JVC Head Unit Only Partially Powers On

[Felbane]

Hi, all. I hate to ask, but I've exhausted every other means I can think of to solve this problem. Any help would be more than appreciated.

I have a JVC KD-LHX550 (http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?path...DL027445&page=2) that I want installed in an 02 Cavalier. I purchased the generic no-chime harness and spliced the matching colors/functions together, but it won't power on.

When I turn the car on (cranked or battery power), the LED's behind the buttons light up for about 4 seconds and disappear, leaving the screen blank and the power button completely unresponsive. The eject function still works fine, LED's turn on for the duration of the process then straight off. The "Display" button actually activates the screen for a few seconds and just shows the time before going dark again. I can't get any music to play whatsoever, CD or tuner, but I did hear the radio's chime once or twice.

I'm at a loss on what to do. There's 3 wires on the harness that don't have a counterpart on the player: Dash light illumination (Orange), unlabeled red/white, and an unlabeled black/white. I've tried connecting the solid red from the HU to the red/white, and the orange/white from the HU to the solid orange. No change at all either way.

Also, the stock stereo still works just fine in the car, so it doesn't seem to be a fuse/internal issue. The JVC unit was also working fine in a different vehicle.

This is driving me crazy, and any help would be wonderful. Thank you.

Here's a snapshot of the wiring diagram from the head unit's documentation - http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/Felbane64/6a06f212.jpg

and a horrible, blurry image of my wiring setup currently - http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/Felbane64/438fa121.jpg

Click to read more...

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

I have the exact same HU in my Crown Vic, and I just used a generic wiring harness as well. I only hooked up my 12v constant, 12v ignition, and ground as I would have on any other HU I have installed in there. It works fine with just those hooked up, so I dont know why its doing that in your car.

Its funny, I figured its the HU but it works fine in a different vehicle, and the stock stereo was working fine as well. Why not try the JVC directly connected to you battery under the hood to make sure its not the problem?

 

[Felbane]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try with just those 3 and report back.

Also, how exactly would I go about wiring it to the battery? I'm fairly inexperienced with this. I've just been figuring things out as I go.

Edit: Wired just the 12v constant, 12v ignition, and ground to the harness, same exact problem. No change.

 

[Felbane]

Nevermind, I figured it out after a few sparks.

The head unit works perfectly when connected directly under the hood to the terminal.

So, I'm not sure what that means... Is the wiring harness bad? As I said, the stock stereo still works, so the problem can't be between the battery and the built in harness, can it?

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

I honestly thinks its that harness, it might just be bad. You may have to run a seperate wire to your battery for your 12v constant, another one to your fuse box for your 12v ignition ( I like to tap the windsheld wipers, because they usually have power no matter what on postion the key is in, like your stock radio ) and ground the HU either through the harness, or seperate as well.

You have elminated everything else, the HU is fine, by testing it under the hood, the stock wiring harness is fine because the stock stereo works fine, the only thing I can think of is that aftermarket wiring harness is defective.

 

[Felbane]

Got it..

Is running wires like that necessary? Since the stock stereo has power, could I just splice my power wires from the HU just behind the factory harness? Only problem seems to be that the two yellow and red wires on the after market harness line up with an empty slot and one orange wire... Everything but the power seems to be getting through the harness. Speaker cables and such all work fine.

Thank you so much for the help, by the way.

 

[whizdumb 10+ year member]

There is no switched wire at the radio harness on the newer GMs. You are going to have to run a new one, as tez4life suggested, either from the fuse box (probably easiest) or the ignition harness. Just pick yourself up a fuse tap from an auto parts store and tap one that gets 12v with the key on, fuse that new switched wire (inline fuse w/ a 10a should be fine), and run it to the radio.

OR if you feel like being lazy and don't care if your deck doesn't turn on and off with your key, just twist constant and switched together and remember to remove your face. Ghetto, but works...

HTH