Head Unit Installation gone wrong

[STIorDIE 10+ year member]

Hey guys, I'm a noob to car audio but i researched installing headunits and tried it out today and it just went wrong. So i got the wiring harness and crimped the wires together matching color. Then i disconnected the battery and removed my old stereo and mounted and plugged in the new stereo and reconnected the battery. Now my car alarm goes off when I unlock the door and the head unit doesn't power on at all. What did I do wrong and what should i do. I have a viper 5901 alarm btw.

Click to read more...

 

[hayhayday 10+ year member]

did you match the wiring diagram from your factory unit to the wiring diagram from head unit harness or just matched color? On my car at least very few of wires were same color so I suggest you get a diagram for your car and confirm with the diagram that came with your hu.

 

[STIorDIE 10+ year member]

i checked myself and made sure the wires on the factory diagram matched with the diagram on the headunit. Its weird because it let me in the first few times fine and then just started going off after i disarmed it and i have no way to stop it.

 

[AVX Mike 10+ year member]

All I'm going to say is professionals make a living doing this for a reason.

 

[jgruberman 10+ year member]

Did you just splice your new headunit into the factory wiring, or did you use a wiring harness from your local car audio shop?

Making assumptions:

I would unhook your newly installed headunit, go to your local car audio shop/retailer and buy a wire harness for your stereo. Then splice THOSE wires into the aftermarket stereo wiring harness. Then plug the harness you just bought into the factory one.

 

[AVX Mike 10+ year member]

What kind of car? Is the factory alarm going off or the aftermarket. Factory....turn or turn and hold the key in the drivers lock. Without knowing the car I am going to assume the bypass module or doorlock module installed to make the alarm work properly lost programming. Many do this...it *****. Did you install the alarm yourself or have a shop do it?

Also some wiring harness have an accesory wire on them but they don't work as the vehicle's factory radio was turned on by a data signal. If this is the case you need to find your own switched power wire.

 

[STIorDIE 10+ year member]

I got an 07 sti. I used a wiring harness from an audio shop and its the aftermarket alarm going off. And I had a shop install the alarm for me.

 

[STIorDIE 10+ year member]

so i solved the problem with the alarm going off. Now i just cannot get the headunit to power on.

 

[jgruberman 10+ year member]

What are you using as a reference for the wire colors? And do you have the ground connected?

 

[STIorDIE 10+ year member]

i'm using the kenwood wiring diagram and matching it up with the wires on the wiring harness. Checked for blown fuses and then tried connecting the ground to the - and power to the + and the unit didn't power on so kenwood told me to send it back.

 

[djm4rshm2llow 10+ year member]

A long time ago when i had no idea what i was doing I had blown a fuse and couldnt find it. I had checked the fuse that said "stereo" and it wasnt blown. But it wouldnt power on. So i went to the dealership and asked if thur was anymore fuses that could be blown. There was 2 aditional fuses that the names had nothing to do with my radio but one of them was blown. My point is, i would check all the fuses before i sent back the radio. Could be an easy fix //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[jgruberman 10+ year member]

... tried connecting the ground to the - and power to the + and the unit didn't power on....

Also, did you get the battery(yellow) if applicable? Red, yellow and black will get you going if you forgot one //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

But yes what DJM said... check ALLLLL fuses. If you did a self wiring job, you may have crossed a wire. Check under the hood, and around the driver side(maybe under the dash) for another fuse box just in case.

 

[FenixAudio 10+ year member]

well, if you use a meter you can narrow the search down quite a bit. meter yellow and red. one ofthem isnt getting voltage. it will tell you which fuse to check. always ALWAYS use mter to check your stuff before you go hunting. if you dont have a meter or dont know how to use one. they sell them for $4 at harbor freight tools for a cheepie and gotothe library and get a repair manual and learn ow to use basic tools. i swear to god they need to teach this crap in high scool. like this is a fu@king digital multi meter here is how to use it. just the basics, nothing to complicated. i hired a guy out of high school who begged fora job and i felt like i could give him a chance. i asked him to figure out the cubic footageof a square box for me and he looked at me like i had 2 heads..that same day he asked me how to measure to an 1/8th of an inch on tape measure....i felt bad and kept him for 2 more weeks and he quit eventually. WTF did they get rid of shop class in school? and WTF happened to learning how to build **** withthere dads?

 

[GAM3OVR 5,000+ posts]

fenix. I lold

stiordie, if you want some help, I could fix it for you. I have no idea what you did wrong, But I can def fix it.

 

[STIorDIE 10+ year member]

so i ended up taking it into the shop. All fuses were fine and wiring was crimped fine. turns out the unit was defective. Got it replaced with a KDC-BT945U and unit works great!