Sunday stereo install plea for help (pic)

[Victor]

Hi all,

I am installing a roughly 8 year old Pioneer single CD head unit into my '89 3.2 seeing as the original casette deck has given up the gohst. The manual for the Pioneer unit comes with a wiring diagram so I am in the clear on that front.

The cable salad that comes out the back of the original unit however is crazy-mad. There are almost twice as many wires. If there is a simple explanation to all this, can someone shed some light on how to connect this to the Pioneer?

(BTW, the Pioneer is the one on the right)

Bell?? Anyone?? I need tunes!

[Victor]

Here's the pic:

[88911coupe]

Part of the confusion may be that the old one used a fader? Anyway, what you really need to do is identify what you have on your 89...you will need to find power, accessory turn on, ground, and most confusing...the speakers. Use a voltmeter to find power and then just work out which wires go to speakers. Make sure and get the phase right on the speakers or you will lose bass.

[djmcmath]

Are there any labels on the old wires? Sometimes the wiring harness has little black text, maybe? The old wires may have some text that tells you what they are, which gives you one clue.

Next train of thought -- consider getting a wiring harness for the pioneer. Local stereo shop should have them. That brightly colored spaghetti is disgusting (aka frightening). I'm used to them looking more like the one on the left.

What's still in the car? Are there any plugs in there, or is it just nasty junk? Does anything have labels? If not, that makes it more complicated. The easiest way to figure out what stuff is ... go to each speaker and pull it out. Check the wiring colors there -- they should match what's at the head unit. That's most of the big wires. The power and ignition leads are interesting -- use a voltmeter to distinguish those two from ground. There may be a "lights on" lead -- that one should also be obvious with a voltmeter.

Does that help at all?

Dan

[D Hanson]

Speakers are easy to find. Just take a 9 volt battery to the leads.

[djmcmath]

Oooh, D, that's a much better idea than what I suggested. I'll remember that next time I have to figure it out.


Dan

[klaucke]

Try to buy a wiring harness for your Porsche. I've installed many stereos, and you normally [i.e. for a chevy, ford, etc] just buy a harness that fits the harness on the car, and then you connect that to the harness that goes into the back of your deck. The wires normally match up color wise, and there is an explanation on the back of the package of the brand I buy. Cost about 15 bucks. In the end, you have a large connector that fits into the car, which has wires going across to your other connector that goes into the deck, hence connecting deck and car.

[Adam]

The smaller terminal block looks like your constant 12v, accessory 12v and earth etc.

The larger block looks like your speaker wires.

[DIANA]

I need diagram conectors with colors and positions.

[Randy Webb]

Doesn't Pioneer have pinout (wire-out) info on their web site?

If not, and you have no manual, you may need to write them, or ask a pro installer to forhelp (they should have books of this stuff).

As others said, you need to figure out the car wires too.

Good luck & document everything and save it.

[raceman]

Crutchfield has the harnesses for pretty much every application,plug and play.Check them out on the web,they`ve got a catalogue.

[Victor]

Thanks everyone for your input. It all got too hard.

When I found out that the local shop will do it for $55, it made it even more difficult for me to justify a Sunday afternoon upside down under the dashboard.

It was mothers day too. Not worth the angst. By 4:00PM I will be duff-duffing with the best of them.

[Victor]

Thought I owe you guys an update.

After posting the above, I went down to my local Strathfield (car stereo etc. chain store) at the agreed time for the install and was asked by a 14 year old to come back 10 minutes later because they where running behind schedule. (Him and the other four odd pimply faced pre-bubescent elves that where busily butchering some other pour souls pride and joy.)

Fair enough, I think - that can happen to the best of us. 10 minutes later they tell me I have to wait for another half an or "or so". So I got to thinking - how hard can this be?

Long story short, 2.5 beers later I installed it myself. Results rock! Thanks again all.

Oh yeah and I spent the money saved on beer.

[rpiper]

I love a happy ending! Cheers!

[djmcmath]

Beautiful! Did you end up using the 9V battery to find the speaker leads, or did you discover they were labeled? I'd be pretty put off to discover that pimply-faced elves were about to butcher my pride and joy too. (Especially since I've taken numerous courses in EE!) Having saved all that money, why didn't you buy real beer, instead of Bud?

Dan


Legal Note: I feel obligated to remind you that open containers of alcohol are considered essentially DUI violations when the vehicle is on a public road. All hands are reminded that drinking and driving is a serious offense, and this poster does not condone such action.

[Victor]

Thanks Dan,

Sorry about the choice of beverage. I don't know what I was thinking. I normally stick to Fosters when tooling around in the garage.

I opened the glovebox and low and behold - a full radio manual inclusive of colour coded wiring diagram.

[azasadny]

Victor,
Great job, congratulations!

[on-ramp]

great looking player.

score another one for the DIYer!

there's nothing more satisfying than completing a job yourself and feeling proud about it.