Hey guys, I'm going to be running all new speaker wire, that's not the issue. The problem I'm having is this head unit (aiwa), the "big" power hole is in the lower right (if looking at the front) and the main power wire in our car hangs down on the left. I cannot for the life of me find out how to move this wire over so I can plug it into the head unit. has anybody else had this problem? and if so, how in the world do I go about getting it over to the other side? (yanking on it didn't help, and i can't see where it comes from originally)

help!

 

That "Big" power hole is for your antenna, it doesn't supply power it receives your AM/FM signals. So if you never plan on listening to radio then you can leave it. If you wanna listen to the radio your going to have to buy an extension for it, anyone that sells audio stuff can hook you up, my local checkers actually had one.

 

are you trying to splice into the factory harness? save yourself a huge headache later on and get a harness at auto zone or whatever for 5 bucks. The wires are color coded to match aftermarket decks so it will be an easy job. But if ya didnt know the big plug was the antenna then ya should just have a pro install it. Dont want to fry the nex deck before ya even get to hear it.
Good luck man

 

Exactly what I was going to say. I got a 1.5 foot one from circuit city. It is way too long, but I just left it in the twist tie. It was like $10 so it isn't that big of a deal. Good luck. I just went through the same thing.

 

Since you have an '84, be advised that the antenna is positive ground.

 

hm, the last time i tried to install my head unit was in a fc, and in order for it to work at all the antenna wire needed to be plugged in, so I assumed it was a power wire. Thanks for the help, I went to a circuit city and radio shack today and didn't see any extensions, maybe I'll google for an item number. Thanks again, i'll get back to the install tomorrow

 

There is really no need to pay to have a pro install it. If you have a multi meter or a wiring harness there is very little chance of screwing anything up. Just test everything before connecting the wires. It really isn't that difficult.

 

yeah, i have installed a few other head units (one in my FC, and one in my friends civic). I've always gotten the harnesses, and i've never really had this problem before. I assumed that the antenna cord was a power cord possibly because of the head unit i put in my FC, maybe it was faulty or something, but it definitely did not turn on at all without that wire plugged in, so I just assumed it was power coming from somewhere... never really put much thought into it. That being said, I have the harness, and have run the wire for my rear speakers, and subs, I just need to run new wire to bypass those stupid amps for good for the fronts. I had a problem with one of my speakers (passenger front) cracking at high volume. I didn't do the first setup in this car, so I don't even know if the wires that I am using now are going directly to the head unit location, or if they were going through the stock amp. Either way, new wires will be in tomorrow going directly to the head unit, and it will give me something to do all day since i'm on spring break waiting for work to start on monday

oh, and the "pros" at circuit city or best buy don't always know what they are doing either... i've heard too many bad stories about them messing something up real bad. I at least have a multimeter and will check and double check everything before and after i hook it all up. I also install low voltage wire in houses as my job, so I have a LOT of experience with splicing, running wires, etc.

anywho, thx for the guys who helped, I'll look for an extension for the antenna tomorrow, or I'll just make one with parts from my fc's original radio (which is an electrical nightmare, by the way).

cheers

 

I just used a factory wiring diagram and some spade connectors soldered to the harness that came with my stereo to wire everything up.

Took about an hour.

 

that's how mine WAS done, but something had gone bad, either the head unit, or the amp, so i figured i'd just run all newwire (21 year old wire can't be that great by now anyway...)

 

I ran new speaker wire too, but that's because my new head unit is 50w rms and the stock amps are like 20w... lol

 

i put in the new head unit (minus the antenna for the radio) and the cd function sounds great, as does the aux input (mp3 player). Once I get some laundry done, I'll go on a quest for an extension, I'll let u guys know what I find.

oh, and I brought my digital camera home from college... but being the smart person I am, I forgot the cable to connect it to the computer. So, you will just have to wait a week for the pictures, but trust me, the new seering wheel, gauge faces, and head unit all go together quite well

 

That'd be a bad ground... Ground is connected to the case of the head unit.

Ground is also connected to the car's chassis... But you already knew that.

Look at the antenna cable. It's got an inner wire and an outer shield to prevent interferance from nearby electrical systems. Guess what that shield is connected to at either end.

That's right, the car's chassis at the antenna side, and the radio's case at the radio side. That was your ground wire...

Anyhow. when I installed the head unit in my 7, I had the same dilemma. I ended up removing the carpet all along the passenger side (Where the antenna wire runs.) and removing that side of the interior plastic in the hatch. I found about a foot of slack back by the antenna and pulled half of it toward the front of the car.

It got to be a bitch when it came up to the front behind the kick panel and up under the dash. Just wiggle it..

 

well, i couldn't find an extension at any store (radio shack, circuit city, sears) so I'm gonna go outside and try to do what pele did, unfortunatly, i can't remove the plastic on the passenger side hatch (or the driver side, for that matter) due to the sub boxes that I built (and i have them bolted down a la insurance reasons). We'll see if yanking on it will work tho, wish me luck!

oh, and the speakers are fine now, i assume it was the amp. Now i just need to buy a hearing aid cuz i'm gonna be deaf in about 2 years

 

I yanked it on the passenger side under the side door pannel about 6 inches, pushed that slack into the upper kick pannel, pulled on the wire behind the radio, and it worked out perfectly, thanks! now if only 99.1 hadn't turned into spanish pop... D.C. folks will understand... ::sigh::

 

Do you mean active ground for the power antenae to go up?

I know on the 88 it's active ground and was wondering if the s3 were the same.