alright so I just replaced the speakers in my car, and then I hooked up my old amp, and I got nothing. So I thought my amp was dead, so then I got a new amp. Hooked that up, nothing. I fiddled around with the wires for quite awhile, looked for a broken wire or something. After a while of messing around, I turned on the car and the speakers came on for about 5 seconds, then turned off for a second, then turned on, then off, etc. It actually seemed like the whole deck was turning off and on.
so then I went back to fiddling with the wires. I forgot to turn off the ignition during the last time I was messing around. Then I went back into the car, turned it off, then back on. The deck would not power up at all. So I pulled it out, changed the fuse, fixed all the connections on the wires, but still no power to the deck. someone please please help me out. Thanks a lot.
Replies (17)
UKinstaller on 06/24/2004 23:05:39
alright buddy, this is a pretty broad problem you've got going on here. so let's try breaking it down and walk you through the steps of installing.
first things first, are you getting power out of your head unit now?? let's make this our first priority. well i just read your thread and you are not getting power.
in order to get power to a deck, you have to have three connections: a constant source of power (the yellow wire coming out of the cd player), and switched source of power that comes on when you turn on the car, (red wire coming out of the cd player), and a ground, which is the black wire. you said that you replaced the fuse on the radio and there is still no power. well, check the fuses in your fuse panel that might be related to your cd player. to make things simple, just check all of them and replace anything that is blown.
after you do that, make sure you have a very good ground connection, which is the black wire connected to bare metal, or the black wire coming out of the wiring harness you used. some people do not recommend using the wire in the harness, but i use it and USUALLY, not all the time, have no problem. ask swez for more about this.
if you are in fact getting both sources of power and a good ground and there is still no power, it is the head unit itself. take it to a local shop and get them to power it up.
let's get this cd player working first and we'll go on from there on getting your speakers to work.
hope this helps,
-UK
UKinstaller on 06/24/2004 23:07:16
oh yeah, are you using a wiring harness or are the wires in the dash cut?? very important.
-UK
acgrundy on 06/24/2004 23:22:54
I am using the wiring harness. And the deck was working perfectly fine before I hooked up this amp, and messed with the wires. Is it possible that I could have ruined my deck? Now I was just checking out my wiring harness where the yellow power wire and the black ground wire go into this black plastic box. so I just opened that up and saw that there is a fuse in there. I'm not sure if that fuse is blown, I really don't know how to tell. but I'm gonna go replace it real quick and see if that is the problem.
the fuse I replaced earlier was in this white plastic thing on a red TURN ON +ACC wire.
thanks for the help, and any help is much appreciated.
acgrundy on 06/24/2004 23:42:15
ok, so it wasn't that fuse in the black box, that fuse is still good. How do I know which fuse to check for in the car? On my dash, there is a little panel that flips down, with fuses in it, and underneath the hood is some fuses. But none say stereo. My car is a 89 Nissan stanza, any ideas?
UKinstaller on 06/24/2004 23:53:22
it doesn't necessarily have to be a stereo fuse. cigarette lighters, computer chips, etc. can all be the source of your 12v. check every fuse in your car buddy. i'll be back on tomorrow.
good luck,
-UK
racerbizoehm on 06/25/2004 10:41:42
could be your grounding problems too, have a friend with the same problem his whole system just died :(
swez on 06/25/2004 11:39:50
Have you ever done this kind of install work before? It would seem that you may be way in over your head on this one. (on your own) Sure, we can give you all kinds of troubleshooting tips and strategies... but if you don't have the tools and background knowledge to understand and follow the plan... I fear we/you may do more harm than good here.
I ask that question because you said you don't know how to tell if a fuse is bad or not. There are 2 main ways to tell if a fuse is good or bad:
1. Visual inspection of the fuse element... is it melted open or looks like new?
2. Use an Ohmeter and test for resistance... if the fuse has almost no resistance, (.5 ohms or less) it is good. If the meter does not move or display shows nothing, the fuse is toast.
As for searching for fuses... some are in the car, internal fuse panel. There are also fuses and relays under the hood. Get out your Car owners manual and look at the section on fuses for locations and what fuse protects what electrical devices.
QUOTE: "the fuse I replaced earlier was in this white plastic thing on a red TURN ON +ACC wire."
That is the inline HU fuse for main power to HU. If that blows, means a short circuit or too much current in that line. If it blows again, the HU may have been damaged internally or the wiring job is not correct.
Personally, I would "strongly advise" seeking help from a buddy or a PRO that has done a few car audio system installs. Hopefully, he/she will have a test meter, 12 volt test lamp and a few installs under his belt to troubleshoot what has going south.
This project is not a DIY job for everybody. If you have some solid background in car electronics, a few basic tools and able to follow instructions from the install manual to a tee... then yes, by all means...try it. But if one is all thumbs and no electronics background under the belt... get some help.
Swez
acgrundy on 06/25/2004 13:49:04
Its not like this stuff is rocket science. I have hooked up an amp and speakers before, and I know how to do all the wiring. I visually checked all the fuses in the dash panel and they all look good. I'm not sure how to get to the fuses underneath the hood though.
acgrundy on 06/25/2004 16:40:46
aight, so I took it to a car stereo place, and they tested some things out. first off, my deck works, and it powered up. He found out that my ground was dead, and the fuse in my power line was dead. so I hooked up the ground straight to some metal and bypassed the adapter, and the deck turned on. then I turned it off and plugged in my amp remote wire and the RCA's, and turned it back on, and no power. any help, suggestions?
swez on 06/25/2004 18:39:05
OK... glad you got some Pro help to get the HU back online again. Good news that nothing seems to be wrong with the HU...we hope.
Is best to ground an Aftermarket HU to bare metal like floor pan or fire wall. This way, any external devices that are added later, will also be grounded to bare metal chassis and eliminate noise or connectivity issues later.
Also, the REM lead will only put out 12 volts and maybe 250mV of current. (0.250 amperes) If the internal power chip has a problem, when you hook up the amp, it may blow your HU fuse again. Check that again. (It's a pain I know... but hang in there)
A side question, you mentioned the HU did come on w/o the external amplifier connected yes? Do you have any external speakers hooked up to the HU now to see if it actually played music at that point? Even though the lights come on and some of the features appear to be working, there is still the possibility the HU has problems in the main powser supply. Rare to have this... but it does happen.
Moving along, try these steps:
PULL THE MAIN FUSE IN THE AMPS' POWER FEED LINE WHILE WORKING WITH ELECTRICALS !!!
1. Make sure your amp is properly grounded to bare metal and that polarity of power wire/ground is correct
2. Make certain your getting 12.0-14.4 volts at the amp power feed line(this means a 12 volts test light or voltmeter)
3. Do this next step with your RCA wires disconnected at the amp for now
4. Double check the amp fuses and the main power line fuse near the battery... they all have to be A-OK
Pressing onward....
5. Disconnect the HU REM feed from the amp for the moment
6. Run a small jumper wire from the Amp +12 volt power feed lug to REM on amp... see if the amp turns on and stays on, (after reinstalling the main power line fuse)
===================================================
Alrighty then... if the amp light is on and the HU is on, set amp gains to maximum setting (4.0 volts or so) and connect 1 RCA lead at a time, from HU to amp inputs. As you do this, have a CD or FM playing on the HU and the HU volume turned up about 20% of MAX. Tone controls and bass boost on HU and amp disabled (flat... No boost or cut) for now.
As you connect each RCA, you should hear sound from that channels' speaker. If that channel & speaker works... good job so far. Go to the next RCA and continue the process until all RCAs and speakers are working. If all that goes well, you know the HU, amp and speakers are all working properly in this test mode.
If you get this far w/o any fuses blowing or other odd things popping up, on the right track. If something goes kaput... problems at Mission Control. Time to back track some more.
Note: If the system is now working as normal, can disconnect the temporary REM jumper (after the main fuse is pulled on amp power feed line) Reconnect REM line from HU to amp, reinstall fuse at battery and try it all again. Make sure the HU and ACC/IGN is off while doing this connection.
If the system is stable again and the amp powers up, no fuses blowing etc., you are almost home. Ready to tweak in the amp gains and setting amp crossovers. However, if the amp does not come on, or the HU blows a fuse again, you'll have to hardwire a "switched remote" feeder line into your amp. The HU may have a problem in that circuit and cannot supply REM feed to your amp.
Finally, your comment that this is not rocket science is true. However, when flying a plane/rocket or piloting a fast boat... one needs to know what is going on within all systems and gages at all times right? Having some basic electrical test tools when doing this kind of work saves a lot of hassles later. Invest in a decent Volt/Ohm meter and a 12 volt DC test probe (under $25.00) at WalMart. These tools will serve you well in any car electrical work you do and come in handy for helping others as well.
Swez
PS Did not try to put you on the defensive when I mentioned having a Pro look at the system. It was wise that you did follow up on that suggestion. It was also a good thing, to come to a "newbie friendly" forum to ask for help. Some forums are very helpful and patient with newbies. Others are absolutely brutal on newbies and they get flamed with a blow torch. That does not help much, hard on the ego and teaches many not to ask for help when needed. I hope I never come across that way... but we all have our bad days too. Hope this goes smooth as French Silk Pie from here... SMILE If not, come back for more helps. Maybe one of our Pro Installers can do the rest better than I can... we all have our limitations.
UKinstaller on 06/25/2004 23:50:25
yeah i agree with swez, you should not be on the defensive there buddy. remember that YOU came here for help and advice, and that's what you were given.
swez was totally correct in RECOMMENDING, and nothing more, that you visit a professional. if you do not even have a tool for measuring voltage, there is very little you can do to help the situation. obviously your claim that this is not rocket science is void because you had to go visit a professional.
so please, do not insult swez or anyone else with such a claim. i don't mean to be harsh at all, but i have a problem with you criticizing someone who was only trying to help you out, and whose advise you ultimately followed.
hope everything is cool after this, and that there are no hard feelings whatsoever. if you are still interested in troubleshooting this problem, please do not hesitate to post again, because, as you can see, we are all glad to help.
-UK
UKinstaller on 06/25/2004 23:52:17
i just realized that i might have sounded a little rude/upset. sorry. i had a problem today at work involving a 1992 buick park avenue that has totally ruined my day!! any of you guys ever installed on a park avenue?? they are a pain!!
-UK
swez on 06/26/2004 08:53:27
Thanks UK for echoing my original intent. ACG did not offend me in any real way.... I have pretty thick skin and can take a few "pot shots" from the gallery. SMILE
I too, have been dealing with a few rough days this week and may be a bit less pleasant than usual. Rudeness is not my favorite behavior to get or give. But am only human too. If I seemed ruded to you ACG, it was not intentional and don't take it personally. If I offended you in any way, am truely sorry and ask that you would accept my humble appologies.
About your audio troubleshooting situation... have you run through the check list mentioned earlier yet? Let us know how this comes out. I am hoping you'll have a positive report in the long run.
BTW, am not sure we are discusssing a sub amp install or interior amps here. Please clarify what this amp is being used for. Ohhh, what HU and amp (make and model #'s) are you working with here?
Swez
acgrundy on 06/30/2004 15:11:21
aight, sorry if I sounded like an asshole. thanks for all the responses and help. nobody offended me, I just took the comment about going to see a professional as "you don't have the slightest clue of what you are doing.'
so here is where I am at:
I still haven't found out which fuse is blown, but here is what I know:
the dome lights in my car don't work, nor do the lights on the side of the door, and my car alarm doesn't work. at night when I have my lights on, whenever a door opens, the dash lights turn off. and whenever I press a button for the dome lights, the dash lights turn off.
acgrundy on 06/30/2004 17:10:06
well I finally got it working. I found the dead fuse in my car, replaced that and the dead fuse in the amp power line. plugged the deck back in, bypassed the ground from the adapter, and now it works. didn't change any wiring, as it was right like I already knew. Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.
UKinstaller on 06/30/2004 17:53:10
no problem. glad everything is working.
holler if you need anymore help
-UK
swez on 06/30/2004 21:18:41
QUOTE: I just took the comment about going to see a professional as "you don't have the slightest clue of what you are doing.''
Not intended that way at all... just that having a "fresh set of eyes"... looking at a problem, is 80% of getting back on track. I could tell you have some experience in this technology. Just not enough tools (meter & test light) to really home in on the problems noted.
Quote: "
I still haven't found out which fuse is blown, but here is what I know:
the dome lights in my car don't work, nor do the lights on the side of the door, and my car alarm doesn't work. at night when I have my lights on, whenever a door opens, the dash lights turn off. and whenever I press a button for the dome lights, the dash lights turn off."
These are usually signs of a blown fuse due to a short, (or overload) cutting wires that shorted or lack of proper grounding. These can make anyone crazy when they anticipate a smooth install and get a pile of headaches. I feel your pain & frustration!
Glad you got it all back in working order. But seriously... for ~$25.00, you can buy a decent meter and 12 volts test light. (WalMart) With those tools in hand, and knowing how to use them... much of this would have been avoided or at least easily diagnosed by your hands. Would that not make you feel better?
I hate working blindly in the dark without the proper tools, know how and a solid game plan. It just sets one up for frustrations and a lot of bad guess work.
Swez
PS Stay on board and read the posts and FAQ's so you will be well preped for the next project... subs, processors, tweaking the system etc.
so then I went back to fiddling with the wires. I forgot to turn off the ignition during the last time I was messing around. Then I went back into the car, turned it off, then back on. The deck would not power up at all. So I pulled it out, changed the fuse, fixed all the connections on the wires, but still no power to the deck. someone please please help me out. Thanks a lot.
Replies (17)
UKinstaller on 06/24/2004 23:05:39
alright buddy, this is a pretty broad problem you've got going on here. so let's try breaking it down and walk you through the steps of installing.
first things first, are you getting power out of your head unit now?? let's make this our first priority. well i just read your thread and you are not getting power.
in order to get power to a deck, you have to have three connections: a constant source of power (the yellow wire coming out of the cd player), and switched source of power that comes on when you turn on the car, (red wire coming out of the cd player), and a ground, which is the black wire. you said that you replaced the fuse on the radio and there is still no power. well, check the fuses in your fuse panel that might be related to your cd player. to make things simple, just check all of them and replace anything that is blown.
after you do that, make sure you have a very good ground connection, which is the black wire connected to bare metal, or the black wire coming out of the wiring harness you used. some people do not recommend using the wire in the harness, but i use it and USUALLY, not all the time, have no problem. ask swez for more about this.
if you are in fact getting both sources of power and a good ground and there is still no power, it is the head unit itself. take it to a local shop and get them to power it up.
let's get this cd player working first and we'll go on from there on getting your speakers to work.
hope this helps,
-UK
UKinstaller on 06/24/2004 23:07:16
oh yeah, are you using a wiring harness or are the wires in the dash cut?? very important.
-UK
acgrundy on 06/24/2004 23:22:54
I am using the wiring harness. And the deck was working perfectly fine before I hooked up this amp, and messed with the wires. Is it possible that I could have ruined my deck? Now I was just checking out my wiring harness where the yellow power wire and the black ground wire go into this black plastic box. so I just opened that up and saw that there is a fuse in there. I'm not sure if that fuse is blown, I really don't know how to tell. but I'm gonna go replace it real quick and see if that is the problem.
the fuse I replaced earlier was in this white plastic thing on a red TURN ON +ACC wire.
thanks for the help, and any help is much appreciated.
acgrundy on 06/24/2004 23:42:15
ok, so it wasn't that fuse in the black box, that fuse is still good. How do I know which fuse to check for in the car? On my dash, there is a little panel that flips down, with fuses in it, and underneath the hood is some fuses. But none say stereo. My car is a 89 Nissan stanza, any ideas?
UKinstaller on 06/24/2004 23:53:22
it doesn't necessarily have to be a stereo fuse. cigarette lighters, computer chips, etc. can all be the source of your 12v. check every fuse in your car buddy. i'll be back on tomorrow.
good luck,
-UK
racerbizoehm on 06/25/2004 10:41:42
could be your grounding problems too, have a friend with the same problem his whole system just died :(
swez on 06/25/2004 11:39:50
Have you ever done this kind of install work before? It would seem that you may be way in over your head on this one. (on your own) Sure, we can give you all kinds of troubleshooting tips and strategies... but if you don't have the tools and background knowledge to understand and follow the plan... I fear we/you may do more harm than good here.
I ask that question because you said you don't know how to tell if a fuse is bad or not. There are 2 main ways to tell if a fuse is good or bad:
1. Visual inspection of the fuse element... is it melted open or looks like new?
2. Use an Ohmeter and test for resistance... if the fuse has almost no resistance, (.5 ohms or less) it is good. If the meter does not move or display shows nothing, the fuse is toast.
As for searching for fuses... some are in the car, internal fuse panel. There are also fuses and relays under the hood. Get out your Car owners manual and look at the section on fuses for locations and what fuse protects what electrical devices.
QUOTE: "the fuse I replaced earlier was in this white plastic thing on a red TURN ON +ACC wire."
That is the inline HU fuse for main power to HU. If that blows, means a short circuit or too much current in that line. If it blows again, the HU may have been damaged internally or the wiring job is not correct.
Personally, I would "strongly advise" seeking help from a buddy or a PRO that has done a few car audio system installs. Hopefully, he/she will have a test meter, 12 volt test lamp and a few installs under his belt to troubleshoot what has going south.
This project is not a DIY job for everybody. If you have some solid background in car electronics, a few basic tools and able to follow instructions from the install manual to a tee... then yes, by all means...try it. But if one is all thumbs and no electronics background under the belt... get some help.
Swez
acgrundy on 06/25/2004 13:49:04
Its not like this stuff is rocket science. I have hooked up an amp and speakers before, and I know how to do all the wiring. I visually checked all the fuses in the dash panel and they all look good. I'm not sure how to get to the fuses underneath the hood though.
acgrundy on 06/25/2004 16:40:46
aight, so I took it to a car stereo place, and they tested some things out. first off, my deck works, and it powered up. He found out that my ground was dead, and the fuse in my power line was dead. so I hooked up the ground straight to some metal and bypassed the adapter, and the deck turned on. then I turned it off and plugged in my amp remote wire and the RCA's, and turned it back on, and no power. any help, suggestions?
swez on 06/25/2004 18:39:05
OK... glad you got some Pro help to get the HU back online again. Good news that nothing seems to be wrong with the HU...we hope.
Is best to ground an Aftermarket HU to bare metal like floor pan or fire wall. This way, any external devices that are added later, will also be grounded to bare metal chassis and eliminate noise or connectivity issues later.
Also, the REM lead will only put out 12 volts and maybe 250mV of current. (0.250 amperes) If the internal power chip has a problem, when you hook up the amp, it may blow your HU fuse again. Check that again. (It's a pain I know... but hang in there)
A side question, you mentioned the HU did come on w/o the external amplifier connected yes? Do you have any external speakers hooked up to the HU now to see if it actually played music at that point? Even though the lights come on and some of the features appear to be working, there is still the possibility the HU has problems in the main powser supply. Rare to have this... but it does happen.
Moving along, try these steps:
PULL THE MAIN FUSE IN THE AMPS' POWER FEED LINE WHILE WORKING WITH ELECTRICALS !!!
1. Make sure your amp is properly grounded to bare metal and that polarity of power wire/ground is correct
2. Make certain your getting 12.0-14.4 volts at the amp power feed line(this means a 12 volts test light or voltmeter)
3. Do this next step with your RCA wires disconnected at the amp for now
4. Double check the amp fuses and the main power line fuse near the battery... they all have to be A-OK
Pressing onward....
5. Disconnect the HU REM feed from the amp for the moment
6. Run a small jumper wire from the Amp +12 volt power feed lug to REM on amp... see if the amp turns on and stays on, (after reinstalling the main power line fuse)
===================================================
Alrighty then... if the amp light is on and the HU is on, set amp gains to maximum setting (4.0 volts or so) and connect 1 RCA lead at a time, from HU to amp inputs. As you do this, have a CD or FM playing on the HU and the HU volume turned up about 20% of MAX. Tone controls and bass boost on HU and amp disabled (flat... No boost or cut) for now.
As you connect each RCA, you should hear sound from that channels' speaker. If that channel & speaker works... good job so far. Go to the next RCA and continue the process until all RCAs and speakers are working. If all that goes well, you know the HU, amp and speakers are all working properly in this test mode.
If you get this far w/o any fuses blowing or other odd things popping up, on the right track. If something goes kaput... problems at Mission Control. Time to back track some more.
Note: If the system is now working as normal, can disconnect the temporary REM jumper (after the main fuse is pulled on amp power feed line) Reconnect REM line from HU to amp, reinstall fuse at battery and try it all again. Make sure the HU and ACC/IGN is off while doing this connection.
If the system is stable again and the amp powers up, no fuses blowing etc., you are almost home. Ready to tweak in the amp gains and setting amp crossovers. However, if the amp does not come on, or the HU blows a fuse again, you'll have to hardwire a "switched remote" feeder line into your amp. The HU may have a problem in that circuit and cannot supply REM feed to your amp.
Finally, your comment that this is not rocket science is true. However, when flying a plane/rocket or piloting a fast boat... one needs to know what is going on within all systems and gages at all times right? Having some basic electrical test tools when doing this kind of work saves a lot of hassles later. Invest in a decent Volt/Ohm meter and a 12 volt DC test probe (under $25.00) at WalMart. These tools will serve you well in any car electrical work you do and come in handy for helping others as well.
Swez
PS Did not try to put you on the defensive when I mentioned having a Pro look at the system. It was wise that you did follow up on that suggestion. It was also a good thing, to come to a "newbie friendly" forum to ask for help. Some forums are very helpful and patient with newbies. Others are absolutely brutal on newbies and they get flamed with a blow torch. That does not help much, hard on the ego and teaches many not to ask for help when needed. I hope I never come across that way... but we all have our bad days too. Hope this goes smooth as French Silk Pie from here... SMILE If not, come back for more helps. Maybe one of our Pro Installers can do the rest better than I can... we all have our limitations.
UKinstaller on 06/25/2004 23:50:25
yeah i agree with swez, you should not be on the defensive there buddy. remember that YOU came here for help and advice, and that's what you were given.
swez was totally correct in RECOMMENDING, and nothing more, that you visit a professional. if you do not even have a tool for measuring voltage, there is very little you can do to help the situation. obviously your claim that this is not rocket science is void because you had to go visit a professional.
so please, do not insult swez or anyone else with such a claim. i don't mean to be harsh at all, but i have a problem with you criticizing someone who was only trying to help you out, and whose advise you ultimately followed.
hope everything is cool after this, and that there are no hard feelings whatsoever. if you are still interested in troubleshooting this problem, please do not hesitate to post again, because, as you can see, we are all glad to help.
-UK
UKinstaller on 06/25/2004 23:52:17
i just realized that i might have sounded a little rude/upset. sorry. i had a problem today at work involving a 1992 buick park avenue that has totally ruined my day!! any of you guys ever installed on a park avenue?? they are a pain!!
-UK
swez on 06/26/2004 08:53:27
Thanks UK for echoing my original intent. ACG did not offend me in any real way.... I have pretty thick skin and can take a few "pot shots" from the gallery. SMILE
I too, have been dealing with a few rough days this week and may be a bit less pleasant than usual. Rudeness is not my favorite behavior to get or give. But am only human too. If I seemed ruded to you ACG, it was not intentional and don't take it personally. If I offended you in any way, am truely sorry and ask that you would accept my humble appologies.
About your audio troubleshooting situation... have you run through the check list mentioned earlier yet? Let us know how this comes out. I am hoping you'll have a positive report in the long run.
BTW, am not sure we are discusssing a sub amp install or interior amps here. Please clarify what this amp is being used for. Ohhh, what HU and amp (make and model #'s) are you working with here?
Swez
acgrundy on 06/30/2004 15:11:21
aight, sorry if I sounded like an asshole. thanks for all the responses and help. nobody offended me, I just took the comment about going to see a professional as "you don't have the slightest clue of what you are doing.'
so here is where I am at:
I still haven't found out which fuse is blown, but here is what I know:
the dome lights in my car don't work, nor do the lights on the side of the door, and my car alarm doesn't work. at night when I have my lights on, whenever a door opens, the dash lights turn off. and whenever I press a button for the dome lights, the dash lights turn off.
acgrundy on 06/30/2004 17:10:06
well I finally got it working. I found the dead fuse in my car, replaced that and the dead fuse in the amp power line. plugged the deck back in, bypassed the ground from the adapter, and now it works. didn't change any wiring, as it was right like I already knew. Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.
UKinstaller on 06/30/2004 17:53:10
no problem. glad everything is working.
holler if you need anymore help
-UK
swez on 06/30/2004 21:18:41
QUOTE: I just took the comment about going to see a professional as "you don't have the slightest clue of what you are doing.''
Not intended that way at all... just that having a "fresh set of eyes"... looking at a problem, is 80% of getting back on track. I could tell you have some experience in this technology. Just not enough tools (meter & test light) to really home in on the problems noted.
Quote: "
I still haven't found out which fuse is blown, but here is what I know:
the dome lights in my car don't work, nor do the lights on the side of the door, and my car alarm doesn't work. at night when I have my lights on, whenever a door opens, the dash lights turn off. and whenever I press a button for the dome lights, the dash lights turn off."
These are usually signs of a blown fuse due to a short, (or overload) cutting wires that shorted or lack of proper grounding. These can make anyone crazy when they anticipate a smooth install and get a pile of headaches. I feel your pain & frustration!
Glad you got it all back in working order. But seriously... for ~$25.00, you can buy a decent meter and 12 volts test light. (WalMart) With those tools in hand, and knowing how to use them... much of this would have been avoided or at least easily diagnosed by your hands. Would that not make you feel better?
I hate working blindly in the dark without the proper tools, know how and a solid game plan. It just sets one up for frustrations and a lot of bad guess work.
Swez
PS Stay on board and read the posts and FAQ's so you will be well preped for the next project... subs, processors, tweaking the system etc.
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