Electrical Help

[tizry]

Well, I bought an Eagle Talon 95 a few months ago and I am slowly trying to add to it. I installed an Alpine Stereo, well somewhat. The person who had the car before basically did a hack job. After installing the stereo, none of the interior lights (dash, heating and cooling) lights will come on when I put on the headlights. The room lights work fine. I checked all the fuses. I didn't want to go looking for a plug or wire that came loose without making sure there is not other problem. Can I just remove the dash and look for the wire or plug? I tried to read the manual regarding this also. Can anyone help me out?

 

[92awddsm]

I would remove the head unit and retrace all of the wires. If you lost all of the dash lights, I would guess that you have disconnected or cut a ground wire in the location near the head unit.

 

[illeffekt vr-4]

it really sucks when you buy a car that has been hacked, i know from personal experience.
you'll have to remove the stereo and trace/test/label all the wire. you might have to re-run some of them if they're in a bad shape. also remember that its a good idea to disconnect the battery terminals whenever you do any type of electrical work.

 

[tizry]

Thanks for the response guys. I think it is a loose ground because I did remove the head unit. By the way, after connecting all the wires using the harness I bought for the unit, only one speaker played. So I will be running new wire. Back to the ground, before it completely went off, it did blink a few times. So tomorrow morning I will trace all the wiring and look for that ground wire. Does the ground wire have to be a certain color, or should it always be black?