Electrical is not my strength (1 Viewer)

[YukonCruisers]

I am in the process of installing a new head unit and speakers in my 1994. Its not the first time I've installed a radio, but I have a series of odd problems.

1. both rear speaker seem to have a grounding issue on the negative wire. New speaker installed, leads are isolated, issue persists if speakers held away from the body of the car (identified as the head unit shuts down with grounded wires, have not individually checked the leads).
2. while working on issue #1 the head unit went dead, traced to a dead yellow (constant 12v) lead. Jumped hot from cigarette lighter and unit was back on.
3. Now the auto windows on all but the driver side door don't work, even when I disconnect the head unit, same issue.
Fuses in cabin are all good.

I feel like I am going around in circles here - any suggestions? I can rebuild an engine, but electrical drives me nuts.

 

[LS1FJ40]

I’m not an electrical expert. There are much smarter people than me. What they’ve always told me when I have had weird electrical issues is “check your grounds”.

 

[Pin_Head]

1. Speakers are not grounded. The impedance of the speakers (resistance in ohms) must match the impedance that the amp needs. If the speaker impedance is too low the amp may trip a breaker or shut down.

2&3 are consistent with a circuit overload and blown fuse. Check all fuses.

 

[CaptClose]

Fuses are also located under the hood.

 

[Technician1985]

IF you blew a fuse then you either pulled too much current from the deck's amp (unlikely) or you have a short to ground. I would double check the wiring colors and make sure they're right, then take a piece of wire and ground the chassis of the deck to a large metal thing inside the car and see if it makes any difference. My guess is you have some wires mixed around in the harness.

 

[inkpot]

Problem with driver's window control may be independent of stereo problems. It is the most used, and most often to fail, likely you may be able to clean the contacts and have the window work OK.

 

[YukonCruisers]

Sorry guys, I must have missed the alert that there were more responses here.

Spent the day on it yesterday.

Yes, part of the problem was fuses. In fact it seemed to blow the RH Light fuse for some reason. That was sorted fairly quickly.

I pulled everything and started over. Checked all fuses (under dash and hood) and replaced anything with discoloration (thank you Amazon for a cheap box of fuses).

Culprits may have been:
Power Antenna wire that was part of the harness: not sure where it went, so I disconnected.
Grounding out somewhere on the way to the back doors (speakers made noises even when wires disconnected): I ran new cable to both doors.
Yes, I think frigging around with the harness may have created the independent blown window fuse - don't know, but works now.
Still don't know why my yellow from the harness suddenly went dead, work around with lighter is fine though. [EDIT - blown fuse, work around did not work as deck and clock kept resetting on start - retraced wire, cleaned connections etc and now stock yellow is working]

Everything worked and sounded great on the way to work this AM... man those were bizarre speakers Toyota put in the front panels...

 

[Fj81]

Damnit, I am in Edmonton/Leduc AB area still hanging out! I would gladly have pretended to help while drinking beer and barbecueing. Glad you got it all sorted.

 

[YukonCruisers]

Too bad... my other hobby is brewing beer, have a cask pale, a huge IPA and a hefe on tap at the moment...

 

[Fj81]

I havent left yet! I am still at the Husky truck stop in Leduc.

 

[YukonCruisers]

LOL - I should be home around 5PM if you are serious, happy to share beers and show my messy garage and cruisers

 

[Fj81]

I am not very mobile, my 18 wheeler doesnt fit in most neighborhoods! I should have hung on to my rental car fdom last week. But if things change I will let you know for next time!