CAR STEREO swap out problems, installation problems!!!!!!!!!

I took out the stereo that was in the Civic I just bought! It was a Sony X-ploid or something and I wanted to put in my nice Pioneer mosfet stereo. So I wrote down all the colored wires that the Sony stereo was connected too inside the Civic dashboard so I could quickly just attach the Pioneer Stereo to the same colored wires inside the Civic dashboard. Well that didnt work and I have tried all combinations of wires to get my Pioneer stereo to work and it wont! I got so frustrated that I went to plug the Sony stereo back in and just screw my Pionner one but now the Sony stereo doesn't even work and I connected it to the same colors as when I took them out! I definitly am getting power from inside the dash because I saw sparks when I touch the Battery wire to metal! I have checked the fuses and they are all intact once I replaced them so its not the fuses on the stereo or Car.

Anybody know what the heck is going on? Best Buy said they will charge $90.00 to install it! That seems high to me and I thought this job was easy enough to do at home! All im doing is connecting wires!


Thanks guys!

First of all, NEVER EVER match up wires by color, especially in the car environment. Second, why are you working on your vehicle's electrical system with the battery ON?!?!? Third, unless you have a complete wiring diagram of your vehicle, I wouldn't even try to tap into the system. So here's what you do if you want to install it yourself. Go get a wiring harness for your vehicle. They sell them at Best Buy or Circuit City and are vehicle specific. Ask a sales rep. Then connect the harness wires to the appropriate wires on your Sony deck, and plug it into the harness inside the dashboard. Test, and seal up. Done. If it sounds too complicated, I would go ahead and fork over the $90 (every shop you find will charge $40-$100 for installing a deck) before you do any damage to your system.

Dono about color matching because every one that I have installed (decks), they have all matched for every vehicle I have done a install for. But, even tho they matched, I went by the wiring diaphrams that came in the manuals and read the wires. We got it down pat.

Now what your problem could be is that you SHOULD HAVE disconnected the battery. Did you just split your wires and twist them together? That could be a NO NO!!!

[QUOTE=rccars411]Dono about color matching because every one that I have installed (decks), they have all matched for every vehicle I have done a install for. But, even tho they matched, I went by the wiring diaphrams that came in the manuals and read the wires. We got it down pat. QUOTE]

What I meant was that sometimes there are other wires in the dash with the same or similar colors as those for the stereo. If he had a wiring harness, it wouldn't be as much of an issue.

Never try to match wire colors, because the person who put the radio in the car before may be wrong. I bet you forgot to check the fuses under the hood. There is a fuse box under the hood next to the firewall on the passenger side. This fuse is the constant fuse, and easy to blow on Honda's. A good way to check if that is the problem, is to see if you dome light stop working. This is the case on most Hondas.

Yes, those harnesses are great and worth the $15. I did have a problem with a MR2 recently because the colors didn't match what the booklet that came with the harness said, I started wiring it up by speaker, power, etc. according to the booklet and it just wasn't making sense. I called the tech support number to the harness company and the guy said go by colors, the book was a misprint. It worked great, not one problem after that.

last post was Jan 20 of 2004, I'm sure it's going to do a lot of good posting a reply FOUR YEARS LATER!!!!!

Yes, but people find old posts through Google etc... This probably takes the cake for bringing a old thread back to life.