Elementary wiring question. Just want to make sure I have the right idea.

[kickass audio]

Yea it sounds like in that case you are shorting something out (not you directly, the radio) Are the frayed parts of the wire where it plugs into the back of the radio itself, where the two stripped wire ends meet and connect, or where the harness plugs into the harness that is already in your dash?

If you can, put a pic of it on here and let me see it.

[G-Rad]

My friend got impatient and cut the wires to the main harnass, where he could rewire them later. He, then, today, got the actual harnass adapter, but he's stuck with a problem.

I rewired his harnass and now the factory radio won't even turn on. . There are 2 yellow leads, one was the ignition and the other one was a speaker terminal. I testech which one was which and separated the ignition switch from the lead. So, I wired the 3 main lines, hot, switch, and common. however, the factory radio will not power on, and it does power on when I connect that tot he PC.

[G-Rad]

I forgot to mention, I did check and the fuses are working.

[kickass audio]

Maybe the wire got disconnected in the dash? Idk. Theres a big reason why you shouldnt ever cut the stock wiring harness in the dash and thats one of them.

[G-Rad]

I have no idea. I wish I had a volt/ohm tester or an old 12v LED.. as a matter of fact, I do have a way I can test it... but I have to modify a PC fan. hey, if the fan comes on, then the 12v works... Worst case scenario, he'll have to take it to a dealer.

[kickass audio]

That is true. It wont matter for polarity of the fan btw so if u were wondering that. If its reversed the fan will just suck air instead of blowing it out.

Edit: or you can do the super ghetto 12v halogen bulb test. Take a headlight, turn signal, hood lamp, anything that is a light on the car and hook it up to it

Edited August 18, 2011 by kickass audio

[G-Rad]

Super Ghetto but guaronteed to work. 'cause if the switched line powers but the battery line doesn't, then he can just double switch for all he would care, but I really am curious on what would happen. I know there's a theft lock, but wouldn't that lock on the radio or the car's electronics? Everything else works just fine. Just the radio...

[kickass audio]

Theft lock only works on the stock radio. What it prevents is if I steal your stock radio I can't put it in my vehicle because it will know part of the original cars vin number. The only way I could do it is if I flashed the radio which is very expensive to do

[G-Rad]

Ah okay. Well, the radio I'm trying to "correct' here is the stock radio by wiring the harnass back up color for color, but it's just not powering up whatsoever, so I'm guessing the last resort is one of the hot lines came loose. I guess I can try a direct battery feed with a inline 10a fuse and see if it boots up on the constant.

Could I tie the hot and switch together? I figured so since it's all 12v, but just being safe. But lierally, at this point, it's gotta be the hot or the ground... I don't care if theft lock does activate on the radio, I just want to be able to get power to it so we can use the correct harnass and wire up an aftermarket unit.

Thank you for being so patient. It's a lesson learned and I will, now, slap any dumbass who "rushes" an install, especially one I'm partaking in, and takes a set of wirecutters in his dash... Walmart carried the harnass we needed...

[kickass audio]

It would be fine to put it on with full 12v+ power to the ignition and power wire. And for ground you can put it right into the floor panel or something if you need to ground it somewhere else. Does your buddys radio look like this: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=1999+monte+carlo+radio&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=JyGS-67-qIOypM:&imgrefurl=http://www.oemradios.com/gm_radios.php&docid=cijthbVsfiRV5M&w=450&h=278&ei=lpBMTpiFNorpgAfS-7zvBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=168&vpy=355&dur=2440&hovh=176&hovw=286&tx=180&ty=148&page=2&tbnh=112&tbnw=181&start=21&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:21

If so then you are so lucky because the one in my truck turns on by a serial data connection, there was never a ignition wire that turned the radio on and off. I had to tap into a fuse in my rear fusebox to get my aftermarket radio to work (damn GM!!!)

Also, if you need it, here is the wiring color guide from the12volt.com, i use them all the time, http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/stereodetail/553.html