So I thought my problem was a cheap HU I bought from a pawn shop (SONY) but I think I have a real problem... I just bought a new Alpine HU CDE-103- BT I wired up the harness crutchfield supplied (not hard the damn the damn thing is color coded), and well nothing turns on... A little history... I had a Pioneer DEH-P680MP that worked FINE with the wires all color coded and hooked up per the instructions supplied with the harnesses Well, with the cheap Sony HU I bought from the pawn shop I figured out that if I twisted the power and ignition wires (red and yellow) all together the stereo turns on when I start the car but basically its like it was brand new out of the box and the audio settings all have to be reset each time it turns on... This new Alpine is doing the same damn thing... SO the question I present is, is there a remote wire, an illumination wire, a fuse, or something that is being stupid or is there a wiring trick I don't know about for an Alpine or Sony that is different than a Pioneer? EXTREMELY frustrating... someone please help I am very electronic and stereo savy but this is kicking my ___!!!!! I will be online and check the thread every 5-10 min if someone can help tonight.

 

there should be a constant 12v on supply supplied to the radio, that's how the memory presets remain preset. do you know how to use a wiring diagram or did you just match the colors and cross your fingers it would work?

 

Oh no ... I know how to use a wiring diagram... it's just like there is a wire crossed or not working somewhere... the fact I need to hard wire the ignition and constant to work is crazy.... be cause if I reverse them, or wire just the red and the ignition or just the ignition and one red together it doesn't work at all...

 

First off, check your fuses, you may have popped the one for the radio during your rewiring attempts.

Unhook the adaptor for the radio, and test below from the factory radio wiring harness.
Get a multimeter or a test light. Hook it to a known good ground. With the ignition turned off check for power at the constant 12v and ignition wires. If you don't have power at either your 12v source is bad and you'll have to fix that or find an alternate source of constant 12v power. If there is power to the 12v and none to the ignition try below.
Test the constant 12v as you turn the key between off and run (don't actually start the car), it shouldn't flicker or drop. If it does you have a bad connection somewhere (or possibly but unlikely a bad battery). If it doesn't flicker try below.
Plug your adapter into the stock harness with the constant 12v and the ignition wired up the way you are supposed to. Repeat the above tests, if you get a different result on either test than your adapter is wired wrong or is defective.

It sounds like you aren't getting constnat 12v to the radio, assuming your wiring is right(which I wouldn't assume), you may have some issue with the dash wiring or a fuse (I am about 80% sure the ignition wire runs from a different fuse). Such that you are running entirely off the ignition circuit, thus it not remembering your presets when you shut it off.

 

yup to all that! the 12v constant wire has no power. check all the car functions too. horn? clock? dash lights/parking lights? cig lighter? dome light? does all of that stuff work?

 

That's where this gets kind of weird.... with the stereo hooked up the weird way that I have it to get it to cut on, the dash clock, speedometer, and gas gauge all freeze when I shut the car off, and reset each time the car turns back on.... the odometer reading is always the same, but my trip odometer readings always reset back to zero when the car is turned back on. With the stereo unplugged the gauges all work normal.

 

I have a multimeter at work I will grab today.... I will also hunt down a fuse chart on here somewhere... it would be very helpful to know 100% if the 12V constant does in fact have a separate fuse. It was dark when I was trying to hook all of this up tonight for the new stereo, but I did the wiring harness inside, and when I had wired up the cheap Sony HU I did check all the fuses under the dash to make sure they were good.

 

fuse chart in the owners manual and back of covers. odo stays the same cuz it's not associated to the clock. you need to get the new radio out and clean out any extra wires to start new. then get your DMM redings from there.

 

your 12v remote wire is the grey one in the harness, that should help. you dont want to splice your 12v constant and your 12v remote together..

hu ground is white/black
12v remote is grey
i believe the 12v constant power is yellow, but you can use a dmm to probe with the key off for 12v constant
make these connections, and you should be good to go, provided you didn't blow a fuse by twisting your constant and remote wires together. if you had a bad ground this would have created a short.
also, you can do a search for the hu wiring diagram, its posted on here if you look.

 

Just FYI, the remote or accessory lead (20 amp) is not rated for the same current draw as the primary power (30 amp). If all your power is coming off the the remote line, you're probably going to blow a fuse. I'm not even going to get into the safety issues splicing the accessory and constant power brings, just know when you do that you've effectively bypassed the lower-rated accessory fuse and now everything in the car drawing from that circuit will always be on, even with the key out. This includes your engine computer.

Be patient and do it right, find a friend's garage to do the install if you need light after dark. Otherwise, if it causes another issue electrical problems are probably the hardest thing to troubleshoot with an engine.

Also, never just twist wires together. Your car vibrates, and an intermittent electrical connection can heat up, spark, and cause major damage with enough current. Walmart even has wire strippers, crimpers, and insulated splices, as do all auto parts places. A proper install goes a long way toward eliminating problems down the road.