I made a boo boo :(

[ph34r]

Well I finally had a day off from school and work today so I decided to install my four new speakers (went smoothly), my equalizer, my amplifier, and new head unit. I started with the speakers and everything was smooth sailing as I drilled, ran cables, etc. Once I finished everything I went to test it out, but the amp and equalizer weren't receiving the signal to turn on from the remote wire, so then I checked behind the unit the and the remote wire broke. I fixed that up with a little splicing, but when I reinserted the working unit into the bay problems occurred.

The head unit suddenly turned off (lost power). I made sure the red cable (power) was still intact and that was fine, so I tried inserting my old unit and that one didn't work either. I checked the fuses directly on the units and they were fine. Now I'm kind of stuck, I'm unsure of how to further troubleshoot this problem. My father suggested checking the cars fuse box for an audio fuse, but I wasn't able to locate it in the car. Do any of you know where this is located? Do you have any other suggestions on further troubleshooting this problem? This was supposed to be a budget project, so I would absolutely love to avoid taking this to a shop for electrical analysis. I hope I didn't mess anything up too badly. Any help/suggestions are appreciated!

[sean_fabanich]

so....you replaced the factory radio with an aftermarket radio?


if so theres a good chance that the wires in the dash may have gotten pinched and shorted...cause a fuse to blow in the car...ive never had to check my fuses so i cant tell you where they are...but ive never seen a car that didnt have a stereo or radio fuse...thats most likely your problem...

however if you had trouble getting the new radio in place...which i bet you did....then you should pull it out..take a pair of snips or dikes or something and cut out the lil plastic bracket in the back of the radio compartment that as a whole it where the old radio rested...once you take that out that will give you mroe room...however its still a tight squeeze with ant adapter and the wiring harness...to get it in without chancing shorts your best best is to push the wires down behind the heat controls...its hard to get them to move...

but anyways...

id check the yellow wire and black wire too...if they came disconnected then they wouldnt work...

but id most likely say its the fuse....good luck with it..sorry i cant help more. (i think the fuse box might be in the dash on the driver side...ud have to open the door to see it...i think its in there...but im too lazy to go out and look at my car.. check your manual for fuse identification

[RedThunder94]

first off it would help if you listed what year your car is, as there may be subtle changes throughout the years. but all i can tell you is yes you prolly blew the fuse, especially with the broken wire, since it's real easy to do,

anyways check all your wires behind the stereo for any signs of chafing and fix any bare wiring and be a little more careful since you may get a little overzealous stuffing the HU back in there,

the fuse box on my wife's bug which is a 99 gls 2.0 is on the left side of the dash in the door jam behind the dash end cap, i couldn't tell you which fuse it is though, but check them all one by one until you find the blown one.

[ph34r]

Thanks for the tips. I was pretty much jamming the unit bak there because it wouldn't fit all the way back. There was a cable that had a little bit sticking out of the insulation after I used a quicksplce connector so that's probably what caused it. It isn't the fuse on the rAdio so I'll give the cars fuse a shot. I hopeits in the same spot as yours because I have no manual.

Btw it's 00' 1.8t

[sean_fabanich]

usually the only way a fuse in the actually radio blows is if somehow a short is created in the radio....so unless your radio went bad that fuse should blow...

it would have to be the fuse in between where the bare wire shorted and the battery...which is the fuse in the car..

[ph34r]

Originally Posted by sean_fabanich

usually the only way a fuse in the actually radio blows is if somehow a short is created in the radio....so unless your radio went bad that fuse should blow...

it would have to be the fuse in between where the bare wire shorted and the battery...which is the fuse in the car..

Thanks. I was able to find the fuse that blew, and the radio now works. I have one big problem though still, I am unable to fit the radio in the hole. The radio is the same size as the old one but the harness won't stay down when I push it down therefore I cant slide the radio in all the way. Is there a method of going under neath of the dash board and being able to pull the wires down?

[sean_fabanich]

not to my knowledge...

but if you cut out that piece of plastic in the back...then just about any radio should work...ive seen where jensens and duals dont work...but...

anyways.

once you remove that piece of plastic....if you used wire harnesses and spliced them together youll have alot more wire than you had before....what i did was tuck the original harness (the one that plugged into the back of the original radio) down in the left side of the radio compartment...its a toughy to do...mainly because the orginal harness is wrapped in a tape that really doesnt like to slide back down into the dash...ull just have to reach back in there and push it down as much as possible...work it down in there until u have barely enough of the radio harness to stick out of the hole for the radio. if your using rcas too...which i assumeyou are...that could be the biggest problem...chances are they stick straight out of the back of the radio...but hopefully by removing the little peice of plastic that the original radio rested in...then it should slide in...ive also seen where the ant. adapter gets in the way...my adapter is huge...so i had to tuck it down and to the right inside the radio compartment...

just remember when you have your hands back in there that it is easy to mess up the vents above...there is little platic arms that go back from the open and close vent switch..so make sure you dont knock one loose then put the radio in...one...it might get in the way of teh radio...and two..you probably wont wanna take the radio out when you finally get it in to fix something like that.

if you used crimp connectors you may wanna tape over them...so you dont end up getting another short as you work the wires and harnesses back into the dash.

other than that...good luck...

ps...the problem your having is commom...

one time i installed a subwoofer into a customers beetle...it was before i knew anything about the beetle...but i had a really hard tiem just getting the radio out because how taught the harness was...and how it would get stuck in the dash...once i got it out and installed the line output converter and the rcas...i tried to put the radio back in...i got it to a quarter of an inch...but the harness was coiling in the back instead of sliding down into the dash....

my solution was....i turned up the the 2 jl 8;s i installed and evenutally the vibrations from the subs worked the harness back in...haha...

good luck

[HarlequinPixie]

if you take\leave the bottom section of the center dash console off you can usually reach up enough to get to the wires while pushing the stereo back.. the part with the heated seats\flashers\rear defrost\etc buttons on it above the cup holders

[ph34r]

Originally Posted by sean_fabanich

not to my knowledge...

but if you cut out that piece of plastic in the back...then just about any radio should work...ive seen where jensens and duals dont work...but...

anyways.

once you remove that piece of plastic....if you used wire harnesses and spliced them together youll have alot more wire than you had before....what i did was tuck the original harness (the one that plugged into the back of the original radio) down in the left side of the radio compartment...its a toughy to do...mainly because the orginal harness is wrapped in a tape that really doesnt like to slide back down into the dash...ull just have to reach back in there and push it down as much as possible...work it down in there until u have barely enough of the radio harness to stick out of the hole for the radio. if your using rcas too...which i assumeyou are...that could be the biggest problem...chances are they stick straight out of the back of the radio...but hopefully by removing the little peice of plastic that the original radio rested in...then it should slide in...ive also seen where the ant. adapter gets in the way...my adapter is huge...so i had to tuck it down and to the right inside the radio compartment...

just remember when you have your hands back in there that it is easy to mess up the vents above...there is little platic arms that go back from the open and close vent switch..so make sure you dont knock one loose then put the radio in...one...it might get in the way of teh radio...and two..you probably wont wanna take the radio out when you finally get it in to fix something like that.

if you used crimp connectors you may wanna tape over them...so you dont end up getting another short as you work the wires and harnesses back into the dash.

other than that...good luck...

ps...the problem your having is commom...

one time i installed a subwoofer into a customers beetle...it was before i knew anything about the beetle...but i had a really hard tiem just getting the radio out because how taught the harness was...and how it would get stuck in the dash...once i got it out and installed the line output converter and the rcas...i tried to put the radio back in...i got it to a quarter of an inch...but the harness was coiling in the back instead of sliding down into the dash....

my solution was....i turned up the the 2 jl 8;s i installed and evenutally the vibrations from the subs worked the harness back in...haha...

good luck

Ah that makes sense, I was thinking about cutting the plastic out since that was what you mentioned in your first post, but I was a little scared... ill do it now, its better than having my radio half in half not. Yea The rcas are definitely adding to the problem.

Originally Posted by HarlequinPixie

if you take\leave the bottom section of the center dash console off you can usually reach up enough to get to the wires while pushing the stereo back.. the part with the heated seats\flashers\rear defrost\etc buttons on it above the cup holders

Ah that part is really easy to take out, I'm going to give that a shot also.

Hopefully I will have some free time today to work on that, thanks for the tips guys, very much appreciated! I will keep you guys update when I finally get this bad boy working

PS, I totally scratched the face of my brand new radio trying to get the darn thing in /sigh

[AbuNigel]

Could this blown fuse thing possibly be the solution to my problem as well?? that would be such a relief lol. I'll try not to get my hopes up though :P

[sean_fabanich]

ur still dealing with that issue...did you try anyt of that stuff with best buy...its def not a blown fuse.....unless maybe somehow ur using the factory amp and its on a seperate fuse than the radio...which i highly doubt

[ph34r]

I need your help again Sean! I measured the space vs. the radios size including the RCA plugs and no wonder it doesn't fit. Those darn RCA cables are space hogs. I was going to remove the plastic but tbh I just don't see how it would be possible to remove it. That is,unless I'm looking at a different plastic which is possible.. maybe the old owner took the plastic out already? Heres a pic of what the inside looks like:

[AbuNigel]

Originally Posted by sean_fabanich

ur still dealing with that issue...did you try anyt of that stuff with best buy...its def not a blown fuse.....unless maybe somehow ur using the factory amp and its on a seperate fuse than the radio...which i highly doubt

well the audio installer at best buy who is supposedly really good and smart has been on vacation for about a week. And my friend who works there and is trying to help me out, said he would let me know when there was an opening for the guy to check it out.
I already talked to the other guys who are working there, pretty reasonably, and they literally will not touch it without a $20/15minutes trouble shooting fee just because i put in the speakers. And i haven't gotten my pay check yet so i couldn't even have them do that if i wanted
hopefully my friend will have good news for me in a week or two, because he said one of his managers said they should be able to simply replace the radio free of charge, but the other says they can't touch it without a fee.
It's really a nightmare.
I've definitely gotten more acquainted with the sound of my engine though!

[ph34r]

Originally Posted by AbuNigel

well the audio installer at best buy
I've definitely gotten more acquainted with the sound of my engine though!

So Have I! I'm not liking the vrooom vroom's anymore.. I feel like Ive been shifting bad because Im actually listening to the noises now lol.

[AbuNigel]

Originally Posted by ph34r

So Have I! I'm not liking the vrooom vroom's anymore.. I feel like Ive been shifting bad because Im actually listening to the noises now lol.

Well the problem i've found is that i seem to get more negative now that i'm not bumping any Nas, Biggie etc. lol.
Really got my day off on the wrong foot when i was stopped in traffic and i heard a couple construction workers on the side of the road say 'where are your flowers!?'
/sigh. Idk if they don't say that when i'm bumping, or if i just can't hear them. Whichever works fine with me

[ph34r]

Originally Posted by AbuNigel

Well the problem i've found is that i seem to get more negative now that i'm not bumping any Nas, Biggie etc. lol.
Really got my day off on the wrong foot when i was stopped in traffic and i heard a couple construction workers on the side of the road say 'where are your flowers!?'
/sigh. Idk if they don't say that when i'm bumping, or if i just can't hear them. Whichever works fine with me

Off topic:

I will admit that before I owned a beetle I thought it was very homosexual for a man to drive one but eh, now I love it! Actually today a friend of mines told me it was a girly car, I just responded by telling him to find me any stock honda civic that could beat me

Back on topic: Lol my audio sounds super funny atm with only my tweeters and sub working (cant get second RCA to fit correctly) and my radio half sticking out. I really can't wait to find out how to get this bad boy inside of the slot like its meant to be. I'm thinking of buying the RCA's with the slanted butt that go downwards... do you think that will give me more space? Still waiting on a response on removing that plastic also.

[sean_fabanich]

hey man...thats that thing....just cut it out...hacksaw... or snips...whatever you got...just be careful not to go thru the wall behind that round thing...or thru any wires...just take you time...

once thats outta there...you should be able to better route the rca;s and harness...the radio will always be a tight fit...and if you bought a jensen, or dual it probably will never fit..they are just deeper most of the time...


just be careful..take your time...dont do it if you getting frustrated ya know...

and i dont think those rca with the downward bend would help...they would just be impossible to plug in and then slide the radio thru the cage...



...........and ABU....best buy is messing with you man...like i said they have reason not to look over the hole system and find your problem...but they still should be accountable for recommending those speakers to you and should at least be able to tell you if the radio is bad...evne if they cant replace it...they could test check your system with another radio...to see if it works...that owould at least tell ya if you need a new radio..or if its your speaker install...i said all that on the other thread thou

just talk to the manager...explain you understand there limited involvement...but tthey are still somewhat responsible...take it over his head if you dont get an answer...just be nice...and push for help...not the end resolution....go to the dm if necessary..if your a big enuf pain theyll take care of you...or just drive to a different best buy...tell em about the radio...and nothing about the speakers...and see what theyll do for ya...

[RedThunder94]

you should try the 90 degree bend rca's, those should save you some trouble, dunno about cutting the plastic behind the radio, i shy away from stuff like that, but cutting the plastic under the stereo is what i did to get the wires tucked. i was even able to use regular rca's with my premier HU with no rearward clearance prob, yes its a snug fit but still works really good.

[sean_fabanich]

yeah pioneers and kenwoods...jvc...clarion...they all will fit..even eclipse...

i dont think the 90 degree bend rcas will work because you have to plug them in outside the dash then slide the radio in...when you try to slide them thru the cage they probably wont fit...

if you had a car where you could plug them in once the radio is thru the cage then id say give it a shot...or if it were a double din opening...but id say its a waste of money...

cut the round thing out in back....it wont hurt a thing...just be careful...some people get so worried about cutting a bit of wasted pastic...

i guess i would to if i didnt do installs as a living...just be careful....cut away from the harness and youll be fine...once you get it creased you might be able to snap it out...

if you dont think the cutting of plastic is a norm...every sunfire and cavalier on the road with an aftermarket radio installed all the way into the dash have had 6 times as much pointless plastic cut out...so its fine to cut out that small piece of plastic...

just becareful...once you do that you should be able to get the radio in...ive never had to pull the plastic piece under the heat controls to pull the wires outta the way...but if it works for some then give it a try...but you should get rid of that plastic peice with the round hole...either its in the way...or its gonna be right up against the back of the heatsync....hot metal touching plastic...probably not the best for the car or the cooling of the radio...so get it outta there...good luck

[ph34r]

Alrighty, I trust ya Sean. I'm a little shaking about cutting but I have little choice. It's a pioner premier btw. Now I just gotta figure out how I'm gonna get that bugger out along with the metal attached to it. I won't have time untill maybe next week to finish up so I'll keep you posted. Thanks.