Problems with Stereo Installation

Hey there!

I'm a novice(installed a few of these over the years- but far from a pro so bear with!)


I've been requisitioned by my girlfriend to install a simple Aftermarket Aiwa stereo into her 91 Toyota Tercel. She bought the car used and the OE Stereo was crappy(the LCD was too dim to read, it wouldn't hold any presets, ate tapes, -blech)

I took the dash apart and the old unit out and realized that whoever she bought the car from had hacked the wires and then put the OE unit back in to sell it.. Loads of fun for me it seems.

I got the wiring diagram from installdr.com and set about looking at the wires only to realize the dash wires didn't fully match the diagram colors. So it's try my luck time- using the diagram as a sort of guide I hoped.

found the power and the ground but the backup/battery power wire wouldn't work or hold presets when the car shut off. So I ran a new wire directly to the fuse box and that seemed to do the trick when I first tested it. Hooked up all the speakers/antenna, put the dash back together and took it for a drive..

Here's the fun part:
Got power but once again, wouldn't hold presets. Checked fuse connection 3-4 times and still nothing. Also the speakers(all of them) crack up really badly the louder the volume gets. Not crack up like they are blown- but crack up like the wire is not connected well(except it's ALL the speakers) Grrrrr. And to top it all off- the dome light, and the dash clock won't come on now either.

I ran out of daylight and she is on my case about fixing it for her..

Any suggestions? Should I just hardwire everything? All the speakers? and run the backup power directly to the battery? If so what's the best way to do that? Should I put a fuse on that line? Do I just wrap it around the battery post?

What's going on!?
Thanks
ripthesystem

[Accord Man]

for the constant, just run it to any wire that is directly in contact with the 12+.

can you give me any examples of those in the panel?
like- is the cig lighter a constant 12v? I know the ashtray light is 12V but that cuts off with the lights..

thx

[Accord Man]

I'll do more than that..

Here's how you find them..
with the car off (or key in off position)
find a wire that is a getting a 12v (simply touch the wire with a 12v tester)..

granted that would work- but could you narrow the search for me some- so i don't have to just randomly start stripping and testing wires

Also is it a possibility that the speaker problem is from not the right amount of power going through the stereo?

I did mention I'm a noob right?
maybe I should add that to my signature.

ripthesystem

[Accord Man]

the constant 12+, is usually the thicker wire.. For the color, for japanese cars usually white or yellow.

If you check the few wire that run to your iginiton you could easily find it.


for the speakers, what do you mean, by cracking up?? they distort at high volumes?? or is the sound just messed up?!?!

thx for all the help so far.. I'll do my best to find the 12V

as far as the crackling.. kinda hard to describe. Well just say that the volume goes 1-10.. At low volumes(<4) everything sounds ok but it's really soft so it's hard to tell..

at anything higher than that you get a cracking up noise. Almost like those really old stereos that crack and pop when you come to a station only it's all the time and more noticeable(read unlistenable) the louder you get.

somewhere around 5-6 you get constant cracking and breaking of sound. Like when you connect speaker wires by touching them together and taking them apart. you get that noise- constantly. like a bad wire connection.. only it can't be that the speaker wires are cnnected poorly. they are secure.

ok dude... the problem with the wiring is that once the key turns off, the head unit totally loses power, like... you might as well unplug it. when a head unit is wired 'correclty', it actually has two power wires. one is coming pretty much directly from the battery, meaning that it'll be fused but the wire with have power whether the key is in or not. this way, it'll do things like store presets, equalizer settings, and allow you to eject a cd even when you turned the car off. that's all it'll do. it seems that this wire is your problem-wire. i'd look at someone else's car similar to your girlfriends to see where the wire comes from, or at least look at a wiring diagram for your car... i'm sure you can find them online.

the other power wire is run off the 'accessory' power coming from the ignition... meaning, that in the first stop of turning the key (remember there are 3... accessory, run, and start) now, this power wire is not has 'juicy', all it does is send power to a relay in the head unit, sort-of opening a gateway for the power wire mentioned above to power up the head unit.

-nate

[Accord Man]

did you wire the speakers properly??

if it was simply a lack of bass, the polarity might have been the trouble, but you'd better double check all of your speaker wires..

I'll probably try my hand at it again tonight..

could any of the probs I've described be caused by switching the + and - of the speaker wires? what I mean is 1 speaker is set up fine and then on the other speaker the wires are switched.. will this matter?

Also got to thinking about it- is it possible there is a dome light wire and clock wire that would be run through the radio? I just find it odd that both of these should go out at the same time.

thx again
ripthesystem

[Accord Man]

switching +/-, meaning inverting the polarity.. what that'll do is drastically reduce the bass of all the speakers in your setup.


for the lights, it sounds like a fuse problem.. check the right fuse, and swap in another one to see if it makes a difference.