03 Grand Am Car Radio

[Gatores]

My son decided to replace his factory radio with an aftermarket one. Once installed the radio will power up but no music or any noise come through the speakers. Now he had me look it over, which is of little help, anyway there was a constant power wire and 2 wires that had power with the key on. Well after messing around with it now I had constant power from the one wire, but the other 2 wires that had keyed power no longer have any power?? Any ideas where that keyed power went?? I checked all the fuses, which on this car there is 3 different fuse boxes. No blown fuses that I can find.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide..

[Jeremy airjer W]

All these wires are on the same connector.

Orange is constant battery power.

Grey is power from the interior light system.

Brown is from the exterior light system.

The grey and brown are not intended to be used for switched power to turn the radio on.

There is no "switched" power from the vehicle to turn on the radio. Switched power needs to be run from the fused block and "tapped off from a switched circuit.

I hope you are using a wiring harness adapter that plugs into the factory connector and then the wires are connected to the radio?

Now, slap the kid upside the head, reinstall install the factory radio, and everything will be fine! Lol

[Gatores]

Thanks for the reply Jeremy. No not using a wiring harness adapter, he cut the factory one and was wiring it direct. Good call on the wire colors, but the first problem is we lost power to the grey and brown wire. Any idea what gives them 2 wires there power? Also why is the light system have power wires going to the factory radio?? You are saying the switched power should come from where?

[Jeremy airjer W]

The light system is supplying the "dim" signal so if you turn on the lights or adjust the dash lights down the radio dims.

I'm not sure why they have a feed from the exterior light. The brown wire is the same feed as all the park lamps. If the tail lights and amber lights in the front are working than there should be power on that wire. If they are not working than there is a relay and a fuse in the under hood fuseblock

The grey wire is fused from the INSTR lamp fuse in the right I/P fuse block. This fuse gets power from the same relay and fise as the brown wire. If you have no I/p lights or backlit buttons on the HVAC than we need to start checking for power at some of these fuses.

This radio is also tied into the BCM which also controls the other options. Let's hope we didn't mess that up while we where playing with wires.

ALWAYS, get a harness adapter! It will only have the wires you need to connet to and since it is vehicle specific will usually have the necessary instructions to get the radio to work.

Let me know what is and is not working and well go from there.

[delcecchi]

No not using a wiring harness adapter, he cut the factory one and was wiring it direct.

Ah, the kid "how hard could it be?" "save some money"

Been there done that my own self.

[Gatores]

Here is where we are at.

I checked the INSTR fuse which is good. I even replaced just in case but still no power to the grey wire.

Also no tail lights or amber front lights like you had said Jeremy.

Also no backlight to the hvac system other then the little light that tells you the rear defrost is on and the AC is on.

So now what or where do we go??

[Gatores]

ok another update.

Found a blown fuse under the hood like Jeremy said. It was the PARK LPS fuse. Now we have power back to the brown and grey wire. Time to fix the factory end and get a harness to get done with this dang car.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I can tell you are having some fun now!

Happy new year!