Your tape deck needs to have it's own ground. Is there a dash connected
light in it? If so, when the deck loses the ground connection, the
return path is now fighting its way through the dash lights. Add a
direct ground wire the tape deck. There should be a connection for it.
Also, the antennae should provide a ground circuit.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Wesley Pegden
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 12:17 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: dash lights out when stereo not grounded?

I'm trying to decipher a strange ground issue: if I shift my (not
original) tape deck so that it's not making contact with the metal
around the dash, the back lights for the dash go out.  I don't notice
any other symptoms.  I checked all the wires going into the "star"
ground connectors behind the fusebox, and they seem okay.  I didn't
unscrew the stars themselves, because I couldn't get good access with
all the wires to put enough torque on my stubby screwdriver.  Do these
sometimes need a good sanding?  And how can I remove them?  (Or: what
else might my problem be...)

Thanks very much,
Wes

'84 1.9l manual