Expert: Cleggsan - 6/12/2010

Question
I have a 2002 Kia Spectra and the radio system wont come on. It doesn't say or show anything. One day the battery negative cable broke off and it hasn't played since. The fuse is good. I was thinking about a radio code. It has a reset button on the system, but the radio is not asking for a code(it wont come on at all). Does it need to be reset? and how to do it.

Answer
Probably what happened is when the negative battery cable broke off there was a separate wire attached with the big one that broke; this wire was the radio ground.

Best way to check this is to see if the radio has power.  The best way to do this is to check the power wires at the radio with a voltmeter.  You can purchase a good voltmeter for doing this at Walmart or Home Depot for under $10.  If you don't know how to use a voltmeter you can drive into a car radio repair shop and they can check it in minutes.

In any event, it is likely not getting power due to a broken wire or open fuse or something like that.

It is doubtful that this radio has  an anti-theft code.   

Hope this will help.