Electronic stuff scares me...so what do you think is happening?

[tdw28210]

Tooling down the road today and the stereo decides to max itself out on the volume. I turn it off and then try to turn it back on again..nothing. No biggie, it is a 911 and the engine is music enough. Park the car and go to roll up the drivers side window. No luck. it won't go up, but the passenger side will. Ok, whatever, got to go pick up my rental tux for my brother's wedding and figure I will worry about it later..

Hop back in the car and she starts right up, but the driver's window will not go back up and still no radio.

Get home and shut her down. Come back a couple hours later, open the hood and peek inside the fuse block. Nothing is obviously blown. Start the car back up and TAH DAH...the window now goes up. All other electrical function seems to work. Seats, blowers, signals, hazards, except still no radio.

Any guesses? Maybe a bad ground creating gremlins? I did have a no-start scenario about a week ago, but it was only once and have started the car a dozen or more times since then with no issue. Are these the classic signs of a relay going bad? (which I still don't really understand).

Let me know what you think. Thanks as always.

[Chuck.H]

Doesn't hurt to replace the transmission to body ground strap (right side under the car) and the battery connections. And also spin all the fuses in place to clean off a little corrosion. Also put a volt meter on the battery to make sure the alternator is charging nice (need to see 13 ish volts at idle).

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 382k miles

[HawgRyder]

The fact that you opened and closed the door a couple of times may be the answer.
The vibration from the door might have "bumped" a wire...either power or ground causing the effect.
I question the power door/radio possibility because they should not affect each other...and ground for the radio usually comes from the mounting bracket.
There should be an inline fuse for the radio located under the dash to the left of the steering column or there-abouts.
Depending on the radio...(stock or aftermarket) there might be more than 1 fuse (radio power on/ always on for memory).
With the opening of the hood...and possible probing of the fuses...maybe you "twisted" some a bit to get a look at them...this could have fixed a poor contact on the fuse itself.
Hope this helps.
Bob

[kidrock]

I have had a similar issue in the past (radio, cig lighter and power windows inoperative), and I was able to locate the issue in a wire harness under the dash near the ignition switch. IIRC, they share the same harness from the switch to the bulkhead connector. Next time you have the issue, wiggle a harness going into the bulkhead in that area and see if that helps to pinpoint the problem.