Thread: radio probs.. please help

I have a 96 b14 se-r that im TRYING to put a cd player in. Ive done this many times with no problems so i kinda know what im doing. I have all the wires from the radios harness hooked up with solid connections. from the cars harness there is a orange(dimmer?) and i think a blue? left over. Once everything was hooked up i turned the car on and nothing happened. I realized i didnt have the antenna plugged in to the back of the radio, I plugged it in and got a nasty spark?? Does the antenna have anything to do wit power?? I figured it blew a fuse since there was a spark but nothing was blown?? I got my volt meter and there is no power going to the red/black on the harness?? I checked all relays and there doesnt seem to be anything that would effect the radio.. Any ideas would be great!! Thanks

The ground wire on the aftermarket harness goes to nothing. What you need to do is either run a wire to chassis from the radio ground wire, or you can tap into the cigarette lighter ground. If you used the factory brackets to mount the radio it will ground through that but its not good enough.

Thanks alot. ill try that tomorrow and post the results..

Why didn't you tell me you had a problem while I was there. That spark that you get is from the antenna cable acting as a ground for the stereo. Like Squirlz said You need to connect the ground cable from the stereo directly to a chassis ground source . That metal brace (frame) behind the stereo will do.

^^^ yup, that happens all the time.

I extend the ground wire on the radio a bit and then add a ring terminal. If you lift the carpet behind the center console to expose the metal you will see a hole already there. Sand away some of the paint so you have good contact, find a bolt/screw that fits in the hole and bolt down the ring terminal.

Also, always disconnect the battery's ground terminal when working with/around the electrical system.

Im going outside now to try this. Hopefully it works.. Thanks guys!!

Ok i finally got it to work. I grounded the radio to the cig lighter like you guys said and that got me power. I checked with teh volt meter and all was good. Plugged the radio in and still didnt work? turns out that the radio was bad, i took the cdplayer from my b13 and it worked with no problems. Thanks Alot fellas

i always just add a ring terminal to the end and simply shove the ground wire under the screw that holds the the radio bracket to the dash.