[Joel.hunter]

My '84 rabbit came with duct tape over the radio slot, but all the necessary wires hiding behind it. I found an old radio I had lying around, wired it all up, and it worked great (or, as great as an 80s econobox can be). But when I turned my headlights on the next day, the dash light and radio suddenly shut off after about a half second of everything working. No fuses blown, all wires intact, and the radio works in another car just fine.
The wires I connected were: 12v, switched power, and ground. And then two speaker wires and their respective grounds. The only wire left untouched in the car was the blue/gray "dash/illumination" light because the radio had no pin for anything like this - perhaps this was the problem. The radio and dash light have ceased to work since in the car. No fuses blown. Wires intact. Bulb not burnt out. Not sure what to do?
Thanks.

 

[briano1234]

Suspect the Switch, and if the dash lights are out, on the early years the dash lights weren't fused.
See if your slider has power to it, that is 12V on one side and a varying amount on the other.

Your Dash lights may have finally burned out is another possibility, but it sounds as if they used the light switch as the power source for the radio.
On the Ignition switch there is a spare wire that is switched, and I have used the Defroster Circuit for switched power on a radio before.

 

[Joel.hunter]

Suspect the Switch, and if the dash lights are out, on the early years the dash lights weren't fused.
See if your slider has power to it, that is 12V on one side and a varying amount on the other.

Your Dash lights may have finally burned out is another possibility, but it sounds as if they used the light switch as the power source for the radio.
On the Ignition switch there is a spare wire that is switched, and I have used the Defroster Circuit for switched power on a radio before.

Hm I'll try running a new switched power wire for the radio. For the slider, do you mean the knob that pulls out on the left? For the dash light/headlights?