head unit not turning on, accepts cd but doesnt light up Options

[brianforster]

all the wires are plugged in the right spots and everything appears to be connected right.

does this mean my head unit is messed up?

or the factory 2 amps are messed up?


this is an aftermarket head unit, using the metra 70-8112 harness going through the factory amps.

please help , i jsut want cd capability

[Yobbe]

So you get no response from the headunit other then it eating and ejecting CDs ?

[brianforster]

exactly

i think the head unit is blown because i hooked it up directly to the battery and it did the same thing, so i guess i will try buying a new head unit

[Yobbe]

Sounds like the headunit is blown yeah... unless it needs power on some additional wire ... Have you checked the wiring scheme for the head unit ?

[brianforster]

nope its pretty old kenwood kdc-217

ill look it up right now

[3TST]

DON'T QUOTE ME ON THIS but
There are normally 2 power supply cables that need to be connected.
1 from the battery which is for memory functions (MEM)
2 from (I think) an ignition live circuit (IGN)
NOTE: MAKE SURE THESE WIRES HAVE IN-LINE FUSES.

Definitely look at the wiring diagram for your head unit.

EDIT: You'll have another 2 power cables as well.
1 for your AMP(s) and 1 for an electric antenna.
...and don't forget to EARTH real well.

This post has been edited by 3TST: Mar 18, 2004 - 8:49 PM

[Yobbe]

The KDC-217 manual has the following solution to what seams to be you problem (kinda):

Q: The power does not turn ON.
A: The fuse has blown. (Check fuses, replace and retry)
A: No ACC position on vehicle ignition. (Connect the same wire to the ignition as the battery wire.)

Q: Nothing happens when the buttons are pressed:
A: The computer chip in the unit is not functioning normally. Press the reset button on the unit (page 5).

The reset button should be just below the right end of the display

[Yobbe]

3TST is right i think ... The harness should supply two wires with power.

One that bypass the ignition and always have power on it (to keep the memory in the headunit) and ...

One that is powered when the ignition is on (to "start" the headunit).

[3TST]

I think the 2nd IGN power wire that goes to the ignition switch is connected to the live wire TO the ignition so that the head unit works with either the ignition on or off. If you see what I mean. BUT IT IS DEFINITELY INDEPENDENT OF THE MEM WIRE AND NOT CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO THE BATTERY.

Infact, now that I come to think about it, your cigarette lighter works with either the ignition on or off and has a live to it. I think I spliced in there.

I actually installed a Sony Xplod CDX-MP70 head unit, 2 amps, 4 speakers and 2 sub-woofers sometime ago using an aftermarket harness but unfortunately I don't have the diagrams in front of me.

If you can post wiring details (wire color, short name e.g. MEM and description) for both you're head unit and your aftermarket harness, I'll try and work it out from memory for you.

[brianforster]

ok the head unit has 3 wires that i know need to be connected to get to work

red wire to battery
yellow is mem wire
black (ground)



update: i wired the red and yellow wires together and touched it to POSITIVE of the battery and black to ground and the head unit turned on and worked

so i go to car and keep both the wires together, then i wire it to the yellow wire coming out of the harness and it blinked utnill i actually turned the car on then it stayed on and i was plugging in the preouts for the speakers and i started to smell smoke so i turned it all off.

now i cant even get it to do what i originally posted, i checked all the fuses...

i guess i must have blown something this time


this is so damn complicated

[Yobbe]

OK, time for me to sleep ... Looking forward to reading more in a few hours ... lol

[brianforster]

what could be the problem if hooking up all the wires yields nothing and I know the head unit isnt the problem and neither are the fuses


stock amps blowing? (that shouldnt have anything to do with the head unit powering on should it?)

im lost

[Burt]

try hooking the head unit up to the battery directly with the red and yellow wires

dont forget the ground

if it turns on then its not the head unit

if it turns out that your stock amps are fried and you cant afford a new 4 channel amp then i would recommend wiring each speaker to the head unit and ditch the Metra harness.

get some good 12 guage wire for the speakers too.

[brianforster]

but if the stock amps were blown the head unit would still be able to turn on wouldnt it?

[Burt]

yea

[Burt]

well actually if the power is running through the amps first then to the head unit and the amps are blown then the head unit could possibly not get any power..


i dont know how the wires run behind there but its definitely a possibility

[brianforster]

its not even getting that far

[Burt]

what do you mean its not getting that far?

[brianforster]

i hook all the wires up and i get absolutely nothign to the head unit

but if i hook them up to the battery directly, i get juice

it may be a bad ground or something, i will try it again tomorrow morning whne im less tired

[Burt]

i will brainstorm and post what i come up with before i go to bed

[brianforster]

ok thank you

[brianforster]

well this morning i wired it to the battery and now it turns on but nothing comes out of the speakers

we alsu used a mini jack to female rca to male rca (or however thats sposed to go) to plug a portable cd player up to it and nothing came out then either.


im so frustrated right now, my only option i guess is to go home and put the stock head unit in and hope that it still works atleast for the radio, oh yeah my electric antenna is broken too so i only get 1 station and its crappy and not even clear

toyota makes wonderful cars but damn their wiriing!

[3TST]

Help is on it's way...
I'll do a couple of basic wiring diagrams and PM to you.

EDIT: You have PM.
Please, please get them checked first, they were done from memory.

This post has been edited by 3TST: Mar 19, 2004 - 8:40 AM

[brianforster]

i dont have it yet



also the stock head unit no longer turns on when plugged in to the main harness

conclusion : this sucks



I am pretty sure its not the stock amps blowing, because if they blew I would still be able to power on.


The only thing I can think of is a problem with the main harness


but this also doesnt solve my problem of no sound.

why did I have to get one with the 8 speaker upgrade and the wiring nightmare!

I'm so pissed right now, I cant even have ONE radio station that comes in crappy instead i get absolutely no music right now.

****

This post has been edited by brianforster: Mar 19, 2004 - 8:56 AM

[Drocay]

Just get a after market headunit and it will be fine and from what i've read the system8 will work just fine with it and bypass the factory amp because that might be messing with your system as well.

[brianforster]

I have the 8 speaker upgrade, theres 2 factory amps so I bought the metra harness to include both of them and then all this **** started happening

[Anub1s]

Im thinking you will have to do some serious custom wiring. It sounds to me that the harness you bought is bupkiss and its not sending the right signals to the right places. Thats most likely why you werent getting any sound when you custom wired the power and grounds. I would say screw the harnesses and just bypass it. Find what color does what and do a real pain in the a$$ job. It would be worth it in the long run with that kind of sound system though. Good luck and I hope this helps. if not give me a nice smack in the face.

[brianforster]

I think I might have blown my factory amp what are signs of this?

would the head unit still be able to turn on if i blew the amp?

I aws thinking about bypassing the factory amp like everyone normally does and using hte head units amp + the amp under the seat (my 2nd amp)

I'm pretty sure this will work I just dont exaclty know where to start, I guess its time to do some research

[Drocay]

http://www.installdr.com/InstallDocs/Toyota/PDF/869009.pdf

that should get u on the right track.

[brianforster]

thanks droc looking at that now


more update:

i went to walmart and bought the generic toyota harness and disconnected the factory amp and plugged it into the harness and wired the harness to my radio and nothing happened so this leads me to believe that it is not the amp under the AC it is the amp under my seat.

something is shorting, something is not grounded right, something is blown, i am not getting any signal from either the constant power wire or the ACC power wire at any point in this loop of wiring mess toyota calls a premium stereo system.

[brianforster]

damn that pdf didnt realy help because my stock amp isnt that one its a different kind

my stock amp has 3 plugs that go into the side

and my second stock amp (under the seat) has 2 plugs

[brianforster]

and i cant seem to find any clips under the amp just the 3 ones that plugged directly into the side of the amp

1 is really long and rectangular

1 actually fits into the stock wiring harness

and 1 was the plug that goes from that amp to the stock cd player

[Yobbe]

Do you have a tool for measuring the wires ? Checking for fround etc ?

[brianforster]

no unfortunately I dont, but I have tried connecting hte power at several locations and it doesnt evne make my stereo budge

I am pretty sure I blew 1 or both of the stock amps, and now I think I am just going to custom wire my 6.5's in the front and back to my head unit and use that untill I can spend proper amounts of money and get components and 4 inchers for the doors and 6.5's for the back.

it seems to be the only solution