In this article: We'll walk through some of the most common aftermarket car stereo problems and symptoms and provide some solutions to help you fix your stereo problem!
- Problem: Can’t Find an Accessory/Ignition Power Wire
- Problem: Head Unit Has Power But No Sound
- Problem: Installed An Aftermarket Head Unit and Now It Has No Power
- Problem: Alternator Wine
- Problem: Installed a Car Stereo, Now Radio Doesn't Have Signal
- Problem: Car Headlights Flicker When Music Is Turned Up Loud
Aftermarket stereos can be a pain if they aren’t functioning properly. Whether it's an installation that might not have gone as planned, or a random problem that comes out of nowhere. Here is a list of your common car stereo problems, symptoms and solutions to help get your stereo up and running!
Problem: Can’t Find an Accessory/Ignition Power Wire
Possible Solution:
- In some cases, car stereos do not come wired with a 12v Accessory/Ignition wire, making an aftermarket radio difficult to install and work properly. Many Jeeps and Chevrolet systems have a data signal wire that carries a very low voltage signal that tells the OEM Head Unit when to turn on, however; it is not compatible with aftermarket units. The easiest way to locate an Accessory/Ignition wire is to find a cigarette lighter that turns on when the car does. Get behind the lighter and tap into the positive wire and connect it to your RED Accessory/Ignition wire on your aftermarket wire harness.
Problem: Head Unit Has Power But No Sound
Possible Solution:
- Many cars have built in amplifiers that require a 12v signal to be sent in order to turn on the Amplifier, most common being Bose, Infinity, and JBL. If your car has any of these systems, check your AMP TURNON signal wire for 12v. Blue/White wire located on Head Unite wire harness.
Problem: Installed An Aftermarket Head Unit and Now It Has No Power
Possible Solution:
- First off, check your wiring. If you have a voltage meter or a test light, test the ground (black), constant 12v (yellow), and accessory 12v (red) wires to make see if you have the correct voltage in the correct wires, as well as a good ground. Constant will always be 12v, whether or not your car is on. Accessory will be 12v only when you turn the key to the “ON” position or the car is running. Make sure to use your ground, as well as another ground (like the frame or body of the car) while testing your constant and accessory to test that you have a good ground.
- If you find that one of your power wires or ground wires are not correct, check your vehicle wire diagram and make sure you have the correct corresponding power and ground wires.
- If you do not have power, and you know for a fact your wiring is correct, check the fuses under the dash or under the hood (depending on your vehicle). Easiest way to locate the correct fuse is to look in the Owner’s Manual and find the fuse number and box location. Your manual should indicate which fuse is for the “Accessory”, “Car Stereo”, or something of that sort. After finding the location of the fuse, pull it and make sure that the leads are not corroded and that the fuse has not been broken or popped.
- If your speakers randomly stopped working and you noticed that your amplifier is in protection mode, there are a few reasons why this might have happened.
- Most aftermarket amplifiers have a protection from low and high voltage. If your alternator is producing too much power, it will trigger the amplifier’s protection mode. Vice versa, if your battery is low and the amplifier is not receiving a constant 12v, it will enter protection mode.
- Amplifiers will also enter protection mode if there is a short somewhere. If you have a signal RCA wire that is shorting out, this could be your problem so check to see if your RCAs are in-tact and not shorted. Also, if one of the output channels are shorted out, or you have a blown speaker, many aftermarket amplifiers will enter protection mode. Disconnect all output channels and see if it will return to normal operation.
Problem: Alternator Wine
Possible Solution:
If you hear a wining noise that fluctuates with the RPMs of your vehicle, and lessens when the car engine is turned off, you are dealing with Alternator Wine. Alternator Wine is cause by having a bad ground to either your head unit or your speakers’ amplifier. Check your ground wires and find a better place to ground them, e.g. the frame or body of the car.
If you are experiencing headlight dimming when you have your radio turned up with aftermarket amplifiers and subwoofers, your stereo is pulling too much power for the alternator to keep up. There are a few solutions to this problem:
- Wire in a Capacitor. Although curing headlight dim is far down on the list for a Capacitor’s use, a capacitor might be the solution to your problem. A capacitor is made to curve the spikes in power from the battery to the Amplifier, to create consistent 12v power. Adding a capacitor with the correct farad, in some cases, will curve your amplifier power drawing spikes enough to limit headlight dim. The rule of thumb farad – wattage conversion is 1 farad to every 1000 watts.
- Upgrade the Alternator. Sometimes OEM alternators don’t generate enough power for your upgraded stereo. Upgrading the alternator to one that can produce enough power to handle your upgraded amplifiers/stereo will solve your headlight dim.
- Get a Bigger/Better Battery: Sometimes old/cheap batteries can be one of the sources in your headlight dim issue. Replace your battery to a newer, bigger batter to handle more power and load. Although this might not fix the problem it might help.
- Add an Auxiliary Battery: Wire in a completely separate battery to power just your stereo. This will lessen the load on your engine battery and sometimes will fix your headlight dim.
Problem: Installed a Car Stereo, Now Radio Doesn't Have Signal
Possible Solution:
If you installed a new head unit in your car, and you're now noticing that your car's radio has an abnormal amount of static, you may have wired the unit incorrectly. Here's what you should look for:
- Pull out the new car stereo to gain access to the wires again. Look for a blue wire on the aftermarket head unit and ensure that it's connected to a corresponding wire within your vehicle's wire harness. The Blue or Blue/White wire on your aftermarket head unit is what powers a powered antenna. Without the power, your vehicle's antenna is significantly less powerful and will result in static.
Problem: Car Headlights Flicker When Music Is Turned Up Loud
Possible Solution:
If you recently installed a stereo with an amplifier(s) and subwoofers, your alternator and battery may not be powerful enough to handle the additional power that's being pulled when your stereo is turned to high volumes.
- Check your battery – is your battery fresh? Have one of your local auto stores like O'Reilly Auto Parts do a load test on it. Your battery may be on its way out.
- Compare the output of your alternator with the power demands of the stereo or components that you added to your car. You may need an upgraded alternator.
- Get a capacitor – capacitors store battery to curve the power demand spikes on your battery and alternator. This can help tremendously but requires you to buy and wire in an additional component to your system.
Don't see your issue on this list? Take a look at our Car Amplifier Troubleshooting Guide to see if we can answer your car issues! And be sure to check out CarAudioNow's lists of Best Car Speakers, Best In-Dash Car Stereos, Best Car Amplifiers, Best Car Subwoofers and more!
just bought DEH-P9400BH from states will the radio work here in england some fitters r saying no maybe scaremongering
Wiring is all the same, pin configuration might be different. But the dash kits and adapting wire harness (eg. Metra) will not adapt
i have jvc kd r321 cd radio in my motorhome i would love it work without going through the ignition switch if you could tell me
If you take a look at our Aftermarket Car Stereo Wiring Page under our Product & Information Blog Tab, you’ll see that there is a “switched ignition power” wire that’s red, and a “constant battery power” wire that’s yellow. Cut the red wire a few inches from the radio and take the cut wire attached to the radio and tap it into the yellow wire.
If you do this, you will have to manually turn the radio on and off whenever you want to use it, and it will no longer turn on and off with the vehicle.
Car stereo works. Front speakers work fine. Sub woofers and Amp work fine but only bass out of new rear speakers?
I bought a 2000 mercedes benz clk amg when i bought the car it already had aftermarket radio in it it worked good with the subs and everything then i wanted to put a new head unit in when i pulled the unit out i noticed they had everything hard wired n disconnected the clip from back of the unit leaving everything the way it was but tried using a different unit the plug that they wired in that worked didnt fit new unit so i plugged in my old one again and the car speakers aint making any noise but my subs are still pushing had a few buddys try to look n we cant figure it out i didnt change anything bc i knew it was working so i didnt mess with it everything looks hooked up n right is there something i gotta do to reprogram it these mercedes are different i dont get it
In many of the older Mercedes, there’s a fiber optic cable that runs from the OEM head unit to the amplifier in the trunk. This fiber optic cable is the signal cable for the speakers. If there was an aftermarket head unit installed, that means there was one of two things done: 1. they bypassed the OEM amplifier. If this is the case, you need to check your wiring and fuses to make sure everything is good. 2. They used a fiber optic signal converter that takes the RCA outputs from the back of your head unit and converts them into the OEM fiber optic signal. If this is the case, there’ll be an extra module behind your head unit and you’ll need to make sure it’s plugged into the RCA outputs from your head unit. If the RCAs are plugged in properly, then you’ll need to make sure your “amp turn on” wire (blue or blue/white) is correctly wired to turn on the fiber optic converter and the OEM amplifier.
I’ve got two dual sitting in my living room right now running off my house speakers and I Georgia Power Wheels Barbie power wheel for the kids they outgrew the power wheels so we use the the wall plug in I’ve been using it for months and it runs just fine I Bluetooth everything off of it so if you got power outlets in your RV you can take in just get you up a wall adapter plug like a pro power wheel or something plug it in wire white wire Donette the only thing is different there is you got to take the accessory run it straight to the the 12-volt power just in the other then run it to that positive on the you know the cord that you use in and then that’s all I do is read works just fine for
Installing new radio radio’s working music working all the sudden music stopped radio still works
Connect the red power wire on your radio to the positive wire on the lighter in your car. Note: the lighter only works when you put the keys to on position or start the car.
I hooked up a pioneer cd player in my 1996 geo metro lsi an now my dash lights will not work I hooked the two orange wire to the red an yellow an they come on when the head lights are off but I turn on them on an the dash lights gos off an my cd player douse not have the two orange wire at all what do I need to do how can I bypass it an make dash lights work
I have a jvc kdr300 when I have it hooked up right with constant and accessory when I drive the radio cuts on and off as if its losing power but if I hook both uP to constant it works fine. That is fine for me but alas my wife also drives car and I know she will leave the radio on killing the battery any suggestions? I thought maybe running a line straight from the radio fuse to the accessory wire would that fix it ya think
It is in an 07 Ford focus
I replaced my 2008 Saturn outlook truck radio,,with and upgrade!!! Now my speakers just stopped working!? What happen!! And yes it does have factory amp
Hello! Thanks for the question. Sounds like your amp is either not receiving your audio signal or it’s not receiving the turn on signal. I’d recommend checking the blue wire that comes out of the back of your upgraded head unit. Ensure that it’s connected to the corresponding AMP turnon wire that’s in your vehicle’s harness. Or, if you purchased an adapting harness from someone like Metra, you’ll want to make sure that it’s connected to the corresponding Blue wire on that harness. If that’s not the issue, and you’re sure it’s getting the signal power to turn on, then check your audio signal to make sure that everything is connected properly. If you’re using an adapting harness, it should have RCAs that will connect into the back of the head unit.
The easiest way to fix it without digging too deep into troubleshooting is to find the closest cigarette lighter and tap into the 12v wire that powers the lighter. If you have a volt meter check which one is positive. It will have right around 12v when you turn the ignition. Use that as the accessory power (red wire on the back of the unit)
I had a aftermarket radio that works just fine..I went to upgrade my head unit..and none of the new head units work..this is my 4th new head unit and still no activity
The cigarette lighter is always on, not connected to ignition.
Make sure that you’re wires are consistent with the list below. If they are correct, you will need to trace back the accessory wire and find another location to tap into the accessory power to bypass the short. Make sure you check all of your adapting wire harnesses for shorts (if you are using any) by shaking the wire. Another place to tap into is from the ignition itself, but again you will need a volt meter to determine which wire is which.
2007 Ford Focus Wiring Colors:
Car Radio Battery Constant 12v Wire: Yellow/Green
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12v Wire: Orange/Black
Car Radio Ground Wire: Black/Green
Car Radio Illumination Wire: Orange/Black
Car Stereo Dimmer Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Antenna Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Amp Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Amplifier Location: N/A
Car Audio Front Speakers Size: N/A
Car Audio Front Speakers Location: N/A
Left Front Speaker Positive Wire ( ): White/Black
Left Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray/Black
Right Front Speaker Positive Wire ( ): White/Red
Right Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray/Red
Car Audio Rear Speakers Size: N/A
Car Audio Rear Speakers Location: N/A
Left Rear Speaker Positive Wire ( ): White/Green
Left Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray/White
Right Rear Speaker Positive Wire ( ): White
Right Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray
Think I might of figured it out gonna try in morning.original radio was around 100 wattts and has a small wire for acc probably 10 or 12 gauge. New radio is 300 Watts so I’m gonna try running a larger gauge. Gonna volt test in morning before I get knee deep in wirering thanks for the help ill let ya know what happens
That shouldn’t have an effect on the accessory, the accessory wire is essentially just a signal wire. But try it and get back with us either way!
Wha if you have an older vehicle that did not have a 12v constant? im having a hard time trying to figure out how to wire up a 12v constant and ground it? Any advice please!!!
Year, make, model?
can I have my dvd screen and my after market stereo in the same power line(cigarette lighter )?
The constant power (yellow wire on aftermarket units) should not be ran to the cigarette lighter, however, if you are running two accessories (red wire) off of one cigarette lighter it should not be a problem.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time and information.
Hello, I have an 06 ford taurus I just put a new radio in my car and as I went to put the radio back into its place my car cut off and won’t start at all the theft light blinks real slow but other than that nothing happens what do I do ?
Hi, I have a 2008 saturn vue and just purchased an aftermarket car stereo. When I hook up all of the right wires, the stereo is off when the car is off but when I turn the car on the stereo stays off. I know there is a problem with the ignition switch wire so I believe I have just not connected those wires. the way that everything is connected right now, the stereo is constantly on. The car stereo itself does not have an on/off option. I installed it last night and since then I have just turned the display off. I am worried that it will drain my battery. I want to be able attach the wire to another one that is controlled by the ignition . My cigarette lighter has power going to it even when the car is off so I don’t think that would be an option. Don’t know what else to do:S Please help
Thanks for responding so quickly!.. I used the exact same wiring diagram for my car when I hooked everything up… I am 99% sure that everything is connected the way you said it should be. Unfortunately I do not have access to my car and the wires at this moment. As soon as I am able to do that I will. If the way the wires are hooked up is not the problem, is it possible that there is another issue and/or solution?
The other option you have is to purchase a vehicle specific wiring harness that plugs into your existing wires and adapts them to an aftermarket form, making it easy to wire. The wire harness for your 2008 Saturn Vue is here: http://amzn.to/16znQsu
This will make wiring as easy as putting red to red, yellow to yellow, purple to purple, etc. And, it will plug in/out making it easy and clean if you want to remove your aftermarket stereo and put the original back in. Let us know if this helps!
I have a Toyota land cruiser 2004. I noticed that sometimes when I turn on my ignition system, the Navigation system comes on or sometimes it doesn’t. I also noticed that when the Navigation system doesn’t come, a slight bang on top of the dash board turns on the Navigation system, and it stays on until the truck hits a bump before turns off again. What are the possible solutions?
Amp cutting out after volume is about half way up replaced amp, sterio deck, amp wiring
Check voltage, if there isn’t enough power it will get put into safety mode. Also the amp should have a light that’s blinking in a particular pattern or color that will be described in the manual for what safety mode it is in.
So I have a 90 chevy lumina and a kenwood KDC-MP345U cd receiver and got a wire harness for it. I wired it and it was all working great until a couple weeks later it fell out of the dash. And I’ve tried redoing the wires but since then it will not power on at all. Do you have any suggestions? I don’t understand what has changed since it fell out if the dash.
Check fuses, you might have popped a fuse or two when you rewired it or it fell out.
My head unit has power but my speakers do not. Head unit does not have amp of any sort. Curious if the channel in my stereo is disabled.
Can you please provide more details on:
Head Unit Model
Vehicle Year, Make, Model
Did you recently install a head unit?
hook up after market radio in my 05 dodge ram then the gage went off and it said no bus what do i do
I have a sony stereo im trying to put back in my car i have all the wires connected by color but there is a illumination wire i dont know where it goes and when i plug it in theres power to the stereo but it wont do anything any suggestions?
Sometimes the illumination feature isn’t available on the stereo and is not used, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Tape it up and make sure that it isn’t exposed.
As far as the stereo power, does it light up and function correctly but not emit any sound? Or does it not power up at all.
The screen comes on but it wont do anything else-nothing happens when i hit the source button, its one where the face plate slides down to put cds in it wont eject etc.
You will need to double check the wires and their corresponding functions. Here’s our page of aftermarket wiring colors and functions:
https://www.caraudionow.com/aftermarket-car-stereo-wire-colors/
Make sure that none of the wires/speaker wires are exposed and touching or grounded.
If all of the wiring is correct, then the issue might be with your Sony stereo itself.
I have a 04 mustang GT and I installed a power Acoustic stereo into it yesterday. At first it was playing sound but when i put the unit into the dash the sound cut off and won’t come back on. I checked the wires and the fuses and didnt find anything that looked like it would cause the sound to not play. After I read one of the Problem/Solution things above I saw the AMP TURNON thing my car does have that cable but the stereo didn’t. Whats my next step. FYI its a PTID-8920B.
Double check the PTID-820B wire harness for a blue/white wire. Most head units (if not all) should have that wire coming from the unit. Connect that blue/white wire to the mustang amp turn on cable. If for some odd reason the head unit does not have this wire, just tie the mustang’s amp turn on wire to the accessory wire (ignition wire).This will turn the amplifier on whenever you turn the key, just like your head unit.
The other problem that you may have, if your Mustang for sure has an amplifier, is the adapting wire harness that you are using. You should be using the Metra 70-5521 with RCAs for the speaker signal wires. Check the harness and make sure you have the correct one.
I’m having a problam with the after market sterio system i installed yesterday. when i turn on my sterio unit my amps arnt coming on with it. Iv gone over the wiring several times and have found its wired correctly. This isn’t the first time iv installed this system. i pulled it out of the car i wrecked and just inatalled it in a 2003 dodge intrepid. I’m stumped. I’m lost and couldd really use your advice. Iv never had a problam with this equipment . it worked great. thankyou
Double check the amp turn on. It will be the blue/white wire coming out of the back of the stereo. That blue/white wire has to be ran all the way to all of the amplifiers. If it is ran correctly then you’ll need to take a volt meter and make sure that there is 12 volts at both the power and amp turn on on the amplifier.
Hope it helps
Hi I have a BMW 320 e90. I took the standard car stereo out and fitted a Phillips motorised DVD/cd player in. I brought the correct wiring harness to fit my car so I could plug it straight in. I had to also run a yellow wire from the harness block to my fuse box for constant power with a in-line fuse, which is part of it… It was all working great and obviously connect up right and also remembering what I was on so memory was also right. So I fitted it all into the car and when I tried to turn it on… Nothing! So I took it all back out checked for a lose wire or a wire that may have come off and checked all the fuses.
Everything was still spot on yet its still not turning on. So I tried the standard stereo back in and it works perfectly straight away and the after market still won’t.
So I tried another head unit just incase and that won’t power up either. I tried my Phillips in a friends car and it works straight away. So my after market head unit is not at fault either.
I’ve tested the wires with a multi meter and it seems the red wire (ignition) from the original car loom don’t seem to be getting a current from it when touching that and ground. The yellow from the glove box is getting the current as it should… So I’m really stuck now because why is my standard unit working ok yet the after market Philips isn’t. even tho its working fine on another car.
If there was a problem with any wires surely the original head unit wouldn’t be working? and why was the Phillips working ok to start with but now it isn’t and its not got a fault as its been tested and its ok… Can anyone HELP I’ve spent ages on this.
Yeah I’d thought about the fag lighter as that goes off when the key does. The only bit I don’t get is why it worked when I very 1st wired it up to test it all. Which makes me think maybe a fuse supplying that red wire has blown or something. For it to work then not work something must have stopped it but I don’t have a full wiring diagram to look it up propper. It’s a BMW 320d 2006 E90. Thanks
I would assume it’s a fuse as well if that’s the case, I know that in some German cars I’ve found the accessory fuse under the hood instead of in the dash. Have you checked the fuses under the hood as well? If you have access to the manual, look for the list of fuses and locations and check both boxes in both the dash and under the hood.
I have 2006 maxima with a pioneer radio in it. When the music is playing through all of the speakers, I get major feedback. It sounds like all of the speakers are blown. So I replaced all of the speakers and I’m still having the same problem. But when you turn the balance all the way to the left, the music sounds normal. When you shift the balance to the right, the feedback problem returns. I’m not sure if I should replace the radio or if I have a wiring issue. I thought it was the factory amp so I bypassed it and ran the speakers directly from the radio. What should I do next?
Installed a pioneer radio in my Pontiac G6 2009 and works like it’s supposed with the key off but when I turn the key over to on my security light comes on and my car won’t start,I cannot figure out how to get it out of security mode
I just installed a Power Acoustik PTID-8920B in my 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it will take and eject CDs and the touch screen will open and close, but when I open the touch screen nothing appears on the screen. It just stays blank. Where could I have gone wrong?
I tried Your advice on my amplifier taking it out of safety mode but it doesn’t work so now what do I do
I bought a jvc kd avx2 dvdstereo I hooked it up but it won’t work. All it does is flicker on and off constantly . Does anyobe know how to fix this problem. It will not work
I just installed new (front and rear) speakers (kickers) and deck (pioneer ) in my 2000 KIA Sephia LS. I hooked the speakers up before the deck, and they were working fine with the factory stereo. Now that I have installed the new deck the speakers are distorted. It sounds like the person is far away and there is not any bass really. Now I had to figure out the wiring colors since KIA likes to make their wires different colors than even their manual or diagram has they are. I looked at the KIA harness and the colors of the wires and mix matched what I thought was the right colors together, but obviously I didn’t get it 100% correct. Now KIA has a grounding wire in their harness AND they had one on a post behind. I just ran the grounding to the actual grounding wire instead of in the harness and just left the harness one unused. Q1: Is that okay? I hooked the blue & white wire from the new harness to the Antenna of the KIA wire. Q2: Is that right and/or okay? The only other wire I have unused is the dimmer wire and I’ve read that’s okay, so I’m not too worried about that. My last question would be Q3: Could I have either switched the & – wires up for the speakers, or maybe switched the F & R wires? Or both? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You for your time!
Scott
First thing, I would double check whether your car has an OEM amplifier or not. If it does, it will explain the distortion that you are hearing and you will need a different wire harness that will adapt the RCA outputs of the aftermarket head unit to the stock amplifier speaker signal wires. Or, bypass the amplifier all together. To answer your other questions, as long as the ground wire is attached to ground, it is fine. The Blue/White wire is supposed to be an “Amp Turn-on”, if there is a solid blue wire (coming from the aftermarket head unit), use that as the Power Antenna wire. If you don’t have a blue, then either the accessory (red) or the Blue/White wire will do. But, if your car does come stock with an amplifier, make sure that the Blue/White wire is connected to the corresponding amp turnon wire of the car.
Thank you very much for your help in this matter. I believe that everything is connected right now. Sounds a whole lot better now!
Thanks again!
I bought a Dual XDMA460 aftermarket stereo to go in my 2008 Chevy Malibu also bought a gm adapter harness to do the wiring 08 also now when I plug all matching colors together nothing happens also has two orange wires that did not go with any wire on the stereo. But when I plug the red and yellow stereo works but no volume, and also locks my car system so if you could please help with these corrections and the yellow and red because I’m sure that’s not right. Thanks
The orange wires are typically for illumination and dimmer. Sometime the head unit doesn’t have the features to support those two wires (solid orange and an orange/white) so disregard those.
As far as no volume, your car must have an OEM amplifier, make sure you check the blue/white wire to make sure it is hooked up to the corresponding amp turn on wire on your Malibu.
If that doesn’t work, double check the compatibility of the wire harness you purchased with the features of your car. http://www.metraonline.com might be a good place to start (type in your vehicle specifics). Sometimes you need a special harness for GMC and Chevrolets that are OnStar enabled, have Bose systems, and etc.
installed aftermarket radio in 2001 ford focus, while idling works fine go to drive it flashes, get to 30mph is fine, then when i come to a stop it will flash and shut off, then flash until i hit about 30 again then will be fine…..
Did you purchase an adapting wire harness? Double check that your accessory and constant (Red and Yellow) wires are both connected to the corresponding 12V accessory and 12V constant wires of your car.
Hi I have an 03 chevy tahoe and I just installed a jvc in dash. The problem I’m having is when I turn the car in I get no power to the unit except for the cd eject button. All wires according to spec are in correct configuration, could you point me in the right direction ??
If you have a volt meter, make sure the red accessory and yellow constant wires have 12V. The accessory should only have 12V when you turn the car on. Constant should have 12V all the time. If that’s not the issue, it may be the unit itself.
got a problem that has been ongoing for a year now ill tell u the story………………..
I bought a 2011 Hyundai i30 brand new then brought it to a shop to have custom install including having old stereo cut out to fit a new one and first install was pioneer AVH-X8550BT /JL audio 6in splits front / JL audio 6in coax rear / 2x JL audio 12in subs with US audio bezerk 4channle75w per channel and 1000w mono block and new wiring……………………….
first problem arose fairly quickly the av unit kept melting fusing the buttons on the face of the unit the touch screen still worked and remote still worked as well the av unit was replaced by the shop but sure enough the second one melted as well so they replaced it again with no one being able to find any power faults or even faults with the product ………………..when the third one melted the store said they want to try a different av unit to see if it would happen again so I agreed and they installed Sony XAV701BT av unit and for some strange reason there was no problem with the av unit since but instead speakers have been blowing constantly including the subs the car has been rewired twice and amps have been checked but no faults have been found .
they now want me to replace the amps but yea I am not confident that I could fix the problem……..
I am reaching out hoping some one may have any idea what could be causing all this….
I am technically minded and have certificates in electronics
and IT but its got me boggled as with all installers involved
cheers for any help anyone can provide
i have pioneer 5450sd. i just found last week that when i turned on the engine. my head unit is off. after a minute it will turned ON. sometimes it will took 3mins to power on.
But when i put the key in accessories, the power is always on (without engine start)
please help.
thanks in advance
I am installing a dash unit and speakers in a 99 jeep Cherokee sport, I have power and sound but the sound is weak and “hollow”
Anything come to mind ?
Find the head unit’s equalizer settings and switch through the presets to see if one is better than the other. If you can’t find one that sounds good, the unit should have a setting to adjust the equalizer itself, you can change the eq or have a professional tune it to your car. Reference your unit’s manual to find the settings
Hi i hope You can help me.
lately i have bought new aftermarket radio, speakers and subwoofer
and i have Been struggling with a problem and hope you can help me.
well here it is: my speakers don’t work and my subwoofer only a little bit.
but sometimes after the car has been running a little while i reattach the headunit
and everything works fine but after some time it stops again.
some people said that the speakers inside the door touched the metal of my car but they don’t
before this happened everytime i was driving over a bump and my sub would make a random whoof kind of sound
i hope you can help me with my problem and thank you for your time
Sounds like a wiring issue/short. Check the wires behind the radio and make sure all of the connections are good and correct and that no wire is exposed. If you did it yourself, double check the function of the wires on the ‘vehicle-side’ and that it matches with the correct wire on the ‘head unit side’. For the speakers, make sure that the blue/white wire is connected to the correct amp turn-on wire (if your car has a built-in amplifier from the factory). Hope this helps.
i have an 01 jeep cherokee and im having trouble with my kenwood aftermarket itll play the radio threw the back speakers and the sub but when i switch threw the other options it just plays threw the sub what could the issue be ive asked both my friends who deal with this kind of stuff all the time but even they dont have a clue.
Could be a wiring problem. Sounds like you may have wired the powered antenna (solid blue) to the OEM speaker amplifier (if you have one). Make sure that the amp turn on wire (Blue/White) is wired to the internal OEM amplifier that the car came with (again if your Jeep has one). If that’s not the issue, you may have an faulty kenwood stereo.
We have a 2010 Pleasure-Way RV built on a Ford E-350 chassis with the Triton V-10 engine. The chassis is actually a 2008. Very happy with the combination and the AM/FM w/CD player is the standard Ford unit. At times the CDs get so hot while playing that they won’t continue and sometimes won’t eject the CD for some time. After discussing with friends, I was told that the audio units (whether Ford or otherwise or even for autos) used to have a small fan for cooling purposes but this has been deleted on the units being built. Any information or advise will be appreciated.
Hey! : )
The flashing advertisement/mode options that play on my stereo screen when it’s waking up just plays and plays and when I hit the mode button to switch from aux to radio, etc. it does not respond. The CD player works but nothing else registers to my botton-pressing. It just flashes things like FM*Aux*CD player*Tuner* and doesn’t ever stop. It didn’t used to do this.
–
Any thoughts?
There’s a demo mode for receivers that you can turn on and off in the settings. If you are able to, click on the options/settings button and go to the display settings and turn off the demo mode.
I recently bought a new touch screen stereo for my 2007 Honda Civic SI and i have it installed and most of the wires connected. i turned on my car if my key is on accessory the stereo works perfectly, however if i turn my key on all the way it goes black and a message saying “cam input no signal” comes up. Any help with this problem would be appreciated. Please email. Thank you
Installing a Pyle PLDVN78 in a 2006 Acura MDX. I’m using a Scosche wiring harness adapter to connect to the factory wiring. Everything powers up and works great until I turn the car or accessory off. When I turn the switch back on, the stereo will not come back on. In order for the stereo to come back on is to either hit the reset button on the front of the stereo OR unplug the harness and plug back in. From there powers up and works great until the you turn the switch off. I’ve measured the constant power and accessory power; all is 12v. I’ve tried running the accessory power to another 12v source and still no change. At this point, I don’t know if the factory anti-theft/wiring is causing the problem OR if this issue is within the stereo. Any help would be appreciated!
I have a dual xdma760 and when I kill my truck the radio will shut off. But when I turn it on. The radio will not turn back on unless I do it manually. How can I fix this? I want it to turn on when I turn the truck on? Please help? Thanks!!
Hi, I’ve just installed a Philips CED1800BT and cant get it to turn on!
I’ve got it as far as lights flashing on when you plug it all in correctly, then nothing…..
It’s installed into a VW T5
Thanks.
I have an 87 jeep wrangler with an aftermarket pioneer super tuner 3 deck. When the radio is on all of the speakers work but when I plug my phone into the aux cord the front speakers keep playing the radio station and the rear play my aux music. What do I do so that all of my speakers will play the aux when I plug my phone in?
2004 chevy venture Just install a sony CDX-GT270MP use a metra harness whit an antenna adapter that is connected. cd and aux work fine but the radio have no sound
Check that the solid blue line from the metra antenna adapter harness is connected to the solid blue on the head unit.
Just got subwoofer and amplifier installed. every once in a while the subwoofer will cut out and the red light on the amp will illuminate. If i take out the fuse coming from the battery and put it back in it starts to work again. Anybody know how to fix this? Any help is appreciated. Thanks
Depending on the amp, the red light (and the sequence of flashing) will determine what the problem is. e.g. solid red could stand for low voltage, solid blinking could stand for a short, 2 fast blinks, etc. If you can, check the amplifier’s troubleshooting section of the manual and it will tell you what the problem is.
Hi
I recently installed a multimedia car system in my Toyota hilux and I am having a problem with FM signal.
The signal is fine when the car is not running and as soon as I turn on the engine the signal is lost.
I have the blue wire from the antenna connected to power and this also does not work.
Hello, we recently installed a aftermarket Pyle touchscreen stereo to my car, previously had an aftermarket installed professionally and everything worked beautifully, but decided to install the second one ourselves, everything works except the subwoofer, could it be connector problem ? the plug in wrong plug hole ? everything was left exactly as was settings on amp as previous system, does this need to be changed ? thank you for any help
If the amplifier turns on, it could be a signal issue and the RCA wires may not be connected properly. Check that the RCA wires are connected to the SUB or S/W output of the head unit, and that the RCAs are connected properly at the amplifier.
If the amplifier does not turn on, double check the amp turn on wire (blue/white) is connected properly at the back of the head unit and harness, as well as on the amplifier it self. Also check the amp fuses, and the in-line fuse that will be located somewhere along the power wire to the amplifier to make sure that nothing was blown.
i installed a dual brand aftermarket radio into a 2005 subaru forester. i loose my presets and all the radio settings every time the car is shut off. my clock, interior lights, and odometer keep resetting every time i turn the car off also.
I have a 2006 bmw z4 i went to a professional installation shop to have a new after market radio installed along with a new amp (it was a pioneer radio). I bought the correct wire harness and all. Once installed a few days later after driving the car and hearing music my speakers will sound like they are popping or staticky. Also when i speed up it will happen more frequently. BUT, when i turn off my car and turn my key too ACC (Option before turning on your car on the ignition) MY RADIO PLAYS WILL NO EFFECTS! JUST HOW IT SHOULD PLAY. I took it to the shop and after two hours they said it was the radio was defective. So i sent the radio back and amp(just to be sure) and a new wire harness and bought another new aftermarket radio and another new amp. this time it was a JENSEN touch screen aftermarket radio. So i took it back to the shop and they installed it. two days later with a new aftermarket radio of another brand, a new amp, new wire harness I am back to square one. Same thing is happening popping speakers on one side if not the other side but I turn my car off and put the key on the ignition to ACC and the radio is playing PERFECT. What could be wrong? help please
I installed an active Fusion subwoofer (CS-AT11) in my car yesterday (first time doing it) and I’m pretty sure I did it all correctly. It all seems to work well until it drops out, then back in every now and then. It seems mostly random, but happens
-when I turn the headlights on, then off
-sometimes when I turn the aircon on
-sometimes when it’s bumpy (though this may just be random, plus i haven’t stuck it down yet)
The sub doesn’t actually turn off either, it’s volume just decreases to near nothing. The time it takes to come back on is random too, but usually no more than a few minutes
Any clue what may be causing this?
Bad earthing? Bad battery?
I’ve had this system in the car for a while. However it has just cut out and ever since the amp is showing warning light. I have checked all the connections and even changed the amp and the same story again. Reading through different blogs I found one comment that said to check with power meter the ground and remote wire. Once I have done that, it looks like amp has been rebooted and it had the green light on and was working perfectly. However it has cut out again, and I done the same trick again but it never came back on. Please help..
I have a 1980 ford f150. When I put my head unit in originaly I had both power wires running through the ignition power. After re-wiring it correctly i have no sound coming from my speaker. I don’t have an amp and my truck only has one speaker. Before when it was wired incorrectly it worked fine.
I have a 2012 ford focus and decided to take my sound system out of my car. I have 2 12inch subs with a 1000w amp. I needed the trunk space so I decided to disconnect my sound system however when I went to start my car and leave my car wouldn’t start. The electric door locks seem to work fine the interior lights as well which leads me to believe that the battery is fine. So I hooked everything back up to see if it would start again and I still got nothing. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this?
my stereo works great. but when i go to push the knob to change songs,,,it just turns black and wont do anything. then when i take pressure off the knob it lights up again and works great……what does that mean??
I have two p3 shallows 12 and a 3000 watt amp, the problem that im having is that ever since i went to a cruise i was playing the music load for a good while and now my speakers wont play only when they want too. The amp doesnt go into protect mode and the speakers dont sound nasty when they do start playing i checked all the speaker wires and they are all good i so idk if its the amp or the speakers
Hi, I have installed a reversing camera in my 2014 Toyota HiLux, works well, but since doing this I have lost reception to am and fm radio. The radio appears to work well, just sounds like the aerial is not connected.
Music from my phone works well through bluetooth, just no radio
Cheers, John
I have a 2002 Kia spectra. Installed a Dual xdm260 stereo. Not sure if I got speakers pos and neg right. Also ran a wire strait from battery to my yellow wire with fuse. My speakers cut out at high volume. What could be the problem
I’m haveing problems installing my planet Audio PNV9680 touch screen into my 2005 pontiac grand am. the wiring harnes color coded wires dont match up to the colored wires in my pontiac and i have no wiring diagams for either. can you tell me what colored wires need to match up?
Have an issue with my 04 Chevy Malibu Classic. My radio wont turn on. I was hooking up an amplifier & had my remote wire hook up to my Yellow 12v constant wire to the back of my radio. Now I touch the remote wire that was hook up to the amp to the 12v wire that was running to the amp. Now I dont have power coming from my yellow 12v constant wire now. I check the fuses but all of them wwere good I need help.
hey I have a 07 GMC Sierra just installed kenwood ddx470 double din head unit, I have gmlan01 wire harness with steering wheel functions. I also upgraded the factory speakers to kickers. So my problem is every time I shut off my vehicle (have to open door to completely shut off) after a few seconds my speakers pop. Why?
I have a 2000 jeep grand cherokee laredo with the infinity gold system. I removed the stock head unit and replaced it with a new kenwood kdc-bt558u. I purchased the metra wiring harness for it. After installation, everything works but the audio. I can adjust all of the settings. The siriusxm works fine, the steering wheel adapter works fine. It holds all of the memory; but I have no sound. I looked in the trouble shooting section and found that I can actually turn the speakers off or set which size of speakers are being used or there is even a setting for OEM for optimal use. When I removed the original head unit, there were only 4 connections:
1. Steering wheel control
2. Ground
3 and 4. Wiring harnesses
I have read some of the suggestions on here and found the blue/white amp turn on wire to be a very logical suggestion, however the ONLY wire coming out of the aftermarket head unit is the wire for the microphone for the bluetooth phone option. It does have the infinity amp; and prior to removing the stock unit (like 30 seconds prior) everything worked fine as far as getting sound out of my speakers; and now nothing. I am positive that the speaker wires are hooked up properly between wiring harnesses. In effect the only change is the head unit and nothing else has been bothered so I am fairly stumped as to what it could be if the settings on the new head unit are turned on for OEM speakers and there is no wire coming from the new head unit to connect to the amp turn on. Any help would be appreciated. It’s way too quiet in my car! Lol
I have a 2008 Mustang with a factory installed “Rocker 6 disc stereo. I’ve purchased a Boss system with a Metra 70-5521 wiring harness. The unit is not turning on, the fuse is good in the unit and I’ve double checked the wiring. The unit has a reset button, and when pushed in I’ll get the CD light to come on, but none to the main screen display. Any suggestions would be appreciated. PS…I installed a Boss 7” display in my 2006 Explorer last month and the installation was flawless.
I have a old Suzuki car in India and I recently bought a car FM radio, it has a YELLOW & RED wire. From the forum post it is clear that YELLOW wire to be connected to “constant battery power” and RED wire to “switched ignition power”. My car have a only one connection which turns ON ( 12V) when car key is turned to AUX /ON position, there in no power when the key is in OFF position. The power is also ON with the engine running ( the key is at ON position). Please advise how I connect the RED & YELLOW wire. There is no amplifier in my car, so should I leave the “blue & White wire” unconnected?
Should I connect the antenna wire to body of the unit?
i just bought a boss 400watt 4 ch. amp…i went through all proper power/ground wiring…just hooked chnls 1 and 2 up to 2 separate new speakers to see if it worked but got little sound coming out….i left radio speakers hooked up so do i need to disconnect all speakers from radio(sony xplode) too? and totally hook all speakers from amp only with new wires?……i bought up to 600 watt amp kit..speaker from that wire is really low too…very little muffled sound from that one too…thanks
I have had a dual aftermarket head unit installed for the last 4-5 years with no issues. All of a sudden the sound goes out but power remains on. Sometimes when I start the vehicle at the star of the day the sound comes on briefly and then stops again. I have wiggled connections and that doesn’t cause sound to go in and out. Alao
i have a 1998 ford f150 triton v8 4×4 and i put a new pioneer 350 watt stereo system in and it shorted out my four wheel drive and it runs off of my head lights. Sometimes my reverse lights work and sometimes they blink when i put it into reverse and blink again when i take it out of reverse. it will also not stay on the same radio station i left it on when i start my truck.
I have a sony xav602bt double din
ive fitted a wireless veyron mirror link box that runs into aux1 I have video but no sound
I have the red and white rca cables running into aux1 audio in but still havent got no sound coming through
I was told I have to run a seperate earth wire from back of head unit to chassis/earth point is this correct as ive not got a clue thanks for your help if any at all
I have a 2004 jeep grand Cherokee. With my radio on while driving I turned on an interior light and my radio shut off. I checked all fuses and they are fine. I checked fuse in cd player and it is fine. It will not turn back on. Red blinking light still works when face is off. I have had my stereo shit off temporarily one time before when I had door opened. I am thinking its wiring but where?
I have a 15 inch sub hooked up to an amp and my car speakers hooked up to an amp. Theres never been a problem before but I got a new sub and now when I turn it up my speakers stop working and only the sub works. Theres no blown fuses or bad connections to the speakers amp and the speakers work until I turn it past 5. What could be wrong?
I just tried to install an aftermarket stereo (Pioneer 4 speaker car audio system package no. DXT-X2769UI) into my 2002 Chevrolet Camaro. I have all the wires hooked up properly, but when I plug the head unit in, nothing comes on. When I unplug it, and plug in the stock head unit, that one works just fine. What am I doing wrong?
I’ve been trying to install a new XD1228 Dual aftermarket radio. I bought a wire harness, and I have more than triple-checked the wiring between the harness and radio wires, they are all correct. The ground wire is connected and screwed down to metal inside my dash. The radio receives no power. Many people say check the fuses, those are all perfect. I proceed to plus in my old stock radio, it receives power and everything is perfect. Then I’ll plug in my new one, I get the fastest flicker of life, then it has no power. I’ve tried with the car on ACC and when turned on. Everything is correct 😐 Any help?
so i have a pyle 78i that i installed in my daughters 2001 kia sportage . i took the wiring harness in the house and wired everything up as marked. I then took the radio out to the vehicle and plugged it in and powered it on everything was working fine stereo gps cd and dvd so i installed it in the dash everything still working. finished up and shut car off daughter came home and i took her out to show her how everything works and the stereo doesnt power on when the car turns on i have to unplug it and plug it back in any help would be grest bc this is driving me crazy i have installed plenty of car audio systems and never have had this problem HELP ME PLEASE
My stock radio works fine but when i try it with two other new head units, they dont turn on. I know wiring is correct. In 97 cavalier
I just installed a Alpine CDE-122 in my 1999 saturn sc2 and i got all the wires correct checked and double checked when i first cut the key on after installation the unit came on and had sound when i turned key off it went off but when turned key back on didnt come back on if i take the face off and put back on then press power button it comes on but still no spound ….. so i took the face off again and hit the little reset button and it worked fine until cut car back off then it did it again, so i tried the reset again and it worked again so i have to take face off every time to get to turn on and get sound
Just bought a dual stereo & only 2 of my speakers work since I installed it
After attempting to install the radio my powerlocks my windshield wipers and lights on inside of car stop working and my dashboard gagea went crazy is there a reason y this happened
I have an after market deck that I put in and it worked just fine tell I took it out to wire my sub and amp with it and now all of the sudden it won’t turn on but it is still wired didn’t mess with any of that?? What do I do??
was hooking up subs/amp/capacitor to a bmw 530i 1994 and now the radio has power but does not have any sound any ideas?
Make sure the amp turn on (Blue/white striped wire) is hooked up properly from the head unit to the amplifier.
I just installed a Kenwood detachable face stereo in my niece’s Toyota Echo. We turned the ignition on and the stereo just turned on with the igniton. The display does not work at all. It will play cd’s and the volume works intermittently and so do the track select buttons but the display stays blank through out. The volume and track select buttons will work at first then stop working but if you turn the ignition off then back on they might work again. You might have to try cycling power like that two or three times untill that stuff works again. There is a blue ring around the volume knob and all the buttons light up on the faceplate but the display stays blank. The power button doesn’t even control the stereo. It just turns on and off with the car’s ignition. Hope you can help! Thanks
I have a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer that the previous owner had spliced wires and installed a after-market radio. We attempted to remove and install a new Head Unit using the same wire scheme and looking up what colors go to what after-market wires. I do not have on star. I am not getting power.
Here is the colors i have:
Black
Black with solid white line
Orange (1)
Orange (2)
Brown with solid white line
Tan
Yellow
Lt Gray
Tan
Lt Green
Dark Green
Lt Blue
Blue
I know what the colors are for outside of the two orange wires. I am not 100% sure on which is Constant and which is the switch/ignition. I am also not sure of the free wires (untapped) Black with solid white line and Brown with solid white line…
I have all other wires together that i can verify thru Chevy Wiring color Codes (some not listed) and the pioneer wiring color code..
I dont have power either thru constant or switch/ignition..is it as simple as switching the two orange wires with the yellow and red of the head unit..Again i have no power..i cant turn on the HU and it will not turn on at start of vehicle.
I checked all fuses..
Please help
please respond to email as well please..
Many of the older Chevys didn’t have a 12v accessory wire, which tells the unit when to turn on and off. An adapter (Metra GMOS-01) was needed to take the low voltage factory signal wire and convert it to a 12v that is compatible with aftermarket units. To test this, you’ll need a voltage meter to test the accessory wire and constant wire. Both should be 12v when the key is in the ignition and turned to the ‘on’ position.
with the wires spliced how do i go about this
I guess my next question would be if i bought this interface which i have found cheaply will then need to undo the spliced wires and then wire the After-market HU to the interface and cap them wires then do the same from the factory wiring to the interface..will the colors be similar or will i need to map out the colors again..i figure the two orange wires didnt matter since they are similar..just rather they are hooked to the constant or ignition
2007 VW jetta–had an aftermarket radio/handsfree/dvd/touchscreen radio installed and it is pulling power from alternator causing a dead battery. Radio has to be turned on an off also. Is it hooked up incorrectly. Radio should not have to be turned off when you get out and it should not be pulling so much from the alternator that it kills the battery. Also the radio seems to turn itself on when no one is in the car!! HELP!! Is there some type of harness adapter that connects the old harness to the new one so it will pull power just like the old radio??
Hello,
Very useful this thread!
How voltage need for dimmer signal?
I bought a Kenwood dpx-405bt but from the manual no details for voltage for this option!
My car is Fiat Stilo 5D.
*How much voltage
please need help as i have installed a touch screen stereo into my vt commodore and it only turns on when i turn headlights on!! amy help on this would be awesome..
Radio on my 2006 Honda Accord LX (no GPS) started cutting in and out. Sometimes cuts off for a couple days and then starts working until it eventually cuts out again. Power to the display but no sound. Any ideas on what to look for would be appreciated.
Hi there,
I have a 1989 mitsubishi lancer i am trying to install a aftermarket stereo but there is no power anywhere i have checked all the fuses taken the battery terminals off etc but still nothing can someone please help?
I am doing an install on a motorbike. You seem to be the most knowledgeable and proactive on the planet:)! Question; is it a must to hook up the red accessories wire? I would like to run this completely manually. Also, there is a wire for “illumination” in orange/white. I am not sure what that means and again, does it need to be connected. if so, is it a 12 volt needed?
thanks in advance!
Hi, I have a 2001 Tahoe LT w/o bose but with factory sub and onstar. I bought an aftermarket headunit and I have everything hooked up and all of my connections seem to be correct which I’ve tested repeatedly with a MultiMeter but when I put my vehicle in drive the headunit cuts out and flickers off and on in real quick intervals with no sound or anything just quick flashes of light, but while in park It stays on and i get perfect sound from all speakers. I have checked the constant and I’m getting 12.4 to 12.5 volts driving and not driving. I’ve checked my alternator also but it also is working properly at about 13.2volt range. Also this is a manual wiring job given that the factory connector was missing. Any help would be much appreciated 🙂
I had a alternator go out on my 2007 Chevy Silverado WT, with NO OnStar. After replacing the alternator the stereo will not come back on, I removed the head unit from the dash and disconnected the wires and then turned the accessory on and wired it back up and it work, but after turning the ignition off and then back on again it wont come back on. Anybody have any ideas?
Double check the accessory or radio fuses. There should be a list of fuses and their description in the vehicle’s owners manual
Please help. I installed a Sony radio in my 2001 Honda Civic and for some reason the buttons/volume knob only work about 50% of the time. Sometimes the buttons will work and not the volume knob, sometimes nothing will work, sometimes everything will work. Is this a radio malfunction or am I doing something wrong?
This sounds like a faulty Sony head unit
I have a pioneer Bluetooth head unit wired into my 95 Subaru Legacy. Every time I turn on my car I have to set up the clock, turn demo mode off. But it does remember my phone in the Bluetooth settings. I have to reconfigure my subwoofer settings every time also. I thought it would be a wiring issue but I have the yellow wire running to the yellow wire and the red wire running to the blue/red wire.
I have installed a clarion head unit, front & rear speakers & twin subs in my 99 Holden rodeo dualcab. I used all the factory wiring for acc, constant 12v, earth & front speakers but ran my own wires for rear speakers (didn’t have factory rears). Front speakers work fine so do subs but r/h rear speaker doesn’t work & l/h rear half work (sounds very echoey)
what wire do i split into to run my remote wire on a 2003 tahoe with the bose system
Just hooked up a new head unit and every works great. I have an amp and a sub hooked to it and it sounds great. The only problem I am having is when initially turn on the unit it has very little high range sound. When I push the treble up or down button or even the bass up and down button everything goes back to normal. It also does the same thing if I switch between application on my touch screen. I believe everything is wired correctly. Ever heard of this?
i have a 2005 Chevy Equinox and just installed an aftermarket touchscreen stereo, I purchased a new wiring harness that allows me to use the existing wiring without looking for an alternate 12v source. After installing the stereo seemed to work fine but the next day it only turns on some of the time when starting the vehicle and sometimes it won’t turn on until I turn the ignition off? I checked the wires and nothing seems to be lose. Any help would be appreciated.
I’m trying to hook up my aftermarket radio in my 04 Monte Carlo I believe all my wires to the harness to the aftermarket radio is correct but when I plug it up it doesn’t come on. Any help??
First time trying to install a stereo unit and thought it was successful until I tried to listen to music. I have power to my stereo but no sound from radio or aux input whatsoever. I have a 2000 toyota avalon which has the jbl system in it. I already knew I could bypass the amp but I wanted to keep my tweeters working and whatnot. I bought a wiring harness so I wouldn’t have to bypass my stock unit. Then the stereo unit also came with the power supply harness and the speaker harness. In short I did not actually touch my stick wiring. I plugged the stock connector into the aftermarket one I purchased then did on the wiring from that one to my stereos harnesses. Now the aftermarket harness had rca plugs instead of just speaker wires. I clipped those off and just matched all the wiring. After all the wiring is done I have one wire exposed from the head units harness that it came with which is the power antenna. Then the aftermarket harness has the amp on wire exposed and the power antenna wire exposed. My wiring for my speakers them selves could be backwards but I just want to make sure before I go messing with it that it isn’t any simpler. I connected the amp on wire to the power antenna and got a pop noise while trying to see if it would play aux music. No response from connecting power ant to power ant wire though. My question is should any of those wires be hooked up to something or is it just my speaker wiring that could be wrong?
Having a strange problem with a Sony MEX-BT3800 head unit. It was removed from my old car and moved to my new car, an 06 Sorrento which uses a GM wiring harness. The factory radio was a Delco. I made up the harness and no issues. The radio works but the USB port and Bluetooth both show that they are working but there is no sound. AM/FM radio works fine and has sound. I’ve tried resetting the radio, redoing the Bluetooth, tried different Bluetooth phones, to no avail. I even have a second of these Sony radios and swapped it in but the same result. I am starting to wonder about the wiring harness. Is there anything that can cause this? I do know in the old car I didn’t connect the Amp lead but I did this time. Could that one wire do this? Thanks!
I have a 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood and it had the cassette deck stereo. I bought a install kit and when I plug into the factory harnesses the new stereo will turn on and I get sound from left side F&R only absolutely nothing from right side. Install guide said that the orange wire from factory is the constant. Hiwever, there are 1 orange and 2 orange with black stripe from right side of old stereo. I tapped into the orange just as the illustration said and I get power but no memory and no right channel and I know the speakers work as I plugged old one back in and it works as intended. Please help!!
i have an aftermarket wiring harness under my dash in my 86 silverado.. just dangling seeing as how i just replaced the heater core i dont have everything put back together, and ive been driving it to work and back. sometimes when i start my truck the stereo wont come on im thinking its a loose wire. would this cause my truck to die when taking off from a redlight? it wont start please help
Recently bought used 2003 dodge ram 1500 and it had aftermarket radio and amp in it. Everything seemed to work fine and my mechanic told me that the radio would sometimes come on by itself with no turn of the key when he was working on it. Wanted to disconnect and take amp out so I disconnected the amp from the battery and then disconnected the stereo wires from the amp (no speakers were hooked up to the amp). Now when the car is completely off the headlights, interior lights, remote keyless entry, and steering wheel lock do not work but when I turn the key everything works fine. After reading these post , it seems the previous owner may have hooked the radio up to a constant hot and somehow tied it into the interior lights, headlights, and possibly ignition switch. when i disconnected the amp, there was a little blue wire that was hooked up to a terminal on the amp right next to positive terminal. Do not know if this blue wire means anything but it might. Any advice would be awesome.
I have a pioneer avh-p6350bt And the touch screen has stopped showing any picture, but the actual touch side of it is working… U just don’t know what you are pressing….
What could I check to eliminate any simple problems before I send it away for repairs?
2008 ram station light up clock works but no sound
I have an 04 jeep grand cherokee new kenwood 558u. When switch is in start position the radio gives an att off message and the reception drops. Put the key to the acc mode and every thing is all good. I have checked all grrounds. Antenna and every thing worked with the old jeep stereo.
Your radio is haunted try a new deck see if the problem is still happening.
I have a 2000 mustang with premium audio in it. I have replaced the head unit with a Dual XDMA6630. I have a blue and white and a blue wire coming from the mustang and only a blue from the head unit. The blue is the amp turn on but after the first use the amp stays on. Please help. And what is the blue and white wire?
I have a Kenwood stereo in my 1970 Mustang. Works fine with driver door open but no sound when you close the door. Do you think this is wiring to the speakers or a ground issue. Thanks for your help!
Hi I just bought and installed a dual 7 ” flip up car stereo and found out the other day that when I turn on the head lights the screen comes out and will stay out unti I turn off the head light anyone know how to fix this issue
Hi, i have a 2006 ford focus zx4 with a factory sub woofer. i have just installed a new dual head unit and all of the speakers work but the sub woofer does not. any thoughts?
I have a 2012 nissan pathfinder. I purchased an aftermarket kit 99-7620B for it and my stereo is a s100. Ever since the guy installed it, my factory lcd either turns off for a day or two, or reboots and i have to set it back to what kind of car it is in the miscellaneous menu. Does the lcd and stereo need seperate power or something? I am dumb to this and cant seem to get help from the installer either.
I purchase 2 headrest dvd players for my 2013 Dodge Charger, everything works FINE, beside the fact that I can still turn them while the car is completely off, I went to AutoZone and bought the “ADD A FUSE” component n combine it with the radio fuse located in my trunk fuse box, and although the radio turns completely off when the car is off the headrest dvd players doesn’t, I was wondering is there any other way I can run my power wire so that the headrest dvd players will completely shut off when the car is off????
I have a 2000 Ford Explorer and of course I’m installing a stereo. But my problem is that when I initially tested it, it powered on no problem. Now I’ve turned it on and off multiple times but when I went to actually put everything in their perspective places, it no longer turned on. It was working fine but now it’s not. I need help, I really don’t want to buy another one.
I have a 1994 jeep cherokee and I have a problem but I dont know what it is. What happened was I plugged my cigarette lighter in to its slot the the radio shut off immediately and now the radio refuses to turn back on. Ive had the radio for a couple of years and this has never happened before.
In my 2001 Ford ranger I have everything wired right and as soon as I plug my radio in the CD noise goes and display shuts off and won’t work messes up radio,what is this can’t figure it out ????
I just bought a new aftermarket radio, it won’t work. I checked the wiring twice I did everything it said. Yes I unhooked the negative on the battery also. I redid the wiring twice but it still isn’t getting any power. The kit came with a long red wire that says 12 volt ignition switched on it but has no place to plug it in. I own a 2004 chevy Colorado. I also even returned one radio and got another.
Many of the Chevrolet and GMCs that are equipped with OnStar don’t have a 12v ignition wire that is compatible with aftermarket stereos. It is a data signal wire instead, and requires an adapter – The Metra GMOS-01 (If your truck DOES NOT have a factory amplifier) or the Metra GMOS-014 if your truck DOES HAVE a factory amplifier. Hope this helps.
I have kenwood kdc-bt8044u. For a while was ok, but I did shortcut, or may be fuse gone, or sth else -> SO it’s not sourcing any more. All I can see is when I check dc before plugging in stereo it shows 12.7v. After I plug into stereo it shows 21.5v.
What can I do?
I installed a jvc kd-sr60 in a 47 ford pickup (converted to 12v w/single wire alt.) the radio works fine with switch on but as soon as I start engine its all static with short burst of sound, shut engine off an radio works fine, tried running power and ground straight from Batt., same thing ,also tried new radio, same thing, even when playing cd, can you please help? Thanks for your time, David
I have a 93 Toyota Carolla and I went and picked myself up a radio from the junkyard the other day. I spliced the wires and turned it on and it started up and worked great. Problem was, I unplugged it to pUT it where it goes properly and when I plugged it back in, it wouldn’t turn on. I checked all the connections and fuses but just can’t seem to find the problem. Any help is much appreciated.
I have a 03 Pontiac Bonneville and I hooked a new boss head unit in and it worked great at first. Then the first time I drove it during the day I flipped by fog lights off and my head unit turned off. I tried turning my fog lights on and off, and the head unit when on and off with the lights. I have done some guessing on my wiring but have had no luck. Any ideas please let me know and they will be greatly appreciated!
I have a Opel Insignia 2011 4X4 Sport Tourer. I bought an aftermarket Android DVD Navi. the cables was Plug and play and I did the the installation exactly as the instruction said. The steering wheel buttons work ok but not the original DVD, CD, Radio buttons on the dashboard. Same with usb, aux on the mid console between the seats. Someone who knows what I should do to make the buttons work ? Is it problem with some pin in the ISO harness or the canbus ?
Hi i have an aftermarket stereo in my car and it was in there already…now it is not working at all it has power and wheni turn the key on i hear a faint static pop and thats it…i thot of removing it but i didnt and thot i should ask someone first…..i checked all the wirin makin sure it was all secure and it is and i also checked the antenna and antenna wire too and there is nothing wrong with them i need some tunes…if this doesnt work im getting a new stereo
my car deck have toe places of CD/DVD the 1st is for only for compact dist and the 2nd is for DATA DVD Disk, can i play video DVD in DATA disk place in my car.
I installed a Clarion NX602 double din head unit in my 2006 GMC Envoy Denali. I also installed a Kenwood KAC-7202 amplifier and 2 12″ Dual subwoofers. Now, when I turn the radio up past a certain point, the music will cut out and stay out until I power it off then back on but the subwoofer still works. I still have stock speakers in the door and am still ‘up in the air’ on whether or not I am going to upgrade. If you could shed some light on what may be wrong that’d be great. Thank you from Minnesota 🙂
HI I bought a new stereo and installed it, everything works fine except I can’t for the life of me get the faceplate to stay on. It clicks into place on one side and just hangs on the other side, which is the side that needs to stay in place for the whole thing to work , how do I fix this?
I just bought a double din bcc aftermarket radio and it’s very cool! I hooked it up and the only problem I have is the red ignition wire. I don’t know what fuse to hook it up to! The only one that works so far is the radio one, but that leaves the radio on when the car is off and drains my battery… Now my car won’t start and I even tried jumpstarting it and it’s just like completely dead. Please help!
My Kenwood radio is working and everything, I had and alternator belt issue and it went out… I drove it till it died, I fixed it, and now the radio works and plays music… However, the screen flashes on and off. If I reset the radio with the car on then it work better, but once I turn the car off again, the problem persists.
Hi I recently went to change factory stereo system in 04 Kia Sorento. I got the harness and 8 gauge wiring kit for 600 watt amp. And when i wired it i notice that in door the 6.5 speaker had two speakers on top of each other so i up hook the speaker on bottom and just cut wires now speakers dont work. And amp just barely pushs a mouse fart out of the 12″ Jbl sub. Old unit had factory amp still hooked up. Can u please help
Hi I have an android kld 2din with parking camera and the radio loose the reception after 10 minutes when the engine is running. When the engine is off, radio is working again and all stations have great reception. I haven’t got any weird sound from speakers when engine running. Also sometimes when the rpm from engine is low the radio works again.
I have just installed a pioneer deh-x3700ui in a 2010 chevy aveo and turned on the unit put in a CD and it played great for about 5 minutes . After that I changed CD’s and it then started to cut out throughout the song thinking it could br the Cd I changed back to the original CD and same thing cutout . Took out the unit to look at the wiring and the back of the unit was pretty hot anot sure if that has anything to do with it but it was hot. Not sure what to do at this point.
What do you do with the IR wire on a aftermarket car stero?
Why does my after market stereo not function when I turn on my lights at night, during the day when my headlights are off the stereo works fine, how can I fix this ?
2003 Honda Civic – Only driver (front) speaker works. What are a couple of easy ways to test if it is the speakers or something else, like the head unit?
I brought my 2010 Dodge Charger to Chrysler Dealership for problem with car radio. My radio works fine for 5minutes sometimes a half hour then the audio just shuts off, no sound and adjusting volume, nothing. But when I stop and turn off ignition for a minute or two. I all returns to normal unit it happens again. The Dealership wants me to replace radio at the sum of almost $800.00. This ridiculous!!!
Is the vehicle’s antennae wire required for the head unit to turn on? For some reason my mount broke loose and my head unit came flying out of my dash and the end of the antenna wire broke off. It still plugs in and you can hear the disc tray start up and the red light under the face plate still blinks but the screen doesn’t turn on. I tried a second head unit I have that I know for a fact works and it did the same thing. Just wondering if my antenna wire is the problem
My 95 f150 alternator keeps going bad 3rd one in 3 months I have 2 mtx terminator subs as well as a 600 watt amp and a 800 watt kicker wiring kit. I also have aftermarket hid headlights in my truck what is causing my alternators to burn up so easily
I have a 2000 ford ranger. I have a red and black wire that’s for the key hot but every time I tune it on and plug in a radio it doesn’t work
My battery went dead in my car & since getting a jump start my stereo won’t turn on it just reads err3 ans the anti theft light is blinking, any ideas on what to do to make it work ?
Hi I have a 1998 cavalier rs um I installed a new after market stereo, the problem im having is that when I turn on the car the stereo works but no sound but if I unplug the harness and replug it the sound works perfectly but when I turn of the stereo/ car and turn it back I have to do the same thing over and over again I dont think its bad harness cuz if it is it shouldnt even make a sound when I plug it back in but it does!!!
I have a dual xmd260 how do I dim the deck lights?
Some head units don’t come standard with a dimmer/dimming feature. Check the manual to see if dimming is a feature your unit comes with
I recently got my car fixed because I had a short that was causing my turn signals, windshield wipers, (and so we thought) my radio to stop working. My radio would turn on but nothing would come out, and now that my car is fixed I do not even have power to my radio or my cigarette lighter. What could be the problem?
Hi guys. I am having a really weird problem. I own a Dodge Stratus. 2005. I just took out the old stock system and bought the car specific wiring harness. I wired it all up according to color codes but when I got done I started my car and then it died after 2 seconds when my stereo turned on. Also none of my guages will work when it fires and the odometer says no bus. I can get my car to run just fine if I unplug the radio harness. It has something to do with my radio and I cannot figure out what it is. Help me please? Its an Eclipse radio.
Hi Guy’s,
I am in the middle of a nightmare! I hope this has not been answered and I missed it?
I have a 2012 Honda Civic SI Premium sound System with Navigation and I want to keep the Head unit with the Nav.
I bought an Audio Control DQ-61, 2 JL Slash Amps, 2 JL 10’s in a sealed box a set of JL 6.5 Components up front and ID Chameleons in the rear. With all the right stuff I thought this system would sound at least decent, but nope sounds like
S… Then I really start researching my car and found that the DQ-61 was being fed by that horrible Amp connected to the deck, So I find a Metra Plug 70-1728 to Bypass the amp. But then I find out that the plug will bypass the amp and connect to an AFTERMAEKET DECK. Some times I just want to bury my head in the sand and give up, but even under sand I am sure I could still hear if not feel someone’s awesome BASS LOL.
Does anyone make a plug for the output of my NAV/STEREO so I can Bypass the Factory AMP and wire into my DQ-61 and that my Factory Deck puts out enough power for the DQ-61 to work?
Thanks K C Neil…………….
You may be able to tap into the signal wire for the oem amp to use as the input to your sq-61 depending on the voltage of the signal wire. Here’s a wiring diagram for a 2012 civic that might help. http://www.9thgencivic.com/forum/audio-video-navigation/3737-audio-wiring-diagrams-2.html
Hi, thanks for the response.
You said here is a wiring diagram, but I did not get it or were/how to Access it?
Currently the DQ-61 is getting it’s signal from the OEM/HONDA AMP then when it is connected to this it is Summed internally by the DQ-61. The big problem I need to solve is to get the signal from the Factory Radio directly to the DQ-61 or
as it is now it’s Garbage in Garbage out! The OEM is the culprit but how do I pass it??
http://www.9thgencivic.com/forum/audio-video-navigation/3737-audio-wiring-diagrams-2.html
When I plug my six lead into the back of the sterio and then plug my phone in the sterio turns off??
Aux lead
My jvc head unit only shows the time nothing else and it only does that when I press the display button what’s wrong what do I have to do to fix it?
In my 2012 chevy malibu lt i installed a new headunit and everything is working but when i turn the car off the headunit stays on and kills the battery what can i do to fix it?
i am having problems with my radio hope someone can help i hooked everything up right checked all the fuses the ground is hooked up but when i hit the cd eject botton the radio vibrates but the face plate does not light up im clueless on whats wrong
i have a pioneer radio, and speakers, the speakers are 80 watt and and i have some 12’s in the back and my amp is 1100 watts. when the bass hits hard, or i turn the radio up the amp shuts off so i turn the radio off and right back on and the amp comes on. Why does it do that?
I have a Jensen car stereo and it is a CD and auxiliary capable and it has FM and AM but the fm and the AM does not work for some reason can anybody help
Suzuki Carry Van – Can someone please help me?! Where can I find the wiring diagram for my vehicle? I’ve searched everywhere!
I have a 2010 Sport. I recently added my old amp and sub to it so I can have better sound. I also have an aftermarket JVC deck that I have had it since summer when I bought my Yota. When installing the amp and sub the direction said to connect the blue wire from the sub to the remote wire in the wiring harness for the deck. When researching what color this wire was it said my vehicle doesn’t have this wire. Is this true? I have it connected to my ignition wire instead which worked for the first two hours but after that my deck display has dimmed and won’t turn on.
I just got a new stereo and as I was gonna install it I left the cords hanging and made contact and made a spark now stereo doesn’t want to turn on I need help please anyone
I have a 2004 KIA Rio and I tried to hook up a after market stereo in it and the stereo won’t come on now. I even hooked up the stock stereo and it don’t work now
Hooked up new reciever works fine but when i go to charge my phone using cig lighter outlet it fet nothing but static please help
Car stereo has power, the radio plays. But the CD player has no sound
just looking for some insight. have a 97 expedition with the premium sound i installed a after market head unit all was good been running fine for over 2 weeks. today wife get in car to go to work and say the radio does not work…there is no power at all does not turn on. last night when we got home it was working fine. any ideas on what to check first
Installed a new Pioneer DEH-x6700BT on an 06 Altima w/ Plastic mounting kit. Problem #1 is the poor radio reception for regular radio stations. Buying an aftermarket antenna since stock is a windshield antenna. Problem #2 is the significant drop of highs overall. Highs sound weaker than factory stereo. All car speakers are connected well. No EQ setting will fix this. Stuck with this problem. Advise?
I have a funny problem with my car player, it is a 2012 kia carens with company fitted car/cd player. Now for a few days has encountered a funny problem, with the car ignition ON(engine OFF) the player works fine. When the engine is stared or ON the player goes OFF as long as the engine is on. Again I switch off the engine and switch on ignition only the player works fine. Help & Advise please
Ok I have a Pyle double din navigation unit, my screen is solid white now. The radio still plays music and everything but I can’t see anything on the screen bc it’s white. I’ve tried taking it out and plugging it back up and it still didn’t fix it. Any ideas of what could be wrong or what I should do?
2015 Audi A3 mmi 4g lte system- cut into factory front speaker wires to run to loc to get signal to my after market amps- now, 4 months later, no output on rf channel, and factory HU still shows output voltage on those leads, but no sound???????
I have a 1995 Lexus SC400, and I bought the car used, it had 2 previous owners. but it looks as if the Previous Owner(s) tried to do their own custom sound install. I wanted to re-do the sound system. I ran all new wires for each of the speakers and bought a FH-X721BT Pioneer Double din receiver. I had Best buy geek squad install it. It works and run except, when I press the receiver firmly or press a button hard on the receiver it resets… It will still have my custom lighting lit up but the song that I was playing will stop playing, then it will pick up where it left off 3 seconds later. Almost like the machine is resetting its self. but it does the “resetting” randomly when I drive too. For the most part everything works fine… It is very annoying when im singing a song and the machine turns off “resetting” for like 3-5 seconds, then comes back on
I just installed a Kenwood DPX 501 after market stereo on my 03 toyota 4runner. The stereo works great but this morning my truck turned of 2 times. 1st when I slowed down 2nd when I made a complete stop. The truck starts right up when I put it in park and turn the ignition. Any ideas on what could be wrong?
Have an o4 Chevy suburban that has a stock radio,xm radio,and is controlled with my steering wheel and connected to my on star. I shut my car of and the radio was still on but then it shut of when it was supposed to and I started the car and there is no sound and my on star doesn’t work just no sound at all
Hello,
I just installed a Sony MEX-BT3800U deck in my 2003 Honda civic. As soon as I installed it, it worked fine. I was able to turn up the sound, changed inputs, every thing was functional. I then paired my iPhone 6 with the blutooth and now it is not functional. To turn on the stereo I need to press the eject button and do the same to change the sources. I cannot change songs when the cd I had in there is playing, I cannot eject the CD, and The volume is stuck at one level. Now the person who installed it just used the wiring harness that was already on the stereo. Do you think changing it to the Honda wiring harness will make a difference?
I have a power acoustik pd-762 it turns on and shows the time but is black screen won’t play music or eject cd it was working fine and suddenly it happened
I have a toyota Vitz 2003 radio which although has its power on, the sound takes a few minutes to come. Sometimes it takes more than 15min. This happens more frequently in summer times.
Should someone have experienced such problem, please let me know what might be the problem as I have already had some attempts with my techs but to no avail as the fault is more like intermittent although very frequent.
Regards
Joe
I have a 2000 ford explorers that I took out the factory stereo and installed the proper wire harness adaptor and installed a jvc stereo. All is wired correctly and will not work then I took it out and reconnect the factor stereo and now that won’t work either. Please help
Hi there I just installed a clarion db175mp head unit into my 2003 malibu have power to everything but no sound there is no amplifier in this car looked everywhere that it should be don’t see one any ideas as to what’s going on
I have a 1999 Mercedes C230 that I put a Kenwood BT362u in, I used a wiring harness adapter and everything turns on and plays and there is sound from all the speakers. My issue is that the display illumination is not bright at all. I have turned the display brightness all the way up but when I turn the car on I cannot see or read the display at all. I do not have the orange or orange black wires attached to anything.
I am having DEH-4290SD model car stereo.It turn to DISPLAY OFF mode immediately after the unit start functioning
hi i bought a car with pioneer car stereo and with ryan audio car amp. my problem is when the engine is on you can hear the engine noise into the speaker, and when you turn off the engine it sound smoothly. what should i do?
I jut put an amp and subs in my car. The CD player and usb are working fine but I’m not getting anything from my fm radio. I connected the remote turn on from the amp to the blue and white wire. Should I do something differently?
Could I have possibly unplugged something for the radio source?