Alright, I bought the car w/o a radio in it, Honestly I didn't even ask any questions about it, since I knew he had an aftermarket one in their previously, figured all the wiring was fine. Anywho, down the the real problem. I bought an aftermarket JVC something or another, nothing to fancy, a Scorche(sp?) wire converter, and a Scorche Dash install kit.
Haven't bothered with the Dash kit yet, but i wired everything up, looked through my Haynes wire diagrams for the radio to make sure everything was hooking up right by color. and the unit wouldn't turn on, i fiddled with that a bit, then i started messing with the multimeter, after a few minutes i realized i really didn't know how to use that, So i ran in the house and nabbed one of those little lights with the two wires coming off it.. i know I've seen electricians use them to check for power, so that should work for checking in a car too, right? Anyway, after checking as many combinations as I could guess, I failed to get the light to shine, nor with the car Off, on Accessory, or Running. Checked the 10v fuse in the box, looked fine, but i changed it anyway, no change, I'm not sure which other fuse is used for the radio, but I know there is one more.

Or maybe this is all a bad ground? Everything else appears to function correctly.. except the heater controls, last time I moved those my water pump went, So I'll leave them alone. (Probably a coincidence, but I don't have the $200 to pay to get that changed again).

Any clues where I should be looking?

To use the test light, connect the wire to ground somewhere on the chassis, a bolt head should work, there is a ground location near the stereo you can see several wires grounded to the chassis.

On the car wiring harness:
Test that there is power at the Orange wire at all times.

Test that there is power at the Yellow wire with the key in Accessory or On.

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www.FieroDomain.com
"If any car is both the parade and the rain, it is the Fiero"

Click For Live Help!

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 04-06-2008).]

Here's something to check first, if the fuse is a known good, put one end of your light on one side of the fuse and the other to the other side. You should have a light. If not, your test light it bad. I know it is stupid, but it is the main reason I will not use a test light for anything.

Second, you have hot power to the fuse box, then to the radio. (This is for memory only, like preset radio stations)
There is a switched wire for actually turning on and running you radio.
there is also a dimmer lead for when you turn on your headlights and parking lights.

And before we get too far, MOST after market head units (radios) have a "Remote" wire for turning on amplifiers. MAKE SURE IT IS TAPED OFF AND UNABLE TO GROUND OUT!!!! ( I can't tell you how many customers tried to return "bad" head units because they grounded out the remote wire while trying to hook up the hot leads and speakers....

Oh, and there is a fuse in the radio itself.... make sure that isn't burnt.

So here's the first think I can suggest... For a ground, find a known good ground, like the frame or a screw that goes into the frame (there are a thousand of them right there where the radio goes in.) DO NOT use the ground wire for the radio (yet). Fasten you "light" to the known good ground or hold it on the ground. With the key off, check the fuse for the radio. if this gives you a light, THEN you can check the hot lead. If the fuse gives you a light, but the hot lead doesn't, then there is an issue in the hot lead. (This lead will be hot when the car is off.)

What do you not understand about the multi meter? Is it finding the right setting? The best tool here is the multi meter because if you are not getting the full 12v (aprox..) you might find that your radio will not function properly.

I think the most important thing is going to be learning how to use the multi meter.....

What else do you need to know about setting this up? I have helped people do full installations over the phone before...

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Myke

PAST: 88 L4 5spd, 84 L4 auto, 88 L4 5spd, 87 L4 auto

Present: 84 L4 4spd, 88 L4 5spd

Future: Tomorrow will tell...

Alright Xanth, I popped off the center console and tried the cig lighter just for giggles (the ground had been broken off of the lighter itself, so it wasn't hooked up either) That doesn't light up. either, so i hooked the light up to the ground just below the ECM, and tried the constant and switched leads, Nothing.

The remote wire has a twist on cap + electrical tape, I doubt it's grounding out. This radio doens't have a dimmer, that is taped off also.
About the multimeter, I think mine is broken, i tried reading Ohms and touched the pos to the neg and nothing happened, i was told it should go to 0 when i do that, but it doesn't. However, if i open the back of it and put the pos to the neg on the batter in the multimeter while it is in the multimeter, it will go to 0, if i try a battery outside the multimeter it doesn't read anything. Going to talk to my boss at work tomorrow he deals with them all the time so he'll be able to tell me if it's broken or if i'm a moron.

I'll go check the fuse with the light right now.

Edit:
No power at the fuse box, but I do have a pink wire with a blue connector and an orange wire with a gray connector back in their that aren't connected to anything. (Also found pink+yellow wire coming off the clutch that are taped off and then a lil higher, I'm assuming their counterparts, taped together(looks like they're connected up there.. maybe this is why I can start the car while it's in gear? bleh, off topic, radio's more important!)

[This message has been edited by Reltach (edited 04-06-2008).]

one thing i think it is supposed to be a 15-25amp fuse for the radio
somewhere i saw you said it was 10. that wouldnt cause problems but just make sure
that gets changed. sounds to me like someone ghetto rigged your wiring
you might have to do some pretty hard work to get a radio. also DO NOTuse the METAL
AROUND the radio as ground it doesnt work. use the ground wires.(black)

Those taped off pink and yellow wires are taped off because the neautral safety switch went out and since I never tried to start the car in gear I just bypassed it because I didn't have any money to replace it at the time. And after that I just never really thought about it because I had a habit of everytime I put the key in the ignition i pressed in the clutch. Really hope you get that radio issue figured out. The constant power that I used for the CD player, I believe was a yellow wire, either that or it's an orange one. It went along with the dimmer wire in a 2 wire terminal that was spliced into before i got the car. It always worked so I never messed with that. Btw I'm glad to see you post up about the car. I was kinda wondering what ended up happening with everything. Glad to hear that besides the random water pump coincidence it's been a pretty good car.

quote Originally posted by Reltach: radio's more important!

CANT CRUISE WITHOUT TUNES!!!!! lol

Ok, at this point, have you made this test light turn on at all anywhere in the car? I am wondering if this light is the first problem. I don't like to suggest such things, but if you have not made this light work anywhere in the car as of yet, try to touch the light DIRECTLY to the battery. I think your test light might be an issue here. From what you have written so far, you have not made the bulb illuminate yet.

Don't bother walking to the electrical socket and testing it in the house. It might work in the house and not the car. Test it on the battery of the Fiero to make sure the test light works on the car. (I bought a test light that would only work on home electrical once. Boy was I pisses when I found out I tore my car apart for nothing. Then again, I was 16, so it was a good lesson for me.)

If your test light is good (it lights up on the battery) then you have more than a simple "opps I pulled a wire" issue. We may be doing a full rewire of the fuse box and other.... project electrical issues. (this could get scary quick) I am hoping the test light is not working at this point... for your sake. I will try to help as much as I can, but this might be a hands on issue.

I will break out the full wiring guides if the light works, and we can go backwards towards the battery to find the fault. Alternatively, I can explain how to set up a full circuit for your radio without using the fuse box at all. It's not hard to do, and it would put your radio on it's own circuit. I typically do this when I want to remove annoying alternator whines. (indicative to bad grounds and burnt regulators)

We will try to make this painless as possible. PM me if the light is good and you want to do a dedicated circuit instead of trying to fix the issue with the current circuit. You or I can post to this thread after so everyone can see what we did.

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Myke

PAST: 88 L4 5spd, 84 L4 auto, 88 L4 5spd, 87 L4 auto

Present: 84 L4 4spd, 88 L4 5spd

Future: Tomorrow will tell...

quote Originally posted by Reltach: So i ran in the house and nabbed one of those little lights with the two wires coming off it.. i know I've seen electricians use them to check for power, so that should work for checking in a car too, right?

That test light is for 120 voltage. It will not work at all on a 12 volt car.

Yes, that light was for home electrical only, My multimeter problem was solved today at work, It's broken, tested it with my bosses and the accessory power is fine, but the constant (Orange wire) is not hot ever. Nor is the brown wire that is next to it, but that my converter doesn't use. And for some reason the orange wire had a red wire spliced into it that had an inline fuse and then an orange wire coming off the other end. Well, At least i have a multimeter that works now, well, Kinda, have to go to work to use it, but anyway, What should my next step be? I'm kinda at a loss, my boss mentioned something about a continuity test, but he doesn't know cars so much as knows electrical. But it still sounds like a worthy test, , Where does the orange wire start from?

The brown wire is park lights. Turn the lights on and you should have it there. The orange wire is battery constant. Betting on a blown fuse there.

Alright,



The one with red dots painted on is a good fuse(just replaced a good one with another good one, just to be sure), now, i forgot to check the fuse itself for power while at work today, but, is that where the constant(orange) line comes from?

The second radio fuse is empty, I've never seen a picture with a fuse actually in it. but, could that be the problem?

Also.. With the radio fuse taken out, is it NORMAL to no longer have a speedometer?!

Edit: I got bored and decided to try something.. I hooked the radio up to the brown wire, for the lights, turned on the lights, put the key in accessory, and the radio started up. So the problem is with the constant (orange) wire.
So, now i have to know, does that wire go straight to the fuse box? if so i'mma have to pull the fuse box and take a good look at that. checked all the fuses and they are all in working order, at least, as far as my eyes can tell.

[This message has been edited by Reltach (edited 04-07-2008).]

Constant power 'Orange' goes to BAT fuse. I should have mentioned that when you said the Cig lighter had no power.

------------------
www.FieroDomain.com
"If any car is both the parade and the rain, it is the Fiero"

Click For Live Help!

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 04-07-2008).]

here's what I would do at work. Use the multimeter to test continuity (Ohms) on the fuses. If you have a circuit (something that does on read "1") from one blade to the other, and you have power in the fuse (use a body ground and the fuse to test) then your problem is beyond the fuse box (i know, DAH) From here there are two lines of science. First on I would do is from the end of the wire (where the radio is to be mounted) start checking for 12v (You may want to find a good ground to clamp to so you will know your ground it good).
Continue back on the wire to every splice, fuse, or any other odd item you find along the way.

My guess is the orange spliced into the fuse then back to orange was a previous installation gone bad... now that I think of it, is there is fuse in the holder that was spliced in? is the fuse good? My choice---> Do you want to remove the inline fuse (considering the head unit is fused and so is the circuit)?

If the spliced in fuse is not the issue, your going to be following this wire back until you find a break. Usually it is obvious, and it was simply pressure split.... sort of like it was cut with dull scissors. Sometimes its a bit harder to find.... like it was puled and stretched until it broke inside.

Check the spliced in fuse first, or just remove it. You head unit (radio) is fused anyhow, is it not? (90-95% are fused)

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Myke

PAST: 88 L4 5spd, 84 L4 auto, 88 L4 5spd, 87 L4 auto

Present: 84 L4 4spd, 88 L4 5spd

Future: Tomorrow will tell...

quote Originally posted by Xanth: Constant power 'Orange' goes to BAT fuse. I should have mentioned that when you said the Cig lighter had no power.

Yup, this is your problem.

Well I feel silly, but I learned a lesson. Just because a fuse looks good, doesn't mean it is good.

All working now. Just gotta make sure everything else works then i can start breaking other things.

Thank you guys.

quote Originally posted by Reltach: Well I feel silly, but I learned a lesson. Just because a fuse looks good, doesn't mean it is good. All working now. Just gotta make sure everything else works then i can start breaking other things. Thank you guys.

I'll bet you feel less dumb than if you had took the dash all apart and cut open a perfectly good wire harness! It is always best to start at the easiest spot and go from there. I can't count how many times I had a customer tell me that all the fuses were good. Then when I started checking, they would get upset I didn't believe them. Then be even more upset when I pulled out a blown fuse and showed them what was wrong.

Did this fix the speedo problem as well? I've been having similar problems, except, I am getting no power through the yellow wire, and my speedo is dead. If I move things around a bit, my ignition also cuts out, definately looks like something is shorting.

Where does the yellow wire come out on the other end, and Which wire powers the speedo?

I've checked the wires at the starter, and replaced the ignition switch on top of the steering column. No change. Those are ruled out. The only custom work I have done is
wired in a GT Gauge pod (the 85 didn't have a connector, so they are spliced in), ran a manul fan swtch to the green wire at the front firewall, and mounted power windows, using the stock power junction above the fuse panel in the front left. All of these have worked flawlessly for over a year.

My problems started after my radio was stolen, and the wires were left hanging.

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Jay Brintnell
Southern Ontario Fiero Association
Yellow 85 Notchback(A.K.A. GodFearN)

The progress thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/077740.html

[This message has been edited by Eclipse (edited 04-08-2008).]

Oh.. the fuse looked perfect. Cept there was a small crack, not on the wire in the middle, but on the blade itself.

The speedo problem was fixed when i stopped and put the 10a fuse back in the radio slot.

No, i didn't bother to do anything drastic. I just did a LOT of testing with testers that wouldn't read 12v :P

I'm glad it was such a simple problem, I'd rather make a dumb mistake and look silly replacing a fuse, than having to rewire so0mething, screw that up, and short soemthing really important.. somehow.

Gotta get all the electrical right.. then I can start making the interior pretty.

Fixed. I had a short near the fuse box. Al seems well now. On to fix an apparent vacuum leak....

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Jay Brintnell
Southern Ontario Fiero Association
Yellow 85 Notchback(A.K.A. GodFearN)

The progress thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/077740.html