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need aftermarket stereo wiring help

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PlanZero

Proven Member
1,516
263
Aug 13, 2013
Easton, Pennsylvania
The original harness was a mess. I don't know what the PO did but the radio he had didn't work at all. I got a new JVC unit, googled 2g factory harness diagram, and hooked it all up. Problem is, the battery and ignition wires are acting weird, and now my interior lights only go on when the key is in the acc position, and the radio keeps resetting to demo mode every time I turn the car on. I had to basically twist all four wires together to get to this point (factory batt, ignition, JVC harness batt and ignition). If I try to hook up the wires properly , I only get power to the radio and nothing else. Also, the interior lights only work if the stock batt and ignition wires are connected, which makes no sense to me.
 
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the radios got a timed delay (dome light) could be something causeing an issue re check all your wireing and make sure you didnt mix up wires like acc or constant power send me your manual for the radio or the scematic on the console itself might be able to help just need some details!
 
Typically that happens when the constant power isnt working the illumination wire (orange most of the time needs to be hooked u).[DOUBLEPOST=1415787746][/DOUBLEPOST]Also try swapping those two wires for power one retains memory the other turns the radio on check voltage at wires with key off. The one with power is the one for memory (constant power ) the other should have power with key in on position
 
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All wires are connected properly, including illumination. Here's the problem. The acc and constant power, or batt, don't do anything unless they're connected together. I have no interior lights, door bell, etc, unless I touch the batt and acc wires together from the factory harness. This makes no sense to me.
 
Have you checked voltage on both wires yet? I've had to do this before and manually turn off and on the radio. Ended up being no power from the ignition wire had to get into the fuse box and run a new wire for ignition only power.
 
Sometimes, Google gets it wrong, or people make mistakes when putting things out there. It really sounds like swapped wires. Try getting a wiring diagram from a manual and see if they match. Can't always trust colors of wires.
 
OK, I found a factory harness with an aftermarket adaptor at the junkyard, and thought I'd try hooking it up properly. Still no luck. I have voltage on the batt wire, but none on the acc wire, even with key on. But, when I connect those two wires together the interior lights, door chime, etc work. The factory wiring doesn't appear to be altered, except for the fact the original harness was cut. For whatever reason, the acc wire seems like it's acting the reverse of what it should be, like it's receiving a signal, but not sending if this makes sense. I wouldn't mind so much except for two reasons: the possible unwanted strain on the battery, and most of all my stereo won't stop defaulting to demo mode every time I turn the car on.
 
Main thing you should do is track down and find out why your acc doesn't have power with the key on.
 
try and locate any wire that works when the key is on acc that shows 12 volts on acc not (ON) but acc and NO voltage during cranking (volt meter is your freind for this) so like for example you could tap into your ac system before the switch not after or the radio will only work with the ac on, might not solve all the problems but it should get your radio working with the key[DOUBLEPOST=1417046333][/DOUBLEPOST]send me all the info you have for your radio as well as the year of your car (done this install plently of times) subs few times ,did my own command start with anti grind ,installed to many decks to remeber[DOUBLEPOST=1417046803][/DOUBLEPOST]and again volt meter will save your A$$ on this if your unsure of a wire thats when you use the voltmeter , you should always check your wires and write down the finding saves alot of headachs and you should be able to just turn the key an be done and not have to trouble shoot , make sure your constant 12v wire is a 12v constant you can make your own simply connect a wire to your + batery terminal but no matter what youu always check the wires even if you have a perfect schematic you never no what the person did before you these cars have been around LOL
 
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Well thanks for the help. Its a 97 Tsi awd, and a JVC KD-R330 head unit. The 12v constant seems to work fine, since I get voltage with the car off. On a side note, I'm trying to get my car inspected but I cannot pass emissions because my sensors are still "not ready". I don't put many miles on a day, but I know for sure the car's been driven at least 60 miles since the last time I cleared the CEL (for an o2 sensor) so I don't understand why 4 sensors aren't ready (you can only have 2 " not readys" pass). Could the fact that my acc wire isn't working properly cause the ecu to reset every time I turn the car on? I don't know how long this has been happening since there was no radio in the car for the longest time, and I can't remember if the interior lights worked properly before. The only thing I've done electrical related is swap out the battery. If this can be related, could it be from the batt neg wire not being grounded properly? How do I check? OK, here's more info. I tapped into the acc wire from the lighter. When I separate the wires then reconnect, the radio does not reset, but when I turn the key off and on it does. Relay related?
 
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y'all got any pics or info for the aftermarket stereos i own a 95 eclipse and dome light doesn't turn on kenwood stereo still has demo mode coming on i believe i hooked up all the correct wires but yellow and black strip wire isn't hooked up but rear speakers work. google didn't help me out at all and fuses wore all good
 
Well I'll give you the update. It was the dome light (lamp) fuse under the hood. Looked OK but must've been faulty. I replaced that and no more problems.
Almost all aftermarket stereos have the same wiring colors. I found several diagrams on Google for the OEM diagram. The only wire that doesn't get used is the orange dimmer wire I think.
 
Glad to see you figured it out

Well I'll give you the update. It was the dome light (lamp) fuse under the hood. Looked OK but must've been faulty. I replaced that and no more problems.
Almost all aftermarket stereos have the same wiring colors. I found several diagrams on Google for the OEM diagram. The only wire that doesn't get used is the orange dimmer wire I think.
 
y'all got any pics or info for the aftermarket stereos i own a 95 eclipse and dome light doesn't turn on kenwood stereo still has demo mode coming on i believe i hooked up all the correct wires but yellow and black strip wire isn't hooked up but rear speakers work. google didn't help me out at all and fuses wore all good


Grab a schematic for the cars radio harness

Go into your manual for the jvc and figure out what wire you hooked up incorrectly

Did you accidentally put the constant power wire as an accessory wire ?

Can you disable demo mode?

Did you check the dome light relay?
 
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got the dome lights to work theres a plus and minus on either side LOL and they were on the wrong sides so they work finally and i gotta check for a pic of the wire diagram
 
i think i give up on my darn stereo the wires r pissing me off n i have done it a million times it was working but some were not connected I'm done trying
 
i think i give up on my darn stereo the wires r pissing me off n i have done it a million times it was working but some were not connected I'm done trying

Well your in luck because I'm not giving up so easily ,

Please give me some details including : car year/make/model

Model # of your deck of choice


Have you been using schematics ? If so post a picture on this forum

Your using a multimeter right? (Continuity Is a great feature on DMM)


Any aftermarket alarms or command start systems?

Any known electrical gremlins?

Car radios are very simple to wire up although stuff can be overlooked

Are you using crappy Butt/crimp connectors or t-taps, or spade connectors ?
If so get rid of ALL those useless connectors and solder EVERYTHING !! (With some heat shrink Of course )

Did the old radio work alright?

Any aftermarket amps or subs?

Have you checked if your ground is connected perfectly ?

Take the radio out and throw it in the back and don't even look at it.
make sure the harness is easily reachable for testing/probing with a DMM

Grab that stereo harness and show it who's boss by literally testing each wire while you turn the ignition on/off

There's only a few wires needed for the stereo to work so that's what we're focusing on.
Make a piece of paper with all your connections on it (always a good idea to this before you even start) ,
you should than double check that your wires are the correct wires that are needed

(WARNING ***
Don't have any open circuits while you turn the key when your ensuring every wire is connected to the right wire in the harness) and vise versa

Constant power isn't switched so have you checked to see If you get 12.4 + ish volts ALL THE TIME to your stereos harness ?

Acc is connected to your accessory wire in the ignition or did you hook it up to something else ?

Ignore the speaker wires(for now)
Ignore the illumination,rear camera,parking switch , antenna/remote turn on wire for amps

And what's happening or not happening when you try an listen to the radio ?

I'll do my best to help you out as much as I possibly can
 
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ok so i got the dome lights to work the bulbs have a plus and minus on either side of them so i switched it over and they both work door clickers that make it turn off and on work great.

what is confusing is the hole wiring thing because i have searched for 2 years off and on about the wiring when i plug up the huge YELLOW/BLUE/RED wires connected together thats the only way my stereo turns on but in the diagram all those wires go separate I've had the wires working before but the orange with stripe wire to illumination wire wasn't hooked up more the black/yellow one heres a few pictures I've used to try and work on it
i have a after market stereo called KENWOOD - KDC-MP258U
i have 2 wiring harnesses for the car same plugging all fuses are correct even the fuse on the stereo works
(P.S i really am greatful for your help)
Car info - 1995 / mitsubishi eclipse / Rs / Non turbo
i was thinking of buying the original wiring harness from a salvage from NC he has over 150 mitsubishi eclipse there
every time i try and work on the stereo i use those red plugging wire tubes and crimp it so its good and working and when i get confused i take it off n it shortens the OEM wire so i was thinking i should buy the oem wire from him install it with the plugs then start from there ... unless u think other wise let me know heres some pics I've used for info ......
 

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also in the wiring info in the pictures i use this plug that ill show in the picture and the info from a regular eclipse plug it says use 2 white wires and a few white with black but theres only one of each
 

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The blue wire should never be connected to a 12 volt source fyi, it is a signal wire. Yellow to 12+ constant, Red to 12+ switched, black to ground. Simple. The rest are just speaker positive and negitive's. Leave the brown, blue/white, and light blue/yellow alone to start with and make sure they are not connected to anything to begin with. Get all those wires corrected and do one speaker at a time and you should be good to go. Like GuitarKid said, stereo's are very simple electronics 101. You are correct that most aftermarket stereo's are all color coded the same with green, purple, white and grey for speaker connections. Good luck and don't get overwhelmed! You can also test the speakers with a 9V battery. Touch it to the positive and negative of each speaker and you should hear it crackle when the voltage is applied. Don't leave it on, just use it as a test for each speaker. :thumb:

See page 15 here:
https://content.abt.com/documents/52709/KDC258U_manual.pdf
 
so i take it i shud take out my console AGAIN and wait for these lil red wire things in the mail since i ordered some on amazon and wait for a wire from nc salvage (miller import auto or auto import he's pretty cool) but my original wire is really short thats why i wanted to order one from him
 
You can always test to make sure all the connections are correct and the unit works then do the install with your extra parts that you are ordering in. I personally hate hacking in a stereo or any other thing so I like to plug and play with an adaptor harness but if it has already been chopped off then you don't have that option.

Here is that link, it was the wiring diagram for your Kenwood deck. I run Kenwood units also so I like your taste :)

You must be logged in to view this image or video.
 
yeah i have 2 huge speakers in the back but I'm not worried about those right now I'm more worried about the speakers/illumination n such i like my kenwood its the one that has multi colors in it and the demo mode never goes away to bad ur harness isn't like mine then id just say take a pic of ur wires hooked up n i could do the same
 
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