[cak387]

I was helping one of my friends put a stereo in his cousins car earlier today. We are adding two subs and a amp but are wiring it to the stock deck. We had it all wired up and tested and it worked fine. The subs were going, the amp was on, the speakers were playing. So we started hiding wires without unplugging ANYTHING from the deck. We get everything put in and go to turn the car on. We turn it on and nothing??? The car starts just fine and runs fine.

Here is what we observed when the car started:
1). The radio lights up but no time or noise coming from the speakers.
2). The anti-lock light showed up after we put everything back in.
3). The amp has no power.
4). Fuses seem to be good unless I missed one.
5). All wires seem to be tight and connected.

Does anyone have a guess or have any suggestions on what it may be? Thanks for the help guys!

[Dbl_D718]

Are you sure the amp has no power from the battery, or might it just be not getting the turn-on signal from the headunit? If you haven't already, test the main power wire with a multimeter to be sure. It's quite possible that a fuse is blown but looks ok. They are known to blow on the very edges of the fuse sometimes and you can't really tell it's blown until you pull it out of the holder.

If the amp's main power wire isn't getting power, trace it back towards the battery with the multimeter until you find the problem. If it is getting power, I'd test the remote wire next.

[cak387]

Dbl_D718, on 14 February 2010 - 01:19 AM, said:

Are you sure the amp has no power from the battery, or might it just be not getting the turn-on signal from the headunit? If you haven't already, test the main power wire with a multimeter to be sure. It's quite possible that a fuse is blown but looks ok. They are known to blow on the very edges of the fuse sometimes and you can't really tell it's blown until you pull it out of the holder.

If the amp's main power wire isn't getting power, trace it back towards the battery with the multimeter until you find the problem. If it is getting power, I'd test the remote wire next.

Thanks DBL. You were actually the person I thought would know. Yeah, I didn't have a multimeter to test anything yesterday because I left it at home and I had to be at work. I will check when I get out there again. One thing I did notice was that the power wire only had a 30 amp fuse running back to the amp. Out of the 3 or 4 systems I have put in, that is the smallest fuse I have seen.

[Dbl_D718]

A 30 amp fuse should be good to around 350-400 watts. Any higher than that and you'd want a bigger fuse. But really, it still shouldn't have blown unless you were really cranking it.

If you didn't unhook anything from the deck, did you unhook anything at the amp's end of the wiring? If the main power wire was unhooked from the amp but still hot, maybe it touched a ground and blew the fuse.

[ComradeRedXv2]

Dbl_D718, on 14 February 2010 - 10:23 AM, said:

If you didn't unhook anything from the deck, did you unhook anything at the amp's end of the wiring? If the main power wire was unhooked from the amp but still hot, maybe it touched a ground and blew the fuse.

that was my first guess, did the abs light stay on? i don't see how that could be connected, unless somehow your power wire is near that wire going into the speedo, and some signal is radiating into it... but that's highly, highly unlikely

[cak387]

ComradeRedXv2, on 14 February 2010 - 06:08 PM, said:

Dbl_D718, on 14 February 2010 - 10:23 AM, said:

If you didn't unhook anything from the deck, did you unhook anything at the amp's end of the wiring? If the main power wire was unhooked from the amp but still hot, maybe it touched a ground and blew the fuse.

that was my first guess, did the abs light stay on? i don't see how that could be connected, unless somehow your power wire is near that wire going into the speedo, and some signal is radiating into it... but that's highly, highly unlikely

To answer that, when we were running all the wires, the guy thought the power wire was unhooked from the battery and proceeded to shove it through the grommet under the dash. It did spark quite a bit he said, but he said he only touched the firewall.

I broke out the multimeter today and we have 14 volts getting back to the amp. However, we are only getting about 1/2 a volt from the remote wire. I don't know if that is normal or not? Any insights?

[Lumina LTZ]

I remember having a problem like this before... just jump the + wire on the amp to the remote on the amp and it should turn on....


I used to use a stock deck as well with my subs and amp. I don't really know how you hooked it up correctly unless you just wired it from the rear speaker to the amp because theres no output on the stock radio...

disconnect whatever u hooked the input wire on the amp and see if it works, I bet thats the problem.

[Dbl_D718]

I'm pretty sure 1/2 a volt won't trigger the amp to turn on. You could try what's suggested above and use a small wire to jump from the power terminal to the remote terminal and that should power-on the amp. If it does, you'll have to figure out what went wrong on your remote wire. If that doesn't turn the amp on, your amp is the problem.

For the ABS light, I've heard of low voltage causing an error there and the ABS light coming on, but if you've got 14 V with the car running, that shouldn't be the issue. If it doesn't go away, he'll probably have to take the car in to get scanned for codes.

[ComradeRedXv2]

no, 1/2 volt wont even try to turn on an amp, you honestly need at least 5...

[cak387]

Lumina LTZ, on 14 February 2010 - 09:26 PM, said:

I remember having a problem like this before... just jump the + wire on the amp to the remote on the amp and it should turn on....


I used to use a stock deck as well with my subs and amp. I don't really know how you hooked it up correctly unless you just wired it from the rear speaker to the amp because theres no output on the stock radio...

disconnect whatever u hooked the input wire on the amp and see if it works, I bet thats the problem.

I'm not the one that wired it unfortunately. My friend had it all wired up except for the remote wire and the part of hiding the wires. So, what you're saying is that I need to run a jumper wire from the power on the amp to the remote on the amp?

Also, we have disconnected the remote wire, but it still doesn't work.

Dbl_D718, on 14 February 2010 - 09:48 PM, said:

I'm pretty sure 1/2 a volt won't trigger the amp to turn on. You could try what's suggested above and use a small wire to jump from the power terminal to the remote terminal and that should power-on the amp. If it does, you'll have to figure out what went wrong on your remote wire. If that doesn't turn the amp on, your amp is the problem.

For the ABS light, I've heard of low voltage causing an error there and the ABS light coming on, but if you've got 14 V with the car running, that shouldn't be the issue. If it doesn't go away, he'll probably have to take the car in to get scanned for codes.

Well you answered the question I posted above. I will try that. Would the amp cause the radio not to turn on though? I wouldn't think so, but I hate wiring and have no idea.

As for the ABS lights, he said it came on a few times when he was driving but that when they started to wire the subs, it wasn't on. He said it came on at the same time the radio quit working. I will tell him to take it to a shop to get it scanned for the ABS codes.

ComradeRedXv2, on 14 February 2010 - 10:37 PM, said:

no, 1/2 volt wont even try to turn on an amp, you honestly need at least 5...

That's good to know. I was thinking it would need more also but wasn't to sure.



Thanks for helping me out with this one guys.

[Dbl_D718]

No, the radio should still turn on. Does your remote wire come from the headunit, or did you use something else? If it's from the headunit, and the headunit isn't turning on, that would explain only getting 1/2 a volt.

I'm not sure what to do about troubleshooting the headunit. I forget how those units work, whether you can push the volume knob like a button to power it on or off, or if you turn the volume all the way down to turn it off. Either way, you could try cycling it off for a minute and then back on, or maybe even disconnecting it from any power for a minute or so so it resets.

[cak387]

Dbl_D718, on 15 February 2010 - 11:30 AM, said:

No, the radio should still turn on. Does your remote wire come from the headunit, or did you use something else? If it's from the headunit, and the headunit isn't turning on, that would explain only getting 1/2 a volt.

I'm not sure what to do about troubleshooting the headunit. I forget how those units work, whether you can push the volume knob like a button to power it on or off, or if you turn the volume all the way down to turn it off. Either way, you could try cycling it off for a minute and then back on, or maybe even disconnecting it from any power for a minute or so so it resets.

We have had it unplugged for over 5 minutes completely and still nothing. I should have also mentioned that the previous owner had a six disc changer installed and that also has no power now. None of the stereo components are getting any power. Does anyone have know what the main power wire is for the radio so I can check voltage on it?

[ComradeRedXv2]

not even the stereo itself anymore?

[Dbl_D718]

In the first post, he says the stereo lights up (I'm assuming the backlight for the buttons) but the screen doesn't display anything. It seems like I've heard of that problem before, but I don't remember where. I'll try and figure out where I've read that before.

[cak387]

Dbl_D718, on 15 February 2010 - 04:19 PM, said:

In the first post, he says the stereo lights up (I'm assuming the backlight for the buttons) but the screen doesn't display anything. It seems like I've heard of that problem before, but I don't remember where. I'll try and figure out where I've read that before.

This is correct. Only the backlighting for the numbers/buttons work. Nothing shows up on the display at all.

I was in a hurry on my last post also. On my wiring diagram, it shows that the yellow wire is ignition power for the radio, and this is what they had wired with the remote wire (I think). It worked great for about 10-15 minutes, but after we hid the wires, and put everything back together, that is where we ran into this problem.

[Lumina LTZ]

I didn't look through this whole thread, but did you check the fuses? lmao

[cak387]

Fuses are checked, at least they said they were. He said he is just going to have a guy at a local shop take a look.

[cak387]

Alright. I just talked to my buddy's cousin and it did turn out to be a blown fuse. We pulled ALL fuses and they all looked good, but he said it burnt up right on the edge to where you could barely see it. He couldn't remember what fuse it was either, but he said it didn't sound like it would have been something tied in with the radio. Also wanted to say thanks for the help guys.

[Dbl_D718]

Dbl_D718, on 14 February 2010 - 12:19 AM, said:

It's quite possible that a fuse is blown but looks ok. They are known to blow on the very edges of the fuse sometimes and you can't really tell it's blown until you pull it out of the holder.

lol

Glad you got it figured out.

[Nick07]

Yeah I was gonna say that HAS to be a fuse cuz my friend's stock radio did the same thing in his 01 Bonnie

[cak387]

Dbl_D718, on 04 March 2010 - 12:06 AM, said:

Dbl_D718, on 14 February 2010 - 12:19 AM, said:

It's quite possible that a fuse is blown but looks ok. They are known to blow on the very edges of the fuse sometimes and you can't really tell it's blown until you pull it out of the holder.

lol

Glad you got it figured out.

Thank you almighty stereo god Yeah, but what was weird was we pulled all the fuses that looked to have anything to do with the stereo and replaced them with new ones and still got nothing. I will have to ask what fuse it was next time I see him or talk to him.