2006 Malibu... Radio Drains Battery & Says Locked
Asked by PatriotRose Jun 20, 2014 at 08:28 PM about the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu LS FWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
About 4 yrs ago, my Son called me and said battery was dead in 2006 Chevy Malibu. and that the weird thing was CD player was spinning with the car shut off. Jumped battery but had to take out radio fuse because when shut off, radio would still run! Took it to the dealer and they wanted 500.00 dollars to fix the thing!!! No way I am paying that. Long story short put fuse back in Radio plays for 30 seconds then shows "LOCKED" Why oh why is my Malibu radio draining my battery and running when car is off? I haven't had a radio for four years because of this "electrical problem" and NO WAY can I afford 500.00! Anyone help out there? Someone also said check the ignition switch? How do I do that?
6 Answers
Sounds about right,,so js08016 i think you may have nailed it,one magic word,,,,Ignition.
Ignition switch is $22.99 for your car at autozone,labor by mechanic,one hour charge,?
PatriotRose answered 9 years ago
This is all Greek to me lol. I am going to try to unlock and get the code, but even if I do reset it, it may revert back to the CD player constantly spinning while the car is off. As far as checking the ignition switch, does it have to be checked at a garage? I don't know why they made the stupid anti theft radios with lock codes, sigh. Anyhow will keep you updated.
PatriotRose answered 9 years ago
Ok here's what happened when trying to unlock it. I put the fuse back in for the Radio, turned ignition on and heard the CD player spin with nothing in it and then LOCKED came on. Tried to unlock and nothing when pushing all buttons. Shut ignition off again, took fuse out and put in again and heard CD player spin again. My guess is Radio itself has a short or something? I don't know what to do anymore with it as I cannot afford much at all. I also don't know if garage or Auto Zone will check it for free :(
I have the same problem. My radio doesn’t say locked but it blinks on and off until my car dies. I took the fuse out and the damned thing is still working! It’s the most frustrating thing and this is the only thread I’ve found on it with no solution still. Everyone else wants to know how to make their radio work. I don’t care if mine works. I want it to stop working so I can drive my car again.
CSchlegel1 answered 3 months ago
Did anyone ever come up with a solution to this issue? My 2006 Chevrolet Malibu is doing the same thing.
