Troubles with AVH-P4000DVD

[MisterAutomatic]

Hello everyone. Outside of introducing myself, this is my first post. I have no prior experience installing car audio, but this is something that I definitely want to know for myself. I build computers for a living under my own business, but I don't know much about electrical. As for my situation...

I have a 2004 Chevy Malibu Classic, and I'm installing a Pioneer AVH-P4000DVD. Due to the issue of not finding a wire harness adapter that works on my car I had to find the diagram to the stock harness and wire everything directly. I installed a Kewood radio about a month ago, so I figured that this wouldn't be any more difficult. I lied. I was able to get my unit powered on, but I wasn't getting any sound. I let the tech at my job check the wires, but what we came to find was that my issue has something to do with a ground wire not being connected, because we were testing the audio from a usb drive, and this is a known issue for that unit. Once we switched the src to the radio I had sound....for maybe 10 minutes. On the way home the sound shut completely off but the unit was still on. Long story short I have popped about 5 fuses now and I'm looking for the best solution to wiring this unit. If anyone can point me to a harness adapter for my model (that really works) or a more intricate wiring diagram for the stock harness I would greatly appreciate it. All advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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[DonH 5,000+ posts]

4 speaker system or 6 speaker system?

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

best solution... dont straight wire you HU. kinda hard to say what the problem is, when it sounds like kind of a hack job on the wiring

 

[DonH 5,000+ posts]

best solution... dont straight wire you HU. kinda hard to say what the problem is, when it sounds like kind of a hack job on the wiring

how is straight wiring an HU a hack job? its simply eliminating the harness which is there for easy removal of the stereo, granted will **** if the stock one is ever used again.

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

its not... if you know what your doing... but if your brand new to it, like the OP said... it will prolly turn into a hack job

 

[MisterAutomatic]

its not... if you know what your doing... but if your brand new to it, like the OP said... it will prolly turn into a hack job

I'm sure how following a wire diagram turns into something of a "hack job". I know how to wire some, being that I had to re-wire my entire 1995 GSXR 750 with a different harness because someone did a "hack job" on that. My work is very clean. I cut so I can always reinstall the original harness if I ever find an adapter that works, and I use butt connectors, as well as soldering the ground/hot wire for the ignition. However I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere. I think one of my biggest issues is not knowing how to test the volt connections as far as how much should be running through each wire. That would help me eliminate allot of issues I'm sure...and its a 4 speaker setup. 2 Door, 2 rear.