Electricals Again (Radio)

[mkb]

Hi All,

Well, I finally got the Bentley for the C5 and I was going to tackle the 
open/short issue to the transmission control module.  However, the car is 
running fine for now, so I figure I'll take a crack it after I get my radio 
issue fixed.

Anyway, back to the problem at hand.  Symptoms are that the radio will not power 
on.  If I pull the fuse (20A, position 37 in left fuse panel) and pop it back 
in, the radio powers on.  BTW, I sometimes hear some crackling and have been 
able to see a blue spark when putting the fuse back in.  After about 30-40 
minutes of inactivity, when I try to power on the radio again, it will not power 
on.  I have to pull the fuse and pop it in again to get it to power on.

So I pulled the fuse panel out and checked the back of the panel.  According to 
the wiring diagram, I should have a red wire (+30) from the power supply coming 
in directly to the fuse and a red/blue going out and this is what I see.  I 
checked the connections into the fuse panel and they seem good and tight.  I 
really wanted to pull them out and see if anything was loose but have not been 
able to do so yet.

Also, I took a DMM and measured across the terminals for that specific fuse.  I 
get between 10.5 volts and 11.75 volts.  Should I not see at least 12v?

Oh, also I can't seem to pull the radio out.  Seems to be stuck so it might be 
hammer time if I need to check the wiring harness at the radio.

So I'm not sure where/what to begin checking.  Any suggestions?

--
mohammed
99 a6 2.8q avant
97 1.8tqa