off about 10 minutes after you pull the ignition)
Yep, it does power off after about 10 minutes, if i'm just going in the gas station real quick and come back and start it up its fine. It was professionally installed so these guys should fix it for free. Thanks for the replies
if its that then the factory one would have done that too, it seems to me like they used a seperate memory source wire, if you wanna possibly save yourself a trip back to the shop try this.....verify in your owners manual, but if you go to the fuse box, the one in the hood i think theres a fuse that has three bladeslots instead of two. meaninng the fuse has two settings, one is continuous forever, and one turns the power off in ten minutes, i put it on ten minutes mode and hooked my amp remote wire to it, maybe yours is set that way as well, its worth a try to change it up
i have a 97 deville, but this method will hold true for the 99 as well. i like to pride myself in being the first guy on the forum to come up with this :bighead: and have the easy success.

its real simple actually. first, forget about your steering wheel controls, and your door chime...youre gonna lose them and thats that. second, wire the new head unit in just as you would in any other car (buy a harness if you feel the need. i hardwired it) with the exception of your 12v constant and switched (which serve as power and memory).

take those two wires, put them through the firewall, i put mine through a black plastic covering on the passenger side, its right up top. get yourself a fuse holder and a matching fuse for that size wire...and connect both wires to the battery, and of course fuse them somewhat close to the battery.

done deal.
ok so i take the car back to the shop, they are working on it for an hour and a half and call me to come pick it up, say its fixed blah blah blah. so i take it home set the cd player, and its still not retaining its memory. everytime i turn off the car, the deck is on, when i turn the car back on(after 10 minutes), the decks power is completely off. i dont understand, i guess ill check the fuses again but i dunno. im not really sure if i want to attempt the last suggestion of hooking them to the battery, at least not by myself. i would probably blow something up. please help if anyone knows an easier way to fix this problem
take it back o incompetent installer and tell him nothings changed and tell em to get it right or you wanna refund.

what chuck said is pretty simple to do, maybe you can tell them that you heard that this is a known fix. (the other that some installers use is to run a harness out to the trunk and keep the factory deck plugged in back there, but powered off.....then just tap into the wires with the new head unit)
Since it retains memory for a few minutes, they probably got it right or so they though, turned it on, works. Turn the car off then back on, works. Okay it's done. No.

Tell them that it retains memory for a few minutes but for no longer than 10 minutes or so so that they know this and can make sure that it will retain memory the next time they fix it.
Yeah I already told them about the 10 minute memory problem, they probly Knew it wasn't fixed and told me it was. Its at the stealership right now and I told them about it but they probly wont do anything to help me either. IS THIS A KNOWN ISSUE THAT CADILLAC ACKNOWLEDGES?! This is really making me mad. The audio shop tried to tell me that it could be my cd player causing the problems.. BS!! :bomb:
bring me your car, i will fix it, i guarantee it
Yeah its a known issue, don;t settel for less than a full fix or full refund!
....or take te ceo up on his offer :)
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