Hi
We ended up rewiring a power wire directly to the battery, and then wired a new ground wire to the chassy, and now everything seems to be working great. so im guessing that the factory ground wire was damaged somewhere in the car.
so yeah, thanks all for your help, everything is working but one minor thing, the stereo will stay on even if the car is off and the keys are out. you actually have to turn the stereo off each time.