This is what happened. I connected an amp to my stock deck to power 2 12" subwoofers. I connected it to the speakers directly instead of a convertor. First I used a convertor then I changed my mind. I remember the wire sparking a little then I blew my radio fuse. I changed it and everything was normal. So then I decided to remove the convertor and wire the amp to my rear speakers directly. Everything was working until I grabbed a 12volt tester and tapped the power wire on the amp. Sparks flew and my radio went out. I added a aftermarket deck and then wired my amp by RCA. The wires that are tapped into the rear speakers and are disconnected at the amp.

Question is: I checked all the fuses and the radio still does not power. Both the stock and aftermarket. Any ideas???

 

you sure you didn't blow the fuse for the radio? Not sure what else the radio fuse powers but I can't think of anything else it would be. One question though. Why in the world are you working on the electrical with the battery connected?! Very dangerous.

 

We all make mistakes... the fuse can only prevent a certain amount of damage. I would check the radio fuse in the fuse box, and check to make sure the headunit itself has a fuse. I know pioneer units have a 10 amp fuse behind the headunit itself, but I haven't seen the back of the stock headunit.

Recommended procedure:

1. Check radio fuse in fuse box. Voltmeter the fuse blade inserts to verify a 12V reading. If yes, proceed to step 2. If no, you have a serious issue.

2. If step 1 has 12V, pull out the stock headunit and check for extra fuses on the back of the headunit. If no extra fuse, voltmeter the headunit power wire and verify a 12V reading.

3. If 12V reading found at headunit power wire, then you have shorted your radio thus confirming your fast-acting fuse couldn't react in time to save your headunit. If no, it will be unusual and should have it checked.

 

It is not the fuse. It is not blown out. I just replaced it.

 

Well time to get a new head unit or just stop by the Dealer and say "fix your broken radio _____".

 

Still doesn't work with an aftermarket head unit either... Any relays possibly?

 

What car do you have? If you said, I missed it.

On the xB wiring diagram, there are 3 wires you need to be concerned about as far as power goes, and you should test this with a multimeter. I don't know what the '12v tester' you used was, but it sounds more like it was an ohmmeter (or a DMM set to measure ohms) and not volts.

Anyway, at the stereo harness connector the xB has an always-on wire, a key-controlled wire, and the ground.

Terminal 3 (GRAY) is powered when the key is in the on or acc position
Terminal 4 (BLUE-YELLOW) is always on
Terminal 7 (WHITE-BLACK) is ground

There are two fuses you could have blown. One powers everything on the ACC circuit, and the other powers the DOME lamp circuit. Get a multimeter, make sure it is set to DC Volts, and test between each of the two hot wires and ground. If you don't get power from either of them, then you've got blown fuses. Remember, the ignition has to be turned to "ON" to get power to the GRAY wire. If neither of the fuses are blown, then there's something much more jacked up going on, and a lot more stuff shouldn't be working.

 

where is the DOME fuse at? I do not have my manual. Misplaced it.

 

what car do you have???

 

06 tC

 

Did you even bother to look at the fuse blocks? On my 05 xB they are all clearly labeled. The interior one has a blue/white sticker that shows what each fuse is, and in the two under-the-hood boxes the labels are stamped into the lid of the box.

On the xB, the dome fuse is a 15-amp and is located under the hood.

 

I just looked at all the fuses pulled each one, one by one in both engine and dash compartments. No luck. Checked wiring. Last thing that happened before deck went off was that the amp power wire went into sparks due to a short I had.

 

Does the car work otherwise? If your amp was wired directly to your battery, there's no telling what could be wrong. If it isn't the fuses, then the next thing would be the fusible links or the wiring harness themselves burning out. But if either of those things happened, there'd be a whole slew of other things that just don't work.

The best thing you can do is check for power at the harness that plugs into the head unit on the two terminals. If you have power there, then your head (and the aftermarket one) are both blown.

I'm starting to suspect it is probably a combination of problems. First and foremost, the factory head is probably blown if you're getting power at the harness. On top of that, you likely have an adapter to go from the factory harness to the aftermarket head unit. Did you wire it yourself? Are you sure it's right?

Troubleshooting your problem past checking the fuses requires a multimeter and actually checking the power at the radio connector. You will also probably require a tC wiring manual with schematics to trace where wires go. The tC has quite a bit more electronic stuff in it than an xB...

 

Car works fine. Everything else works. Cigarette lighter also.

 

i'm an installer for big company and we run into this problem alot, make sure you check all of the fuses, not just the radio one, the radio can be tied into other fuses not just that one. Also its good to use a multimeter and to check continuity (sp) on the multimeter it looks like ((((( that but the colons go from little to big. when the two meter leads touch the meter will beep. but an end on each side of the fuse, if it beeps then current is running through the fuse and it is good. Sometimes fuses blow off to the side and you can't tell they are blown when just looking in the middle of it. Hopefully this makes sense. I wish i could word it better.

 

Makes sense boss.. tell me I have a multimeter.. how can i use it to check the fuses?

 

Just an update.. I've just tested the wires. I turned my ignition to acc. Weird the red wire (acc/ign) has power. I used a 12 volt tester with a bulb. The yellow wire (batt. memory) is completely dead. Tested at the yellow wires fuse. Dead. No power. Switched to ign. Did the same for yellow wire and red. Red has power once again. Yellow dead. Checked the radio fuse. No power at all. Changed fuse. Still no power. But power at red wire (acc/ign). Any solutions folks?

 

Another thing the red wire that tested fine is connected to the gray wire on the factory harness... which is the ACC wire. The red wire on the scosche package is (acc/ign). Is this correct? And the yellow wire (batt. memory) is connected to the blue wire. Are these correct?

 

Here:

 

Hmm my gray wire is connected to my red wire on the harness. That has power. Turns on when either key is in on or acc. Yellow wire I suspect is the 12V (blue/yellow) but that does not have power at all. What can that mean? Maybe the blue/yellow wire isnt connected to the yellow? Any conclusions or ideas?