Busted Radio?

[AtmaEdge]

after leaving my lights on the other day my car battery ran out of juice (again). But after trying to give a jump several times, the car still wouldn't turn. I later found that it was the main fuse relay that had blown and I replaced it. But since then the radio doesn't turn on and the fuse for the radio hadn't blown. What gives? I Need Music!

[MazKid]

I haven't had that problem, but I did have a Miata radio in mine that was working and all of a sudden it wouldn't turn on. I'd press the power knob several times and the station I had it on would flash for a split second but the radio wouldn't turn on. I don't know what it was, but you might try another radio. Could be a bad connection in the radio. If you're going OEM I can suggest some radios that fit the Protege that plug right in and sound better, they include a 1st gen MPV radio, 929 radio('90-91, S models had the graphic equalizer which I installed in my Protege but it's not the easiest thing to do), Miata radio, and 90-92 626 radio. Newer radios might plug in but won't mount properly in the Protege.

[ProtoRice]

If you get a J.C. Whitney catalog, Pyramid makes a nice looking 1.5 DIN AM/FM/Cass./CD player. I forget the price. Being 1.5 DIN it will fit perfectly, without the ugly gap or any cutting necessary.

[AtmaEdge]

man, i was hoping i didn't need to replace the darn thing, but i guess i might have to. I just wanted to make sure the problem was the radio and not something else.

About how hard is it to replace the radio and connect the harnesses, and taking the radio out? Actually, how do you take the radio out? Never done that before.

And I just bought an **** too, now i can't listen to it in my beloved first gen.

[MazKid]

It's actually quite simple after you do it 10 times.
Here's how I do it:
1. use a pocket flathead screw driver and carefully pry the radio surround out. There's 4 clips and 2 pins on it so be careful not to break it.
2. remove the 4 phillips screws, 2 on each side of the radio, that hold the brakets to the dash.
3. Pull the radio outward. You'll notice you can't pull it very far out because the ground wire, it's screwed to the back metal of the radio, you'll have to twist the radio around and take out the screw to be able to pull the radio out farther.
4. The antennia wire, a single big black wire that goes into the back of the radio at the top right corner(looking at the radio from the front), pulls straight out. Be careful when pulling it out, other wise it'll come loose and your hand will hit the inside edge of the dash and that hurts.
5. next up are the 2 connectors, they have little push clips on the connectors and they pull straight out and you're done, radio out.

Putting it back in is harder because you have to screw the ground back in while holding the radio up because the wire doesn't go very far. You also have to get the wire looms to fit in behind/under the radio, and get the rear mounting tab in the little strip of metal.

Mine is a pain to take in and out because of the 19 wires that connect the equalizer to the radio, even with the gang connector space is limited and the connector is freggin hard to disconnect, and getting the big loom of wires in under the radio just sucks.