no hot power to radio - 88 560sl
 

I just bought an 88 560sl. It was blowing fuse 12 immediately which I tracked down to the
radio. I took the old radio out and bought a new one which I tried to install and it never worked.

I put a meter on the wires and found there is no voltage on the wire whish is supposed
to constant hot. There is voltage on the wire which is hot when the key is on.

Several other things: the clock doesn't work and there is no flow from the center vents.
I have read about the vacum problem and center vents. I don't care about the clock
or center vents for now but I would like the radio to work

The rest of the fuse 12 circuit sort of works - the turn signals, trunk light. The power antena
does not work but that is probably the motor.

I think my next step is to take the glove box out to trace the radio wire back to the fuse.

I am having fun but would appreciate any advice. Am I on the right track? How hard is it
to remove the glove box?

You are on the right track, the clock may be broken (search this site for info); the power antenna won't work without the "radio on" signal. If someone has put another radio in there in the past, maybe there is another fuse involved that someone put in-line on that wire. Or the wire has been damaged by blowing fuses over and over.

The glove is easy to remove, empty it and you will see four pins 2 top/2 bottom. Using a thin, wide blade, lift up on the top part of the pin (it's two pieces if you look closely) and it will come out, and this allows the bottom part to come out. After removing all four, the paper part of the glove compartment can be carefully wiggled out of the glove compartment area.