The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

OK, I would like ideas here please, I have a Pioneer stereo that plays MP3 and has a remote control and has been in the car for about two years now.
I wired it up using the instruction manual supplied and had no problems for a while, but now I get a humming noise through the left hand front speaker and when I turn the lights on the stereo stops, as in all the lights stay on and the thing gives the appearance that is still playing but no noise comes out. Turn of the lights and the stereo and turn the stereo back on and away it goes again until I introduce a large current draw like the lights or the horn.

I have it out of the dash a couple of times and I cant see anything wrong and its got me beat, any thoughts please?

probably something to do with e 'illumination' wire(usually pink or light blue)

make sure its taped up nicely. Or just cut it off. Its a wire which, when you turn the headlights on, itll dim the facia so it doesnt blind you at night time.

also check your earthing, and the connection at the speaker.

do you have amps? if so, make sure the power cable running to the amp is away from the rca cables, or make sure no wires have been worn through anywhere.

alex

Thanks Alex, for the quick reply, I didnt even think this had a 'illumination' wire cause it stays the same brightness at night and annoys the crap out of me. I will be looking for that when I get it out again.Cant remember seeing it before.
No amp, so I guess it would not hurt to recheck the earth or try another one.......

Just noticed today (this morning when it was still dark) left the car running with the radio on at the servo to grab a paper and when I came back I saw that the front park lights were on dimly. Turned off the radio and they went out. Really want to fix this now in case people think I have some strange hybrid Volvo/Suby.

Check your wiring you have something cross wired someplace. Sooby stereo wires can sometimes not be the way they appear in the manual. be careful with that illumination wire. Piss it off and the magic smoke will come out of the module and your out a chunk of change.

On some pioneer's you have to go into the setup menu and turn on the dimmer feature (doesnt seem to do much really).


nipper

i had this same problem in my first car a 86 toyota corona, i found 2 wires causing the problem, my earth wire was not earthed properly and the tape on another wire had come off, causing some sort of short circuit everytime i turned the headlights on..weird..but i think ur best bet is to take a closer look and test ur wires with a multimeter.

Thanks Subiegirl,such an old thread that I had given up on this!
I have had it out of the dash a couple of times and even wired it up straight of the battery terminals and still plays up, so I have resigned myself to getting something else to fill the hole eventually and I will probably get it fitted so that I can take it back if I need to.
Does anybody think that Subys strange headlight wiring may cause this, as the parklights still come on very dimly when the radio is on, Oh and I have put the old cassette player that came with the car back in and it has no problems then.

a dedicated power supply from the fuse box side that hooks into the radio fuse is what I use I suppose you could always run a relay as well to stop the drain on the stereo

TOONGA

Busdriver wrote:Thanks Subiegirl,such an old thread that I had given up on this!
I have had it out of the dash a couple of times and even wired it up straight of the battery terminals and still plays up, so I have resigned myself to getting something else to fill the hole eventually and I will probably get it fitted so that I can take it back if I need to.
Does anybody think that Subys strange headlight wiring may cause this, as the parklights still come on very dimly when the radio is on, Oh and I have put the old cassette player that came with the car back in and it has no problems then.

So you say it still didnt work straight from the battery. Hmm how old is your battery and alternator? Just a suggestion but perhaps either ur battery is on the way out and cannot handle the new headunits power needs (get a new heavy duty battery) or your alternator is not pumping enough charge to the battery (get a better alternator 100+ amps) Try connecting the stereo again straight from the battery, turn on ur car, stereo and lights separately then all together and test ur alternator output with a multimeter and the battery terminals and compare the power losses.

where have you connected the earth wire? don't use the wire in the loom, take it back to a conveniently located bolt in the dash. you may have mistakenly hooked it up to the previously mentioned illumination wire

Thats right ^^. When hooking up a cd player to the loom thats already in the hole, wen you test the 'illumination' wire with the lights off, it will test as an earth. But then wen u turn ur lights on it sends power through it. We see it in at work all the time, usually blows the fuse tho and i haven't heard of it doing queer things like u say. But as 'Point' said, just bolt the earth wire to a decent earth in behind there.

Subiegirl wrote:Just a suggestion but perhaps either ur battery is on the way out and cannot handle the new headunits power needs

A H.U will only draw 20 amps at the absolute max - more than likely will be 10 or 15 thou.
My H.U draws 5 amps, but only because it has no internal amp.

I discovered the other day that older Subaru cars will drop out the a/c compressor if high beam is on. Related/wiring?