OK, so I've had some hiccups installing my car stereo but everything seems to be making more sense. I have power to my stereo. I know this because the CD drive takes in and spits out CDs... plus when I remove the face plate (yeah I have a KENWOOD x469) this little red light blinks.

Now I checked my illumination connection and all is well but the KENWOOD face plate simply refuses to show or do anything. It's dead.

Now, I have had this stereo for two years and never installed it anywhere. It was in my dad's old Eclipse and when he totalled that he gave me the stereo equipment. It all worked fine (even after the wreck) in his car. I have kept everything in boxs and it should not have been damaged in anyway...

Any suggestions?

Radio seems to work - it takes in and spits out CDs and shows a red light but the face plate doesn't do anything.

Thanks,
iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

Just a minor and possibly stupid question. Did you use a harness kit for the stereo? I tried to wire my pioneer(yeah it blows but soon to be replaced with an Eclipse head unit) directly without the harness connections and it didnt want to work at all.

 

*cringes*

Yeah I'm bypassing the harness...

Directly wiring the whole deal.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

Hmm you may wish to consider spending the lil extra bit for the harness. It seems to be the extra factor in making the whole setup work right. I tried the hardwire....albeit all i did was put spade connectors on the wires and run them into the female connections....had it all done properly and nothing worked. THen I waited 4 weeks for the harness, the stereo shop had to reorder them for me 3 times since there sister store couldnt send **** properly. Got the harness and wired everythign back up...and to my amazement the beast worked perfectly...accept for the dash speakers. The prev. owner neglected to mention he snipped the factory amp wire. But since i knew i was going to be running bigger power to the speakers I just ran new wires to it all. Needless to say the harness was worth the wait since it made everythign work right.

 

I've got the CDA-9855 in my S5, works like a charm with the harness that Best Buy stocks...they also stock the install kit which DOESN'T look bad when done right.

 

At this point, if I can't get it to run directly I'm just pitching it. It's added weight the way it is. Any other thoughts I mean, technically, shouldn't it work without a harness?

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

You wouldnt happen to have a pic of your intall setup would you Tech Geek? Im curious as im going to need a pair of new kits for when i install into my 89 GXL and for when I put in the new uber system in the 88 SE

 

Well the only other things I can think of is a bad ground in yoru connections (I made that mistake the first time as well) But it should work without a harness....in theory that is. There may be somethign the harness does that im unaware of, besides keeping the wires nice and tidy and being able to swap in a new head unit in future endevors.

 

Yeah let me go get the camera!

 

Look ma'ah no wires shown! Yes perfect reception, also the box went under the kick panel by the ECU, fit perfectly even with the SAFCII harness down there.

If anyone needs a kit I can get it to you for whatever it costs plus shipping also the harness if need-be - I work at Best Buy!

 

Oooooo very nice. I can tell that its going to suit my needs...especially the din area for some gauges.

 

Any other thoughts?

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

ok well it took me 2 days to do a stereo instal on my car and im sumwhat of a installer ive done numerous installs b4 the rex and ive never been so confused in my life about an install anyways let me give u a quick run done on what i did

i re-ran both a constant power and a ground wires, constant power come directly from the battery, and the ground i made a nice little spot on the brace above the stereo. i also had to rerun the accesory wire, this is where ur power tester come in handy. find a fuse that works when ur car ignition is on but off when ur ignition is off. i ran mine from inside the engine bay

the reason ur not getting power to the head unit is ur accesory thats the reason why mine didnt work. btw im running a jvc arsenal ar-760 series deck

anyways if that doesnt work im gonna suggest going with a harness i know this is a pain in the *** but ur gonna have to do it

 

The harness is just a matter of crimping about 10 wires together and plugging it in...it's NOT hard and if worse comes to worse you can pay the guys at Best Buy $25 to do it...

 

Yes! OK, making progress guys! My face plate is all lit up now and I have (un-amplified ) sound from one of my speakers!! Hey, it's a far cry from perfection but at least now I know my head unit works.

I'll keep ya updated and post pics. I have the best buy face plate multi-kit as well and it looks slick. I'm gonna add some gauges below when I run into some money :P

Now, one more important question. Where do I connect my amp's remote wire?

Thanks for all the help,
iSP33D-for-J3SUS

P.S. (TechGeek) Can't you run your SAFC wire behind the stereo and out the back panel? I just noticed that you had it running in front of your cig lighter and wondered why.

 

I think it was a blue with white line wire, but then again I just heard a tech tell that to someone up there at BBY but it could be different.

 

mine was blue with a yellow stripe i belive theres a thoing onit in the faq section

 

Light Blue with white is Accessory... and I just plugged that into my head unit to make it work, lol.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

Sweet. Congrats on getting it working finally. You need to tells us just what youve done stereowise....im gonna be making my system sometime in teh spring...get the mechanics done then my eardrums...

 

Well what two wires are the speaker wires? I just happened to find out that the previous owner tried installing aftermarket speakers in the door, and even used a wood cut out to mount whatever speakers he was planning on putting in. Thus, all the blue plastic screw things were popped and broken. Anyways, I ended up noticing that there were 4 wires. 2 wires looked like the original wires, and the others looks like aftermarket ones. I tried putting both the original connectors on my Inifiniti door speaker, and not do It get the scratching noise, the speaker pops out. Am i doing something wrong? I would love to have some dang door speakers.

 

When it all works I'll post a write-up.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

Yay for writeups hehe. Ill have to be sure to include a dozen rolls of film and a detailed one when I make mine....5 subs and 6 normal speakers in one car is gonna kill me...or my fast driving one...

 

I have it running through the front due to the fact that If I park down town I can take the SOB with me and just unplug it.

You see this way, they wont make it down the street before it floods (or wont even start) and they dont get my equipment...it's a anti-theft device that pays for its self.

 

Not a bad idea. Unfortuanetly I don't think I'd do it. I'd risk the theft for a better looking car while I own it.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS