So about 2 years ago I bought a new radio for my cutlass(one of the ones that is remade to look like the original) and about a month ago it just starts cutting out. Now it wont even turn on. Ive tried everything; reconnecting ground/power/battery wires; seeing if something was grounding it out. But i just cant figure it out.
And also for some reason my door locks just quite working. There power but the switch doesnt work. I found the positive battery cable melted to the engine and was sparking. I thought maybe i blew a fuse but checked all and all are good. Please anyone with any experiance in this PLEASE HELP!!

 

Sounds like you melted some other wires somewhere else. You need to just start checking circuits for a burned wire. Becareful.....you may have a fire hazard on your hands now.

 

Thank you for your help. I am going to go inspect it all right now and hopefully I can find the source of the problem. Thank you.

 

First get your battery cable replaced and properly rerouted to avoid future problems.
Next, make sure body grounds are present and secure.

If your door lock system is like the one on '72 models (I think it is) then a fuse is not used for it. Instead, a circuit breaker is used (metal can 4 times the size of a fuse) and is located in the fuse block. The main DL wiring harness comes off of the fuse block with 10 gauge wiring.
Do both switches not work? If you have 12V at each switch's center (long) terminal, then the breaker and main harness should be fine.
If 12V is missing from both then check the main connector off the fuse block. If 12V is on one and not the other, then there is a bad connection in the main wiring harness.
The solenoids have dual coils - one for up one for down. The common is case ground.
The switches (and connecting points) go bad due to the VERY high current going through the solenoids. No relays were used in these years... The I draw is around 10A per solenoid. The exertion force of these solenoids is a bit overkill for their purpose - a bit like sandblasting a soup cracker...

If the connections are okay (check with volt meter) then the radio should be pulled out and bench tested. Sounds like a bad solder joint inside. If it has a tape player, then it is a good idea then to clean it and replace belts if needed.
Hope this helps!

 

I bought a 69 [duh] 442 one time that some Yaahoo and put a new + battery cable on that was a might to short but just long enough to start the car and just close enough to the exhaust manifold to catch fire.

I was very lucky to have a fire extinguisher handy at put it out in a few seconds. So be SURE to route that cable correctly.

If the radio you bought is the same one I got skinned on it's a POS. Mine looks similar to the origional and has a cassette tape push in at the face but origional ***** won't fit it. Thankfully I still have the origional to repalce when I throw the new one in the trash. Now all I've got to do is get motivated to get under the dash.

 

These old cars rely VERY heavily on proper grounding on most electrical options. Make sure the ground is really good; it might be as simple as that. Other than that, Rob makes excellent comments about tracking down the problems.

Sorry to hear about the radio. I have OEM AM/FM Stereo with the underdash mounted factory 8 track. Only thing about these is that you have to run 10 ohm speakers, but they sound really decent.

I've seen the kind of radio/stereo you described in your post on the web. As Jamesbo describes them to be POS, I expect he's right. Go for something better.