please help..im in the dark

[Slickjr09]

so after i put in my new sony headunit everthing was fine for a little but then when i tured on my car my gauge would be illuminated but my lights were turned off so then i would turn my lights on and as soon as i did the gauge lights would go off.. i blew a fuse.. and i blew like 20 fues from all this and now it just doesnt work at all never comes on even when i turn my lights on, did i blow a thing in the dimmer control swicth of something else i have no idea pleasssssssssse help.. thanks mike

92 mx-3

[umcamara]

I'm gonna guess that you connected your radio's ground to the dimmer or park light wire. This wire will show ground when the parklights or dimmer are off, then 12 volts when they're on.

I'm a part-time installer at a car audio shop here in Winnipeg, and anytime these symptons appear, what I described is exactly the problem.

Good luck.

[Slickjr09]

how do i fix it please?

[umcamara]

Did you install the radio yourself?

Find the ground wire coming from the radio (black), and cut it's connection to whatever wire you hooked it up to. Strip a bit of insulation from the radio's ground wire, and touch it to a metal part of the vehicles chasis. There's some bare metal in the DIN slot where the radio slides in. While grounding this wire to the metal, try to turn on the radio. Report back with info.

[Slickjr09]

yes i did install it myself iand i did what you said and tried it all and still nothing, anything else

[umcamara]

Check the fuse on the back of the CD deck. If that's fine, get a test light, and make sure that the yellow wire from the deck is connected to a constant 12-volt source. Connect the red wire to a switched 12-volt source, and the black wire to ground.

If these things don't work, get a new deck.

Quote:
"Just a quick post for people who'd like to install aftermarket or OEM radio in their MX-3. Here are cables, their colours and what they are used for. It works well on my MX-3 year 1993.

Speakers

Front left:
Blue / Orange
Violet (+)

Front right:
White
Blue / White (+)

Rear left:
Pink
Gray / Black (+)

Rear right:
Light green / Red
Light green / Black (+)

Power
Blue / Red = Memory
Blue / Black = Power (ACC)
Red / Black = Illumination
Black = Ground

Hope it will help somebody."


This means you will connect your yellow radio wire to the blue/red stripe wire, red radio wire to the blue/black stripe wire, black radio wire to metal part of dash. Illumination wire is not necessary to power deck, and your deck may not even have a dimmer wire.

[ScooterBovine]

I had this problem too. There is another fuse that is blown I am pretty sure. There is the radio fuse, and the one that controls the power to the constant wire (controls the clock, dome lights, and constant to the radio). Look for this fuse and see if that, too, is blown. Make sure your stereo wires aren't stripped somewhere and touching something they shouldn't. Your fuses are blowing for a reason, and it's probably NOT a good idea to keep replacing them and letting them blow without fixing the problem first.

[Slickjr09]

nope i pulled out all the fuses and checked, it doesnt blow fuses now, but it doesnt work, my clock works though to

[Slickjr09]

ok so i just pulled out the. my dash lights dont even come on with the radio out. I rewired it and still nothing

[Slickjr09]

ok i just took out the dimer control swich it loks prety bad so i think thats the prob, does anyone have one or now where i can get one, there are no junkyards around me that have one i tried callin alot of places

[Mooneggs]

ooh I think you are on to something with the dimmer switch. the harness might be kind of messed up...

I've got spare dimmer switches and I'm going to the junkyard on saturday I could cut like 6 inches out of the harness so you could rewire it if you want. I've got to do that to mine because I have tried to splice in too many times and I screwed it up.

[Slickjr09]

yea that would be great