Electrical goes dark and shuts off when ignition is turned from ACC to ON, suggestions?

Asked by Ryan Jan 20, 2019 at 01:22 AM about the 2008 Volkswagen Golf GTI 2.0T 4-Door FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I recently removed my stock radio and hooked up an aftermarket Kenwood
radio unit. I thought everything was gravy because the car appeared to be
working normally (including the aftermarket radio) when I had the key turned
to the accessory position.
When I tried to start the engine, all of the electrical went dark immediately.
The electrical does not come back on unless I disconnect the terminal from
the battery and reconnect. The car continues to lose power and go dark
whenever I turn the key ignition to ON.
Starter does not engage, engine does not crank, no electrical power.
I'm having trouble finding posts of a similar problem, any help or suggestion
is highly appreciated!

1 Answer

I installed the stock radio back in and the car started up just fine. The problem is isolated to the aftermarket radio, I'm still unsure how to move forward with this dilemma.

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