Help 02 Picasso short

[c4grand]

Hi All
Got a question for you, but first, a bit of background.

Got a Xsara picasso 02 plate which has been sluggish to start after an overnight rest. THought the battery might be duff but tested it and seems ok. So I started checking for short circuits in the electrical system. Using a circuit test lamp connected between the negative battery pole and the negative batt cable, I found that there was a small flickering current flowing from the battery when ignition was off/doors all closed. After pulling fuses one by one I found the current drain was in the CD player circuit (Fuse 17 (15Amp) in the cabin fuse box). I pulled the radio out and detached the speaker cable connector, short circuit was still present (suggesting the speakers/speaker wiring was not the problem). So the short appears to be in the Radio unit itself. I should say that the radio unit appear to be working fine.

Anyone had any similar experiences? Also I was curious whether perhaps there is supposed to be a small voltage applied to the radio at all times to maintain the sec code.

Any advice/further diagnosis suggestions/solutions would be appreciated

[megamaniac]

Have you checked the glow plugs are all working?The most common cause of hdi poor starting,in mild weather they will start well even if only one glow plug is functioning.
The radio has a permanent live feed.

[Kitchski]

Batterys can still die in terms of cranking guts, even when they're still showing 12+ volts.