Help! Old deck, new install = no sound

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

Hooked up my old alpine to the existing aftermarket wiring harness that was installed. Simple install, all wiring harness(i believe) use the same color codes. These two did at least. I verified all wires were corresponding with the other harness before connecting them. Anyways, deck works still(it's been like 6 years or more since it's been used) and all the functions operate correctly. It still tilts, ejects and accepts cds, tunes, everything. There's just absolutely NO sound coming out of it at all. Static or otherwise. Is there something I'm missing?

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[dbeez 5,000+ posts]

what is the install in

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

97 ford exploder 4 door

 

[dbeez 5,000+ posts]

does it have a factory amp could be many things. so the deck gets power comes on goes through all menus but just no sound output correct

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

I don't believe it does, its just the plain jane sound system, no infinity or anything. Old aftermarket JVC was working in there fine except for a loose connection in the front speakers.(when the guy did the wiring harness up for that he just twisted and taped the wires.) And yes, deck functions perfectly as if it was playing music. Counts the time on the track played with no hesitation. I removed my antenna so it's not stopping on any stations on scan, but when I force it to stop on multiple different stations there's no static like there was with the JVC.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

In some Alpines in the menu features you can turn off the factory amp for cleaner sound...maybe its turned off in yours...you can try a deck reset usually there is a mini button on or behind the face you can press in with a pin to rest the unit...also a bad speaker or touching speaker wire will shut off a decks amp...the JVC might of worked with the bad speaker ...because of cheaper protection circuits...and the Alpine isn't

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

If it was going into protection, wouldn't the whole unit shut off? I did try the reset button though and that did not change anything. If there's a bad wire connection it has to be in the doors somewhere. I doubt the factory wire just decided to rot and get a bad connect on it's own. When the guy installed the JVC he did a half assed job so prob when he did the speakers he didn't put much more effort into it. I was having issues with the front speakers cutting in and out at lower volume due to a connection somewhere. I just assumed it was his wiring harness job.

 

[dbeez 5,000+ posts]

sounds like you neeed to pull everything and completely check all the connections to insure they are all good.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Id look into those front speakers for the problem...I'm not so sure on the Alpine deck...but on a Pioneer deck when there is a bad speaker or touching grounded out speaker wire ...the internal amp shuts down on all outputs...Everything else works....if you have those cheap add on tweeters thats usually where the problem is...in replaced door speakers check where the speaker wires attach so they arn't grounding out on the metal....

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

I'll have to do that tomorrow. I don't have any more time today to screw with this thing. I have to get to sleep so I can go to work tonight. Thank you both for your input. One more question though. Is there any way that the amp in my deck coulda **** out on me? It's been siting in a ziplock bag in dry storage for like 6 years. No trauma whatsoever to it. Just sat for a while. I wouldn't think that would be an issue since the rest of the deck is working, just not the volume.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

the previous suggestion to verify the internal amp isn't turned off is a good one - that is a common feature for Alpine head units. verify that through the menu.

Alpine will also turn off the internal amp if you have a short in any of the speaker wires, and the deck can operate normally (though some new models will give you and error code). redo all connections, especially if you know they are "half-assed" and giving you issues. use solder and heat shrink or crimp terminals with a proper crimper. do not just twist wires and cover with electrical tape, or use twist-on wire nuts for connections. at the speakers use properly sized female disconnect terminals that are properly crimped or soldered on.

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

the previous suggestion to verify the internal amp isn't turned off is a good one - that is a common feature for Alpine head units. verify that through the menu.
Alpine will also turn off the internal amp if you have a short in any of the speaker wires, and the deck can operate normally (though some new models will give you and error code). redo all connections, especially if you know they are "half-assed" and giving you issues. use solder and heat shrink or crimp terminals with a proper crimper. do not just twist wires and cover with electrical tape, or use twist-on wire nuts for connections. at the speakers use properly sized female disconnect terminals that are properly crimped or soldered on.

After seeing how he did the connections on the wiring harness I will have to doublecheck all the speakers. I've never, not even in my newbie days, just twisted wires together and taped them. I've always at least used crimp connectors if not soldered them. He probably just twisted the wire onto the prong of the speaker hehe. I'lll have to rip apart each door and check and reconnect as needed. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif more legwork than I wanted to do. Plus it means I'm without my music for a day or two.

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

Well, I checked all the speaker connections.. theyre fine. I took a tester light and hooked it to the speaker wires coming out of the deck and after the wiring harness. there is power going into the factory speaker wires, it just stops somewhere before reaching the speakers. So that kills the protection theory right?(I'm serious, I don't know that much about decks) I'm thinking there's a factory amp somewhere that is causing it, but I have no owners manual or anything to the vehicle so Im not sure how to find out for sure.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

a tester light isn't sufficient for troubleshooting. you need a DMM and you need to measure resistance (ohms).

above you mentioned that you didn't think it had a factory amp and the JVC worked fine, though it is a possibility. does it have a factory sub in the right rear quarter panel? either the right rear quarter panel or behind the glove box are common factory amp locations. here is a pic of a 1997 explorer with factory amp location

did you connect the blue/white wire to the factory harness? do you get sound with radio but not with CD?

you can bypass the factory amp if it's not a Bose/Infinity system (those use low impedance speakers typically). sometimes when you bypass the factory amp you need to add passive crossovers to protect the factory speakers.

 

[wwwroot 10+ year member]

I'm not sure bout the blue/white wire, I'll have to check again. It has aftermarket speakers in it which I need to replace one. I noticed today there's a huge rip in the cone even though sound from it didn't seem affected. I'm not looking forward to taking that quarterpanel off, it looks like a huge pain in the *** //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif Thank you for the pic and directions tho