Crazy car stereo issue now...

[tachikoma]

I'm trying to install a kenwood cd player. I've been fairly successful in the past with installing decks but this is giving me some issues.

Everything is connected correctly, yet when I connect the ground (solid black) to the chassis (or a ground area), all it does is erase my clock in the dash...? wtf?

And the stereo doesn't power on at all, either way. I installed a deck into my wifes s13 no problem. I even double checked how I did it (was a while ago) and everything is almost wired exactly as my s14, yet this kenwood refuses to power on and I have that strange ground issue...

I don't have an SE, it's a base model, so no amp (that I know of) so nothing needs to be bypassed for the speakers. As far as I can tell it should've been a 10 minute install, which has turned into several hours of frustration.

I've researched all over, including http://www.installdr.com/ and various other sites, but nothing really mentions this issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[nrg]

Ground should be from the antenna. no need to wire up the ground on the radio.
I really hope you're using an aftermarket harness instead of cutting up the stock harness. with an aftermarket harness, you plug it in and it's all colored correctly to aftermarket headunit.

[tachikoma]

Originally Posted by nrg

Ground should be from the antenna. no need to wire up the ground on the radio.
I really hope you're using an aftermarket harness instead of cutting up the stock harness. with an aftermarket harness, you plug it in and it's all colored correctly to aftermarket headunit.

I thought the 'ground from the antenna' is only utilized with the stock stereo?

And yes I have an aftermarket harness I connected to the stock one and am using.

Again, it's not a matter of things be colored, that's all connected correctly. Yet I'm still not getting power, and I believe it's due to my lack of ground, because when I ground it, nothing happens, it just erases my clock?

[nrg]

all car radio uses ground from both that black wire and antenna.

[S14DB]

You don't have your wires correctly and you are grounding out a power lead. I'm surprised you don't just blow a fuse. It's scary that the clock is going out without a fuse going.

[gfisch]

Sounds like a short if its causing the clock to go out when connected.

Kenwoods (at least the two I have installed) have two power wires. The red one is the switched input and the yellow one is the continuous power. I think the power for the internal amplifier is actually drawn from the continuous power supply, not just used for retaining memory settings. I ran it straight to the battery (through a fuse of course) instead of on the standard radio circuit. I don't know how the harnesses are wired, I've never used one. I just get out the trusty wire cutter, soldering iron, and wiring diagram.

And, you definitely need to connect the ground line. Antenna is grounded too, but connect the wire.

Here's what i would do to troubleshoot:
Without the harness, you can try to connect just the 2 power wires and the ground and see if it turns on when you flip the ignition switch.

[tachikoma]

Originally Posted by gfisch

And, you definitely need to connect the ground line. Antenna is grounded too, but connect the wire.

This is what I thought. I shouldn't need the antenna ground if I'm not going to listen to the radio (I don't have the adapter yet). Only CD's will work.
(in an aftermarket stereo that is, not oem stock stereo)

Here's what i would do to troubleshoot:
Without the harness, you can try to connect just the 2 power wires and the ground and see if it turns on when you flip the ignition switch.

Yup, this was my next step. Thanks! I'll report back.

[jakal]

hay man i had the same problem...you can solve it if you wire it straight to your battery (with a fuse of course!), but like be careful because a mech said if you do tat, it could fry ur batt. wires...but so far so good....

[tachikoma]

Yup, went in and checked all my wires with one of those little screwdriver things that lets you check if the wire is hot or not.

Turns out the constant 12v into my car was completely dead. Bah, so I just wired one with a fuse from the battery. Works fine now. Thanks guys.

[GSXRJJordan]

if constant 12v to the radio is dead, you should check your fuses, because other things are on the radio fuse also. Glad you got your wiring issues sorted.

[tachikoma]

Originally Posted by JeffMilano

if constant 12v to the radio is dead, you should check your fuses, because other things are on the radio fuse also. Glad you got your wiring issues sorted.

I checked all fuses too btw

Everything else works fine. Just not the radio constant 12v

[nissan_driver24]

this exact same thing happend to me not too long ago... clock , door chime, stereo wouldn't come on... later i just found out that the some how the Room Light fuse burned out... i didn't bother checking the fuse cause i didn't think they had anything to do together

[theslows13]

nissan radios and aftermarket radios ground thru the ISO brackets that they mount into. the black ground wire for the radio should be bolted to the iso bracket or a suitable chassis ground behind the dash. none of this "grounding thru the antenna" bullshit. and check your fuses, dont run some wire to the battery. makes NO sense. fix the problem, not create more potential problems.

how did you check fuses? multimeter with continuity? with nissan's whack-ass wiring, when certain fuses blow, they still read continuity and "meter" ok... but if you pull the fuse out, its blown. also, dont just check for "audio" related fuses... again, nissan did some whack wiring and very much like nissan_driver24 said, it could be a seemingly unrelated fuse that is your problem.

i do this shit for a living so im not sitting here talking out of my ass. hope this helps

[ericcastro]

Originally Posted by tachikoma

I checked all fuses too btw

Everything else works fine. Just not the radio constant 12v

I had the same prob. I just wired it differently to something else I think. But that was such a stressful day!!

congrads. deep breath and relax now lol

[KiLLeR2001]

Originally Posted by nissan_driver24

this exact same thing happend to me not too long ago... clock , door chime, stereo wouldn't come on... later i just found out that the some how the Room Light fuse burned out... i didn't bother checking the fuse cause i didn't think they had anything to do together

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.