CarTalk.com Best of Deals Car Reviews Repair Shops Cars A-Z Radio Show

New car radio wont turn on

Maintenance/Repairs
,
#1

Hello,

I am installing a new car radio, and I’m not getting power to yellow or red wires with the wiring harness connected, i checked the ground wire and it is a good ground with a multi meter. Do you think its the wiring harness or something else? I reinstalled my old radio and it works just fine.

#2

Aftermarket radio? Are you using a vehicle-specific wiring harness adapter? What about the inline fuses in the radio’s wiring harness?

#3

Yes aftermarket radio, i am using a vehicle-specific wiring harness adapter and it should be the correct one as it was recommended by crutchfield and a few others who have installed aftermarket radios in there cars. What is an inline fuses on the radios wirining harness? i only see fuses on the radio itself, and those are good.

#4

Could be a defective radio. It happens sometimes

#5

It wouldnt make sense if im not getting power from my wiring harness though. I figured I would work from wiring to radio before I determine its the radio.

#6

Check the pins on the adapter plug to make sure none are bent and not making contact.
What year is your truck?

#7

I checked the pins and they look good. The year of my truck is a 2015

#8

There may be an issue with the truck’s CANBUS system not recognizing the radio. You may have to use an alternate power source, like the accessory outlet (“cigarette lighter”) feed.

#9

Thank you, ill try that. As i was looking at the pins from my harness, I tested the wires for resistance. Yellow and ground wire read less then 1 OHM but the red wire was weird and I couldnt read any resistance from any of the pins. The red wire is a much smaller pin then the yellow and i thought that was weird

#10

That probably means the wire is open, not connected to anything.

#11

Unlucky, nothing I really dont want to cut it open and see what is going on with it.

#12

Hey all,

Dropped by to give you all an update, my idiot self didnt put the multi meter onto DC. Everything is reading fine, so its most likely the radio failed.

#13

I can vouch personally OP isn’t the first to forget to double-check the DC/AC setting on the meter … lol …