Stereo wiring

[NWDSdax 10]

Newbie here, when I bought my 94 vr6 it had no headunit fitted. I bought a kenwood replacement off eBay and plugged it in using the original iso blocks but when you remove the key it forgets the settings. I’m assuming the permanent and switch live are wired the wrong way round? I’m a novice with anything electrical so if anyone could point me in the right direction to sorting it that would be great.

Thanks

[delfinis38 1]

Yup... red to yellow, yellow to red....

[leon263 0]

You'll probably find the the yellow and red wires on the loom attached to the Kenwood will already have connectors installed to facilitate the switch.......... simply swap them over.

[oneohtwo 8]

I've also just bought a head unit and in the manual it says you need to swap red/red and yellow/yellow to red/yellow and yellow/red for VW cars, as others have said above. Mine handily came with connectors fitted to these wires so it's easy. One of them is the battery feed so should keep the settings running in the background.

 

 

Have had a bit of a weird issue with this though. Car was fine after first doing it, but when trying to start it again after a short drive the electrics went dead as though it had all shorted. Swapped the cables back and started fine again. Need to do a bit of investigation and try it with the cables swapped again, but very odd it started first time after swapped the cables... doesn't make much sense. Be interested to see if you encounter a similar issue.

Edited January 1, 2019 by oneohtwo

[delfinis38 1]

I've also just bought a head unit and in the manual it says you need to swap red/red and yellow/yellow to red/yellow and yellow/red for VW cars, as others have said above. Mine handily came with connectors fitted to these wires so it's easy. One of them is the battery feed so should

 

 

Have had a bit of a weird issue with this though. Car was fine after first doing it, but when trying to start it again after a short drive the electrics went dead as though it had all shorted. Swapped the cables back and started fine again. Need to do a bit of investigation and try it with the cables swapped again, but very odd it started first time after swapped the cables... doesn't make much sense. Be interested to see if you encounter a similar issue.

 

could it be a problem with the ignition switch... I had a problem with my switch live once and was caused by the ignition switch..... maybe an investigation with a volt metre will help

[oneohtwo 8]

Could be, I haven't had a chance to look at it again just yet. Could be coincidence and have nothing to do with the stereo wires, would seem a bit odd!

[Tigerfish 10]

I’d agree with checking out the ignition switch. When mine went, it gave various intermittent issues before giving up the ghost altogether.

[nelik 10]

This explains so much. Sourced an oem gamma cassette player for mine and it acted really strange after I installed it. All cabling was cut and spliced to bits by some old owner.. I need to go over the cables again. :bonk:

[culshaw 1]

Is there a wiring diagram for the stereo? I have no sound power or anything from any of my wires, so might have to trace everything back to the fuse box :|

[oneohtwo 8]

I tried switching the cables around again and all started OK, so maybe was the ignition switch and just a coincidence. Although I did notice one of the insulating sleeves on the plug had slid off, so I wonder if it could have shorted on the metal cage?

 

On my old unit the wiring had also been cut and spliced to bits, but I couldn't see to what end. It all just seemed to go to the same places, but a fuse had been inserted. Was a massive mess though.