Electrical screw up! Please help!

[barobbin]

Well I will start off by saying that I am a noob when it comes to car audio.

Now that thats out of the way, here is my problem.

I have been tinkering around installing a system in my 2011 f250 lariat non navigation with sync and subwoofer. This is my first install so go easy on me. The gear I am installing is: rockford t2652-s components run passive, p300x2, p300x1, a stereo integrity bm mk iv 12" shallow mount and a pac audio PAC AOEM-FRD24 oem interface. All run off the stock head unit. Worked on the truck all day yesterday and around ten at night I thought I had it almost finished. I have the pac plugged into the oem head unit and I ran wires from my amp to behind the head unit to tie into the stock door speaker wires (I know that is pretty much a sin on this website and highly inefficient but it was way easier than trying to find a good way to run them from the cab to the door speakers). Well after a long and frustrating day working and trying to figure out the best way to do things, I wired up one of the door speaker wires from the amp to what I thought was the oem wires that go to the door speakers. Good news is I chose the right wires to splice into. Bad news is that I spliced into the wrong end of the wire. Instead of connecting to the side that goes to the door speakers, I got switched up and connected to the side that goes back to the pac oem interface!!! What a ******* you might say, I would agree but its my first install and it was a long day! It seems I am always learning what to do by doing what I shouldn't! Anyways, I turned everything on to see if I did it right and got a loud noise from the one speaker I had connected. Turned everything off real quick and said oh ****. Took a second and gathered my thoughts to realize I had connected it wrong. I plugged the stock harness back into the head unit (bypassing the pac interface completely) and get no sound at all through my speakers. And now my head unit has completely reset itself and all of my sirius xm info has been wiped off it.

I checked all the fuses in the main panel and there are none blown. The head unit turns on but I don't think it has any output. I think the amps and speakers are ok but I think I may have fried the pac interface and the head unit. I already ordered a new pac unit and it should be here tomorrow. Any other ideas on what i should do?

Sorry for the long write up but I am flustered and want to be as clear as I can about what I'm doing.

Any advice is welcome!

Thanks for the help,

Brad

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[gimling]

Ok so you hooked the factory head unit back up, are the wires goin to the factory speakers hooked back up to that factory harness and bypassing the amp again? the pac is designed for high input to low output so u kinda just put a loop back into it, that being said u also put it back into the output of the factory deck, There is a pretty good chance the pac is not damaged but your deck might be.

As far as the headunit being reset that happened when u disconnected the factory plug with the 12V constant u lost your settings thats normal.

 

[barobbin]

yes, the factory head unit is hooked up to the factory harness which is hooked up to my rockford components. the amps are completely bypassed at the moment and there is no sound. I had the head unit hooked up with the pac unit for a couple days running rcas to my sub and running the door speakers off the stock head unit. it worked fine and didn't reset anything with my radio when i hooked up the pac interface. the reset happened when i looped the signal from my amp back through the pac interface. the head unit doesn't recognize that it had my xm account on it. the only channel it has is xm preview.

 

[WhiteYota]

You might have to call XM (SirrusXM now) or visit there web site and have them re-send the activation signal for you units serial number.

 

[barobbin]

the xm is the least of my worries at the moment. there is no output to my speakers from am/fm or cd. I'm wondering if i fried my head unit? are there any tests y'all recommend doing?

 

[bradl79 10+ year member]

Try to pull the fuse and plug it back in and see if that works

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

Check for voltage on the output leads of the headunit with a DMM, and check the continuity of those fuses or just replace them with a known good fuse. Fuses can be blown with no apparent indication of the failure unless you test it.

 

[barobbin]

i visually checked the fuse and there is no sign of being blown. i will replace it and see what happens. also for the output leads, around what voltage should i be seeing? ill go test that now.

 

[bradl79 10+ year member]

I had that happen to my mom's car, it would not output any audio, so I just pulled the fuse and put it back in, no.need to replace it's not blown

 

[barobbin]

replaced fuses for "amplifier", "SYNC, GPS module, Radio Faceplate" and "radio faceplate" all fuses checked out good on my tester. I turned my truck on and the sirius xm is working now, all of the channels are there and my presets are back. still no audio output. I checked the output on the back side of the head unit with my multimeter and for the front left speaker output i got a varying reading of .05-8. I would assume that is not what it should be at. I didn't check any other output channels.

 

[barobbin]

are there any internal fuses for the head unit? I'm thinking this may be my excuse to ditch the oem unit and get a good double din

 

[WhiteYota]

You could but if you want to keep the Ford Sync and steering wheel radio controls you might want to make sure there are adapters available to connect them to an aftermarket HU.

I also am not sure how the factory XM is hooked up, it could be in the factory HU or as an add-on box.

Have you looked at Metra Lookup Tool to see if they make adapters?

 

[barobbin]

yeah there are adapters to keep the sync. crutchfield has a list of everything i would need.

I'm just wondering if i fried the stock head unit. if so I'm going to buy aftermarket

 

[barobbin]

anyone? i just got my new pac unit today so i will go install it and see of anything changes. i doubt that it will change anything.

 

[WhiteYota]

I have not had any stock units apart so I am not sure on the fuses however I have had plenty aftermarket units apart and have not seen any internal fuses (with the exception on Pioneers pico fuse). I do not think that stock units have any in them because they are fused in the main fuse block. I would think it is very possible that it did blow some internal component.

There is a website called Car Part that you can search for a stock HU from a wrecked vehicle. I did a quick look and seen that there are some out there in FL from 100-175$ if you want to stay with the stock HU. I will mention that if you do go that route depending on how Ford does the programming on that HU, one from a salvaged truck might have to be re-programed at a dealer. It just depends on if the computer system in your truck cares if the VIN # in the radio matches the other computers in the truck.