1997 eclipse radio problem

So I now have removed all speakers. The front door speakers are shot for sure. The rear speakers may still work but I haven't found a way to test them.

When I turn the head lights on I loose power to the unit for just a second and the unit comes back on. It looks like the head lights take power away from the unit or something.

This is a car audio problem from hell. I tried hooking up what i think is a good speaker to the front left wires and no sound plays at all and of course the unit heats up. What is going on? Im so lost.

How do I go about finding the grounded wire or the wires shorted together.

This is hard to explain but ill try. If say all my speaker wires are hanging out of the dash and I am hooking up only 1 speaker. If i hook up that 1 speaker but another speakers wires are left bare. could another speakers wire stop another speaker from working? like its grounded to the dash or something.

Sorry if that sounded dumb. It was hard for me to explain.

Are you using the factory wires?  Do you have access to an Ohm meter?  Is there a Harbor Freight store anywhere near you?

Harbor Freight is a store that sells tools, they usually have a Digital Multimeter for like 3 dollars.  Since you have access to a meter, there is no need to go to Harbor Freight.    Set the meter to the lowest Ohm setting, or the Ohm setting if it has only one.  Disconnect all speaker wires from your radio.  Touch and hold the black meter lead to a known good ground.  Now touch the red lead to each of your 8 speaker wires, one at a time.  Write down the reading of each wire and post the results here. 

If none of the wires are grounded, you then need to touch and hold the black lead to the left front negative, and red lead to left front positive, notice the reading, write it down and post here.   Repeat for the 3 remaining speakers and post results here.

Sounds like a great plan. Ill work on that tomorrow while I am at work.

I know this is off topic but your probably watching the saints game aren't you? I am. Its a great game so far.

The Officials need White canes.