No Dash Lights after install??

[maco]

Hey Guys, Nice site!!

I have a 1989 Chevy Caprice for my daughter's first car.

I bought it with stock radio and have installed a nice Sony am/fm/cdrw/mp3 player in it for her. She doesn't know yet!!

Any way to the problem, all works well but since I disconnected the factory wires the dash lights no longer work?? On anything??

I have checked all fuses and stuff and nothing seems out of place??

I was told by some one that when you take the factory radio out and not use the plug that will happen??

Now I know that the gray wire is for the dash dimmer and I am not using it. But does this make any sense to you?

Thanks for the help!!

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[KaeZoo 10+ year member]

Removing the factory radio won't normally affect the dash lights. The most likely cause is still a blown fuse; or you may have miswired the head unit to one of the illumination wires.

 

[maco]

I have checked all fuses, and they are all good, I checked with a tester?

as for the wires, I used the two speaker plugs and the 2 power wires for battery and key, yellow and orange.

But there is a plug that came out of the radio that I did not use, it has a Gray, and Pink, I think there might be something else on there but I will have to look?

Gray is for Headlight dimmer wire and the Pink is for the Power Antenna.

Thanks I will retest all tomorrow and try to figure it out?

I will let you know what I come up with!!

I hate when a plan doesn't come toghter!!

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Go through the fuse pannel carefully with a Test light...im sure there is a blown fuse in there somewhere.

 

[Big Dee 10+ year member]

I can almost guarantee you what the problem is.

The gray wire has to be hooked up for the dash lights to work. A fuse is probably also blown, the dash illumination fuse.

 

[KaeZoo 10+ year member]

I can almost guarantee you what the problem is.The gray wire has to be hooked up for the dash lights to work. A fuse is probably also blown, the dash illumination fuse.

The gray wire remains unhooked on virtually every GM that I install a head unit into, and I've never had a problem with dash illumination on any of them.

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

You said an orange wire.....isn't orange a typical illumination wire? And yellow and red the powers?

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

ive never used an orange wire? only red=acc and yellow=batt

 

[KaeZoo 10+ year member]

You said an orange wire.....isn't orange a typical illumination wire? And yellow and red the powers?

Yes, in the aftermarket, but not in OEM wiring. In a GM, orange is typically constant power and illumination wires are brown and gray.

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

So if he hooked up an orange wire, wouldn't that mean he didn't use a harness?

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

put the factory radio back in and see if it works...

 

[Country 10+ year member]

I have a 90 Caprice when that happened to me it was the fuse for the lamp(inside lights was blown)

 

[96TL 10+ year member]

Double check all the fuses. If they're all good, I would remove the headunit and try the stock one again like jmanpc recommended. You might've mis-wired something.

 

[KaeZoo 10+ year member]

The original post was from November. I think there's a fair chance he's got it figured out by now.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

The original post was from November. I think there's a fair chance he's got it figured out by now.

NO WAY!

But i had a 89 Caprice and use a harness and mine worked all fine