Please help me help my son

[pwynn 10+ year member]

Good morning here is my problem:

My son bought himself an 85 Toyota pickup. He is 16 and the first thing he had to get was a cd player. We removed the old radio. Found the hot wire that was controlled by the ignition and the always hot wire going to the cigarette lighter. We hooked the red to the red wire coming off the ignition and the yellow memory wire to the wire going to the lighter. Everything seemed to work fine until he went to about half power while playing a cd the system would cut on and off. So he thought it was the speakers. He went and purchased new OEM speakers. He does not want to cut any holes in the door panels yet. It made no difference so he decided that he would just leave it alone for now. No he noticed that if he try's to use any bass the system cuts out, and when he accelerates it cuts out also. If he keeps the volume on low it all seems to be fine as long as he doesn't use any bass.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for the Help>>>a perplexed date

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[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

does the whole stereo shut off/on or is is just speakers cutting out? also does he have an aftermarket dash kit/wiring harness?

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

Is he using the original wiring in the truck?

If so, he needs a wiring harness- like $7 at walmart.

 

[pwynn 10+ year member]

yes the radio it self shuts off.

what excatly will a wire harness do for me....sorry i am such a newbie.

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

yes the radio it self shuts off.
what excatly will a wire harness do for me....sorry i am such a newbie.

convert the stock factory wire harness to adapt to new aftermarket radios without any modifications. just plug and play. all you do is splice factory wiring to the radio harness. also i'm assuming he has an aftermarket dashkit as well?

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Are you splitting power from something other than the dedicated radio wiring ? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[swimfreak26 10+ year member]

This is what they're talking about when they suggest a wiring harness.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4213068

Walmart is the cheapest and quickest place to pick one up. Just head back the the stereo stuff and you'll see them...they're sold by car model so be sure to get the right one.

Are you splitting power from something other than the dedicated radio wiring ?

Sounds like he is.

 

[ssj2xxgotenxx 10+ year member]

yes the radio it self shuts off.
what excatly will a wire harness do for me....sorry i am such a newbie.

The wire harness is like a converter that changes the factory wiring scheme into the required wiring scheme on the aftermarket headunit. If the factory harness is represented by "A," and the wire harness is represented as "B & C" (The wire harness has two ends, one end with bare wire), and lastly the headunit harness that comes with the headunit as "D & E." (One end is also left with bare wire)

======[] []===========/===========[]

______ A______ _____B/C______ ____D/E______

A. comes as is

B. Plugs into A

C. Combind with open ended part of D

D. Combined with open ended part of C

E. Pluged into back of aftermarket headunit

The little "/" represented the connecting points of the bare ends between C & D.

You can do this by simply matching the colors and soldering/heatshrink, OR crimp them together.

the "[]" represents plastic clips that clip together

Hope it helps.

 

[pwynn 10+ year member]

there was not harness....to start with when it was stolen everything was ripped out.

but what about the harness that came with the unit?

i am not sure if i am sharing power with something else. the truck was stolen a few years back and my dad added another radio. i am not sure where he got the wires

 

[ssj2xxgotenxx 10+ year member]

but what about the harness that came with the unit?i am not sure if i am sharing power with something else. the truck was stolen a few years back and my dad added another radio. i am not sure where he got the wires

When you buy a headunit, it should come with a harness with one side that plugs into the back of the headunit, while one end is left with bare wire. You combine this with the aftermarket wire harness you buy which is almost identical to the one that comes with the headunit. With exception to the size of the plastic bracket piece. You combine the two bare ends, and plug in play. Easy as 1,2,3.

 

[pwynn 10+ year member]

Here is a little more on the story. The truck was stolen they ripped out the radio and the speakers. So when my dad added a new one he just hooked it to a hot (when ignition is on wire) that is down where the radio would go. It is a red wire with a green stripe. I hooked the memory wire for the new radio to the line going to the cigarette wire because it needs constant wire. The ground is hooked to a black wire that is uner a bolt behind the gas pedal.

Hope this helps some.

If you have 4 sets of speaker wires and you are only going to use 2 sets what do you do with the others?

 

[Echo42987 10+ year member]

If you could get a picture I'm sure we could help out eve a little bit more!

-Nick-

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

Here is a little more on the story. The truck was stolen they ripped out the radio and the speakers. So when my dad added a new one he just hooked it to a hot (when ignition is on wire) that is down where the radio would go. It is a red wire with a green stripe. I hooked the memory wire for the new radio to the line going to the cigarette wire because it needs constant wire. The ground is hooked to a black wire that is uner a bolt behind the gas pedal.Hope this helps some.

If you have 4 sets of speaker wires and you are only going to use 2 sets what do you do with the others?

just tape them off and leave them be.

but i'd def recommend getting an aftermarket harness for ya. should be alot simpler/easier esp for the future.

 

[Echo42987 10+ year member]

Your ground wire might be way to long....keep those short

-Nick-

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like the ground might be loose really. Make sure the ground is solid, and grounded to clean,bare metal. Sand away the paint around the hole