I posted this in someone eless thread so I'm going to make one for myself. I just finished replacing the stereo and speakers in my 1988. I started with removing all four bose speakers and replacing first the rear speakers and the head unit. Everything worked fine and for a few days while I drove it around with just the rear speakers. Yesterday I removed the door panels as well as the top of the dash to see which would be easier to install speakers into. I decided to just work with the the ones in the door panels. I attached new speakers to the old bose wiring. After testing that the speakers worked I replaced the panels and sealed everything up. At this point I tried starting the car and it was a no go. The stereo and everything turns on but there is a loud clicking sound. when opening the doors I found that with just the passenger door open the security light comes on but the opposite for the driver side. Prior to the installation I haven't had any other problems with the vehicle starting. As the problem seemed to come from the driver side I removed everything once again including the connection to the speaker tried staring but with the same result. I then proceeded to reattach all the wiring except for the speaker and ended withe the same result. If any one has any words of advice it would be much appreciated I am new to working on cars and this was a big hit to my motivation but am determined to not let it stop me. Thanks in advance to anyone that has any input.

Someone has already suggested jumping it as I might have drained the battery during the installation, I will try that later tomorrow along with any other suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

"there is a loud clicking sound."

From dash or engine bay?
Are the wires connected to the door locks?
That is part of the security system

 

It's coming from the engine bay. I reconnected all the wiring harnesses that I took off so the door locks should be wired back up.

 

That means all is well because you have power to the starter solenoid if it is clicking.

You have flat battery or bad starter solenoid contacts.

 

If you were working in the cabin with the battery hooked up, chances are your courtesy lights ate up most of your battery power.

Also, check for clean/tight battery connections.

 

I will check all of this today after I'm done with classes thanks for all of the information.

 

The vehicle is still not starting. I reconnected all the harnesses back to the doors checked that the power locks worked attached the jumper to the battery and when I went to start this time only one click and everything goes dead. I took the starter off undid the negative from the battery for about ten minutes. When I replaced the connection all the lights turned back on and the battery reads 10.9 volts. I attempted to start it up again and just the single click and then everything goes dead. For both of these attempts I used my spare key and not the normal key. Does any one have any more suggestions?

 

pretty low battery voltage. Have you tried jumping it from another running vehicle? Otherwise sounds like could be a short which is a royal PITA to trace...

 

Before you go tearing into stuff...remove the battery and have it load tested at an auto parts store...most stores will test it for free.

 

ok so hit the battery with a multimeter it was reading 12 volts. So cleaned off the negative connector a little and then rolled the it back about a foot in neutral. I Connected it to a jumper just in-case and started right up. Thanks for all the input every one. My next step is to put an amp in it. It's a slow process with time and money constraints but I love working on it and I'm learning so much more about the car as I go. Thanks once again for the help the last few days i was a little worried.

 

If it started when jumped I'd say it's a bad battery, if it's more than a few years old I'd replace it anyway.