My school bought a 2017 E450 v10. With ignition on the radio will play but as soon as the engine starts, the radio goes off and stays off!!

What could the problem be?

 

Does the radio actually turn off or do you just loose the sound ?

 

Hi Hanky thanks for your reply. When I put the ignition on the radio works 100%. During the ignition phase I can put the radio on or off via its own on/off button. There is no problem. However, when I start the vehicle the normal things will happen such as lights, wipers etc go off momentarily and once the engine runs those electrical equipment come back on except for the radio. It is clear that the radio has electricity on ignition but once the engine starts the radio does not get the current back. Some suggest a hard and soft reboot, others say to disconnect the fuses or battery, but I suspect the ignition switch to be the culprit. I just don’t understand why current is restored after start up to other electrical equipment except to the radio.

 

Do a reset and see if it fixes the problem. If not, just get the radio wiring diagram and then pull the radio to find out what's wrong.
I don't have diagram for your van, but in general there _should_ be 3 power wires going to the back of your radio: 1) hot at all times (this is the memory power), 2) hot in ACC or RUN, and 3) hot in START
And you said you have problem with "hot in START" so find out why. Also don't forget there should be 3 separate fuses you have to check, not just one.

I don't think it's the ignition switch problem (maybe just a bad connection in between the harness) else your van would have a lot of electrical devices not functioning.

 

Gee, if everything was always so cut and dried life would be so boring.
First,, a fuse can look good and BE good, but have corrosion at the location where the fuse goes in, and problems like this can drive us all batty.
So,,with this in mind, we check and eliminate things one at a time.
Corrosion can be caused mostly by moisture where we least expect it. Humidity gets into this picture.
Sometimes it is really bad due to leaking windshields and other times , remember our old physics teacher telling us how moisture condenses on cool objects.
Nice air conditioned vehicle interior everything cold, then when the AC is turned off and that warm moist air comes back inside the vehicle and visits electrical connections and fuse panels too. That is one way corrosion gets a start. Most times it isn't too much of a problem, but then there are those other times, lol.
Could this be why there are so many poor connection problems ? Yes, that is why we use dielectric grease to help prevent a lot of poor connection problems.

 

Thanks Heiko. How do I do a reset. This is a Power Acoustik radio, not standard issue I think. When I open the front face of the radio I see a reset button. I pressed that with no change. The fuse box is left of the brake pedal and it looks like a mission to get to it. If I disconnect all batteries, will that count as a reset?

 

It might be possible to do a factory reset on your radio, look up your owner manual or google to find out. Disconnecting the battery probably can't reset it. Check the fuse(s) first.
2 diagrams below for 2007 E450 V10, like I said I don't have any for 2017, but you can get an idea. Even if the hot in start fuse blown, you are going to have to pull the radio to find out the root cause why that fuse blown, like a short to ground or loose connection.

 

Thanks Heiko, much appreciated. Today I fiddled with the ignition switch by shaking and turning the key forward and back just before the engine will be cut, hoping that the switch exhibits a problem but it seems solid. So at this point I think the culprit could be hiding behind the radio possibly with a blown fuse. The search will continue.