I have a 2001 pontiac grand am gt that has a 200-400 watt pheonix gold amp that runs an alpine deck, 8 inch bazooka tube, some alpine mids and tweets and some JL audio 6x9. This configuration has been running fine for 5 years. Then all of a sudden a 2 weeks ago I get up to goto work and my car wont start, all I get is a little wimper from the starter and it goes dead.

Turning the key into the on position did allow me t turn on all the lights and in fact the stereo worked fine. I immediately assumed my car battery had died (which is about 1.5 years old) so I attempted to give it a jump. The jump didnt work. Same exact result nothing changed.

So I swapped batteries with another car and it started right up. Again assumed my battery was bad and went and bought a new one. All was fine for 2 days.

Day 3 get up for work battery dead same thing happens. I take the battery from other car and swap them the car starts I goto kragen to get battery and alternator tested and the battery recharged. Battery and Alternator past their respective tests (whatever those are) and I pop the just bought recharged battery back in and all is well again.

However I could'nt afford to be late for work again so I disconnected the stereo from the battery just to see if that was the problem and now for 7 or 8 days straight all is well, aside from the fact that I have an hour+ long commute to work with no radio

What I'm wondering is:

1. If there is a short or something and the amp is draining my battery why would all the lights AND stereo still work but the car not start untill a new battery was put in?

2. What can I do to get this looked at by someone who can actually fix this? I know _nothing_ about cars or audio systems (other then how to buy them and brake them apparently) and I seriously doubt my car dealership will be able to figure it out as they are just insane scam artists and will charge for anything.

I saw someone online say there are auto electricians but doing a google for them I can only find them in europe and new zealand strangely and I live in the US (SF, CA specifically)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

ouch. It could be a short somewhere thats draining the battery when its connected to the battery

you dont have auto elects in cali?? weird.

Maybe trade the radio in for an ipod

Are you sure the amp switches off when you turn the car off?

Maybe get some one to check the connection at the remote wire.

I would seriously consider taking the car into an auto electician or a Sound Shop and get them to have a look.