'87 GL aftermarket deck install problems

[BoxerRebellion]

Well hi there.

 

Upon the installation of a nice Alpine deck, replacing my GL's stock AM/FM radio - I've ran into a few issues.

 

1 - Confirmed left front speaker blown

2 - Confirmed right front speaker inoperable?

3 - Left rear speaker missing

4 - Right rear speaker intact - though speaker wires in panel are cut?

 

Kay - Those were simply "discoveries"

I @#$%'d up maybe a thing or two.

 

This was my first stereo install. I'm not mad, I think I did pretty well considering a lack of previous experience.

Would someone perhaps like to elaborate - "Switched Power" vs. Battery Lead.

Switched power is... When the car is turned to ACC or ON, no?

Regardless of how I wire it, when the engine is shut off, the deck shuts off as well.

I've seen a few threads on here relating to such issues, though perhaps they didn't answer my questions.

I'll be picking up speakers later today.

 

Wiring <what> to <what>... Can screw <what> up?

What should I wire "Illumination" to?

 

Thank you fellow enthusiasts.

[MilesFox]

The wiring in the car has a common ground. For 4 spealers there are 6 wires. Each speaker is going to have its own positive lead, and the front 2 speakers are going to have one ground lead, and the rear speakers the other ground lead.

 

The chassis of the stereo should grond to the frame, and also thru the antenna.

 

For having 4 negative speaker leads coming out of the stereo, you will twist the 2 rear leads and connect them to the common wire from the car side, and same for the front, tie the 2 negative leads to the single negative common wire from the car.

 

The switched power should be one that comes on with the acc circuit. 

[Mykeys Toy]

It is more work but with a newer deck ( non-common ground)   run fresh 14AWG wire to each speaker. and replace your speakers. It is much easier to do in a gen3 than my gen2. Or use what you have till you can afford better speakers.

[djellum]

battery lead is straight from the battery to keep the radios memory, acc or switched power is the signal the radio gets to turn on and I think it actually feeds most of the power.  when you turn off the car just go 1 single click back then turn it forward 1 click, this should turn off  the engine and leave the stereo on.  the radio shouldnt run in any other position.  if it runs in those positions and keeps memory then its hooked up right (2 of the wires anyway)

 

first thing is to get a light tester if you dont have one already, that will allow you to find the right wires if you get lost somewhere.  they are about $5, any parts store or walmart.

 

the 3 wires you must have are power, ground, and acc (switched power).  all 3 should be on the origional harness if you can get to it.  dont cut the harness if its there, either crimp on a connector that will fit in the slot, or use the side crimping splicers.  

 

hook up your test light to a piece of metal in the dash. they arent all good grounds but try a couple and you will find one that traces metal all the way to the body.

 

1 - find your battery hot wire.  with the key off and out of the ignition, probe the ends of the wire harness with your light tester until it lights up.  if you dont find one check your tester ground on the cig lighter or ash tray light.  if your grounds good and you still cant find one, run a new wire directly from the battery with a small inline fuse.  since it sounds like you already have it hooked up, if your radio presets and clock dont reset after turning it off, then this wire is right.  if they go away then its not hooked up right.

 

2 - find your accessory wire.  this wire will be tested just like the hot wire, but it will only work with the key in the ignition and in the on position (last click before you twist to start.  if you cant find this you need to patch into another wire that is on that circuit.  blower switch, sometimes cigarette lighter, etc.  if this is hooked up correctly then with the key in the full on position (or the car running) the radio will be on, and when you turn it off it will shut off.  often the hot and acc wires get backwards and it will run at odd times like when the car is off.

 

3 - once you have the hot wire ran or found, hook the clamp of the light tester to it and check for ground.  if any light up they are a ground.  be carefull since you can get light from speaker grounds in these cars as well.  if you cant figure out what is what, then test the nearby bolts and find one with a good connection and just run the stereo wire to it.

 

Illumination is the dimmer switch, there will probably be an amp control wire, and other ones.  just focus on the above three for this install.

 

for speakers, search out common ground on the site to find the proper speaker wire connector in the front kick panel.  you will want to sever the ground connection and run a new ground connection to it from the back of the stereo.  then hook up the rear speakers to the normal speaker wires under the dash.  my preference is to cut a plug out of a junk yard car and just run new wires to the front using the plug so you dont have to cut stock wires out.

Edited July 16, 2013 by djellum

[BoxerRebellion]

You guys are great.

I'll use the info provided and continue forward.

 

More to come shortly.

[Gloyale]

The wiring in the car has a common ground. For 4 spealers there are 6 wires. Each speaker is going to have its own positive lead, and the front 2 speakers are going to have one ground lead, and the rear speakers the other ground lead.

 

The chassis of the stereo should grond to the frame, and also thru the antenna.

 

For having 4 negative speaker leads coming out of the stereo, you will twist the 2 rear leads and connect them to the common wire from the car side, and same for the front, tie the 2 negative leads to the single negative common wire from the car.

 

The switched power should be one that comes on with the acc circuit. 

 

First, the common ground are side to side, not front to back.  I.E. Left Frnt, and Left rear share ground.  Right front, and Right Rear share the other ground.

 

Second, wiring a deck that isn't made to have shared grounds up in such a manner will ruin the deck.

 

What I would do is run new speaker wires to the front kickpanels, and hook up to the front speakers there.

 

Run the rear wires from the deck to the OE rear speaker wires in the dash.  The original front speaker + wires will be unused.

 

Green wire in it's own seperate plug is the BATT 12v

Blue/yellow wire is the Switched 12v

 

Blue/Red is Left -

Blue/black is Right -

 

Yellow/white is Right rear +

White/blue is Left rear +

 

Yellow is Front L + , but you won't be using it.

White is Front R +, won't be using it.

 

Run new speaker wires to the pink 2 pole connector under kickpanels. 

Edited July 19, 2013 by Gloyale

[MR_Loyale]

BR - don't beat yourself up too badly. It is an easy mistake to make. Chalk it up to the school of experience. Now you got a beer drinkin tale to tell at WCSS.