88conquest_nutz Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 ok i bought a radio harness, hooked everything up except for the dimmer wire and illumination wire. the radio lights up fine and works. but i have no dash lights or rear lights. now if i hook up the dimmer wire to the power wire, my gauge lights come on, but my hvac lights go off. if i hook up my illumination wire to a power wire, my rear lights come on and my hvac lights go off.... im confused. ive never wired in a radio so i might be missing something simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 You wired something wrong. I've done more sustems than I care to count, but never done one in a SQ, so I can't tell you what exactly you did wrong. I will say that you don't want to hook up the dimmer though. They almost never work. They usually end up smoking and melting stuff for some reason. Only had ONE dimmer actually work. Post up a good, clear picture of your wiring, and between me and more experienced members, we'll try and get your SQ jammin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burton Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) Yeah, avoid hooking up the dimmer as that seems to have a way of burning up stock rehostat illumination switches. You should be able to not hook up those light wires for the stock radio and not have any issues with losing power to other circuits. Either your wiring was butchered up by the previous owner (common) and by not hooking those up it messed up the previous owner's creative wiring, or you hooked it up wrong. Did you figure out your hookups by using a wire color chart, or did you just hook up to the wires you thought you figured out from testing them yourself? Did you hook your radio ground up to the factory radio ground wire, or just make your own new chassis ground for the radio? I suggest having the radio on it's own chassis ground. It's easy to mistake a light power wire for a ground wire when the circuit is at rest. I'd start by making sure you have a good chassis ground and go from there. I'd say over 50% of the audio issues I've come across in my 18 years installing were related to a poor or impropper ground. Edited April 23, 2011 by Burton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rabbit1 Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 where did you hook up your radio's ground wire to? it needs to go to the chassis. the black with orange stripe wire is not to be hooked up to anything. It has continuity to ground but IS NOT a ground wire. it is actually the dimmer wire and will cause a loss of dash and parking lights if used as a ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance_S Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 check the write up at starquest.i-x.net He has a complete write up on stereo install. He also says not to connect the dimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88conquest_nutz Posted April 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 (edited) ok, i got the tail lights working correct now. the fuse was blown. i checked all the other fuses and they were good. im using the same ground i used for my wideband. its connected to a ground wire off the ecu. another thing i noticed to, is even when i connect the dimmer switch and the dash lights do come on, my boost gauge doesnt light up. i dont know if that might have something to do with it. the guage was already in the car when i bought it. Edited April 24, 2011 by 88conquest_nutz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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