Help with wiring

[Hopeless]

I wouldn't dare make such a statement, considering I know so very little about the subject at hand.

What I do know is, there is a red wire coming from the car and a yellow wire coming from the car (actually from the adaptor), and if I wire them up to the stereo red-to-red the result is exactly the same as when I wire them up red-to-yellow.

 

[poolman966554]

you can simply test this way here. take power AND memory wires from radioharness and twist them together. then touch the RED wire from the cars harness with the twisted pair with KEY OFF.

if radio turns on, thats your constant/ memory line. - its always hot.

if nothing happens, then turn on the key, and touch the pair of red/yellow from radio to red on car harness(same process). radio should now turn on. - that would be the radio ignition power

edit: power and mem colors may not be red/yellow on radio harness. double check first! but you want memory and power twisted together

EDIT#2: twist wires on RADIO HARNESS ONLY , not car harness

If you feel confused, post back before popping a fuse. or worse.

 

[Hopeless]

Thanks for that.

Fortunately only the radio side allows me to actually take out the wires, so I would only be able to twist them together.

Yellow and red together at the radio end connected to the red wire on the car end without a key in the ignition switches the radio on. The exact same happens when I connect both to the yellow wire. Also, the lights in the car went off when I connected, but switched back on after I disconnected and pushed the button for the light. Hope I haven't done anything stupid there.

 

[poolman966554]

im not sure whats happening there.. im sorry bud, but i dont know what else to say?

Do you have a reputible car shop around? maybe theyll look at it and quick/fix, wont charge a ton

 

[Hopeless]

Thanks very much for trying anyway, my friend. I was hoping it would be something common, but obviously not.

It must have something to do with the previous radio. Maybe the factory installed one has a different power supply.

 

[poolman966554]

you DO have one of these right???

Amazon.com: Car Stereo Radio Player Wire Harness Adapter Plug for VW Jetta Passat: MP3 Players & Accessories

 

[Hopeless]

I do. These are the connections in pictures:

 

[Hopeless]

Hmm, pictures don't seem to want to attach. Sorry about that.

 

[poolman966554]

upload to imgur

 

[Hopeless]

You are the master of all knowledge.

Pictures are now up showing the connections from the wires coming out of the dashboard to the car stereo.

 

[poolman966554]

psh. are you kidding? im just stalling till a real expert gets here. lol

your connections from adapter harness to radio harness arent very clear.. can you post a pic of wires sprawled out neatly?

 

[poolman966554]

also, make sure to antenna is plugged in aswell when trying to turn on radio.

 

[Hopeless]

More pictures:

From car

To stereo

Antenna adapter

Other end of the antenna adapter

 

[poolman966554]

ok. let me get more info.

what needs to be seen to "check" your wiring is not the factory connection to the store bought adapter.. im looking to see the spliced portion YOU did from the radios harness to the adapters harness. GOOD pics of that will help us(me?) help you better

 

[Hopeless]

I'm flattered you think I did anything with the harnesses. It's all store bought.

When I bought the radio, I bought the first set of wires to connect it to the car at the time, and the second set of wires are obviously part of the adapter. All I have ever done is plug one bit of plastic into another bit of plastic, with the sole exception of swapping the red and yellow wires by pulling out and pushing in the bits of metal.

I assume all the connections must be good, as it worked this morning in my old car.