LEARN FROM MY MISTEAKS- Installing a CD PLAYER
This week I was at Wal-Mart and felt ambitious enough to buy a new cd player for my Scion XB. The one that came with it was not working. The radio worked, but the cd player had a habit of rejecting cds when you tried to load them, and scratching them at the same time! Here are some helpful hints when installing a cd player in a car. I am not an expert, I learned all of this stuff the hard way!
1. Always disconnect the battery when installing a cd player!
I wasn't afraid of electrical shocks, which maybe I should have been. What really got my goat though, is that I made a short, and blew a fuse. It took me a second to find which one it REALLY was visually. However when I later had trouble getting the new cd player to work, I kept on assuming it was another blown fuse. I ended up buying 2 small boxes of fuses (that were low profile, not high profile) that didn't fit right even though they looked almost exactly the same! If it wasn't such a pain in the ass to post pictures on this blog I would. The difference is in how long the ends you insert are.
Then, I went all out and bought a large pack of fuses for 20 dollars that were replacements for any type I could have in my car. These came with a little fuse tester. I used this fuse tester on every fuse in my car, and they all checked good! (I heard that a fuse can be bad without looking bad).
2. ALWAYS LOOK UP THE CARS RADIO WIRING DIAGRAM!
This is really where I messed up! Most people assume that the black wire is the ground, and the red one is positive, and the yellow is direct to the battery yada yada yada. These are the colors to the aftermarket harness. I assumed they would correspond to the Scions factory radio hook up.
Well it turns out, the Scion uses those wires--- BUT AS SPEAKER CABLES! I figured I would just hook up each color to its mate and it would be easy.
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
I downloaded the 160 + page electrical system diagram because I was certain there had to be an inline fuse to the radio that had blown. I happened to come across the speaker wiring section and noticed it used red and black as speaker cables!
That was why I was getting no voltage with my voltmeter at the black and red wires!
So basically, I had been driving around with a giant hole in my dash for 3 days with live wires that I assumed had no voltage and didn't bother to tape off! Probably dangerous! Who knows?
Anyways, I did end up succeeding with the project. I spent 60 on the CD player which was a Dual brand double bin unit, so there was no need for an install kit. The project did involve cutting and stripping wires, which I hadn't expected but didn't deter me. I thought I would just plug it in. The dash wasn't hard at all to take apart thanks to youtube. I spent 25 dollars in all on fuses that I didn't even use. It cost me 85 dollars, and 3 days of being borderline depressed because I was worried I had permanently screwed up my car.
YES, I did intentionally mispell "Mistakes". I don't know how the hell anyone ever installed a radio without the internet. All cars are different. The most annoying thing was trying to find something out and having to look at these stupid forums. I'm like "how the hell did these people find this crap out?" Downloading an official document was definitely the right thing to do.
I am so glad I can listen to stuff other than the shit on the radio. I think I'll make a list of shitty songs I never want to hear again!
PRAISE THE LORD
1. Always disconnect the battery when installing a cd player!
I wasn't afraid of electrical shocks, which maybe I should have been. What really got my goat though, is that I made a short, and blew a fuse. It took me a second to find which one it REALLY was visually. However when I later had trouble getting the new cd player to work, I kept on assuming it was another blown fuse. I ended up buying 2 small boxes of fuses (that were low profile, not high profile) that didn't fit right even though they looked almost exactly the same! If it wasn't such a pain in the ass to post pictures on this blog I would. The difference is in how long the ends you insert are.
Then, I went all out and bought a large pack of fuses for 20 dollars that were replacements for any type I could have in my car. These came with a little fuse tester. I used this fuse tester on every fuse in my car, and they all checked good! (I heard that a fuse can be bad without looking bad).
2. ALWAYS LOOK UP THE CARS RADIO WIRING DIAGRAM!
This is really where I messed up! Most people assume that the black wire is the ground, and the red one is positive, and the yellow is direct to the battery yada yada yada. These are the colors to the aftermarket harness. I assumed they would correspond to the Scions factory radio hook up.
Well it turns out, the Scion uses those wires--- BUT AS SPEAKER CABLES! I figured I would just hook up each color to its mate and it would be easy.
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
I downloaded the 160 + page electrical system diagram because I was certain there had to be an inline fuse to the radio that had blown. I happened to come across the speaker wiring section and noticed it used red and black as speaker cables!
That was why I was getting no voltage with my voltmeter at the black and red wires!
So basically, I had been driving around with a giant hole in my dash for 3 days with live wires that I assumed had no voltage and didn't bother to tape off! Probably dangerous! Who knows?
Anyways, I did end up succeeding with the project. I spent 60 on the CD player which was a Dual brand double bin unit, so there was no need for an install kit. The project did involve cutting and stripping wires, which I hadn't expected but didn't deter me. I thought I would just plug it in. The dash wasn't hard at all to take apart thanks to youtube. I spent 25 dollars in all on fuses that I didn't even use. It cost me 85 dollars, and 3 days of being borderline depressed because I was worried I had permanently screwed up my car.
YES, I did intentionally mispell "Mistakes". I don't know how the hell anyone ever installed a radio without the internet. All cars are different. The most annoying thing was trying to find something out and having to look at these stupid forums. I'm like "how the hell did these people find this crap out?" Downloading an official document was definitely the right thing to do.
I am so glad I can listen to stuff other than the shit on the radio. I think I'll make a list of shitty songs I never want to hear again!
PRAISE THE LORD
Comments
Post a Comment