73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Electrical => Topic started by: boulky12 on July 22, 2016, 04:15:23 pm
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Hey guys. I'm trying to figure out why my headunit cuts in and out. It's been like this since I got my truck 4 months ago.
It will do it when I'm rolling on the highway @ 60, when I brake hard, and when I get on the gas. And especially when I hit a bump. It will cut out in both the radio and aux.
It will not do it when the truck is sitting still.
I've tried cleaning the grounds that go on those tabs, above the parking brake pedal, with no effect.
The headunit is a Pioneer. It was not installed by me and I've never installed a headunit in one of these trucks, so I'm not even sure where its grounded.
Anywhere else I can look?
I appreciate the help.
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I would look at the power supply coming in. Loose connection? Is there an in line fuse? If so could it be loose?
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I would look at the power supply coming in. Loose connection? Is there an in line fuse? If so could it be loose?
How would I do that? When I pull out the stereo theres the little harness from the stereo to the Factory wiring harness.
Should I be looking at the wiring from that factory harness connector and on back? I believe yellow and red are used for power supply right?
(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag415/boulky12/IMAG0500_zpswfhwnhg0.jpg) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/boulky12/media/IMAG0500_zpswfhwnhg0.jpg.html)
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I would check the wire nuts, for loose a connection at the factory connector in the picture and at the fuse block. My diagram shows yellow going to ignition, orange wire and grey wire to battery. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160723/953871056813b3777028e2430fdb3d44.jpg)
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I would check the wire nuts, for loose a connection at the factory connector in the picture and at the fuse block. My diagram shows yellow going to ignition, orange wire and grey wire to battery. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160723/953871056813b3777028e2430fdb3d44.jpg)
Alright thanks. I'll check the wires out asap.
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So I took the wire nuts off the yellow, red, and black wires because I've had bad luck with those before. I just exposed the wires a little, twisted the wires together, and wrap it up with electrical tape, like I always have. Went for a test drive and it was still the same.
I shook all the wires with the music playing and I couldn't get it to cut out. It seems like it will only do it when I'm driving?
I did notice my yellow wire for accessory switched 12v is tied into my courtesy lights fuse. Is this okay?
(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag415/boulky12/IMAG0502_zpscpjkx9i7.jpg) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/boulky12/media/IMAG0502_zpscpjkx9i7.jpg.html)
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I would have put that wire in one of the accessory spots. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160724/3c889cfb49c26cb4ba7035799fd3ba99.jpg)
As for it still cutting out try tapping the stereo its self (loose connetion inside?), could the face plate be loose, what do the contacts for the face plate look like, could it be getting too much voltage at a higher rpm?
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Thinking about it a little more that yellow wire could go to the dimmer for the stereo. Instead of hooking it up to the switch they could have wired it in there.
Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
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What make and model is that stereo?
Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
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I would have put that wire in one of the accessory spots.
As for it still cutting out try tapping the stereo its self (loose connetion inside?), could the face plate be loose, what do the contacts for the face plate look like, could it be getting too much voltage at a higher rpm?
I tried getting voltage readings on those accessory spots you circled and I only got power with the key on.
The Constant 12V is supposed to go in a spot where its getting power with key On and Off right?
I tried these spots right here and I was getting voltage with key On and Off.
(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag415/boulky12/IMAG0502_zps0izml2l7.jpg) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/boulky12/media/IMAG0502_zps0izml2l7.jpg.html)
One thing I wasn't sure about also is I'm getting 12.45 V with key Off, and I'm getting about 9 V with key On, on all circuits. Is this proper voltage drop?
Oh and i tried tapping the stereo itself and it wont cut at all. I didnt try tapping the face plate, I'll try that next time
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Thinking about it a little more that yellow wire could go to the dimmer for the stereo. Instead of hooking it up to the switch they could have wired it in there.
Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
That same yellow wire, @ the stereo connector, is in the corner with the red ignition wire and the ground wire, and its bigger than all the others. Dosent that mean its probably a main power wire?
(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag415/boulky12/IMAG0504_zpsxql9o3bv.jpg) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/boulky12/media/IMAG0504_zpsxql9o3bv.jpg.html)
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What make and model is that stereo?
Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
Stereo is a Pioneer Super Tuner IIId DEH-11E
(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag415/boulky12/IMAG0503_zpsisxzrfh9.jpg) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/boulky12/media/IMAG0503_zpsisxzrfh9.jpg.html)
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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160724/82d198c8b671c6e03fbe5dc76e7dcce1.gif)
Looking at the diagram for your stereo that is the main power for the unit. So it should go into the ones that you circled.
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160724/9d260ca217f0af13b9f41ca952bed1a8.jpg)
Looking at the diagram for your stereo this where the connections should be.
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Looking at the diagram for your stereo this where the connections should be.
Thanks for the diagram. I just got back from the store with some male connectors.
So I'm gonna try moving the yellow constant 12V to one of the ones I circled.
As for the Red one, right now its connected to the factory stereo harness. Is this okay or should I wire it straight to the fuse box like you said.
And as for the orange, there is no orange coming out of the stereo at all? But its still getting illuminated, so i guess thats fine.
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[quote
As for the Red one, right now its connected to the factory stereo harness. Is this okay or should I wire it straight to the fuse box like you said.
And as for the orange, there is no orange coming out of the stereo at all? But its still getting illuminated, so i guess thats fine.
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If it's hooked up to the factory harness I would leave it. No sense in putting more wires in than you need.
I looked at the picture of the back of the stereo again. It looks like you don't have a dimmer function. All that wire would do is dimm the light down when you turned your head lights on.
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[quote
As for the Red one, right now its connected to the factory stereo harness. Is this okay or should I wire it straight to the fuse box like you said.
And as for the orange, there is no orange coming out of the stereo at all? But its still getting illuminated, so i guess thats fine.
If it's hooked up to the factory harness I would leave it. No sense in putting more wires in than you need.
I looked at the picture of the back of the stereo again. It looks like you don't have a dimmer function. All that wire would do is dimm the light down when you turned your head lights on.
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Alright cool. So I just moved the Yellow constant 12V to one of those empty spots I had circled.
I'm gonna take her for a spin. Fingers crossed!
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Well that didn't do it. I didn't have to get very far either. I was just rolling back and forth on my driveway and it's still cutting out exactly like before :(
Anything else I can try?
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Connections at the speakers mabey?? If not I would try to get a hold of vile zombie or Irish alley. They're way better at this.
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Connections at the speakers mabey?? If not I would try to get a hold of vile zombie or Irish alley. They're way better at this.
Yeah I read that sometimes the speaker wire can come loose and get magnetized by the speakers magnet and cause these sort of issues.
I have the dash off because I got all new speakers on the way. I'm gonna go ahead and rip out all the old speakers and see if that helps any.
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I tried removing all the speakers and the stereo is still turning off and then back on :-\
It seems like it's the worst when I drop it in gear and the rpm's are low enough to make the truck shake.
It's really not liking any vibrations.
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i would run a positive wire straight from the battery to the radio. after that i would ground the radio with an o connector to a bolt inside the cab (make sure it has a good clean bare metal spot to ground) sounds like a power/ground supply issue. the yellow wire is the memory wire, it keeps your programed stations in your radio it can be ran to any all time power source ( it only draws like .2 amps)
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I tried removing all the speakers and the stereo is still turning off and then back on :-\
It seems like it's the worst when I drop it in gear and the rpm's are low enough to make the truck shake.
It's really not liking any vibrations.
How are the wires from the firewall to the battery?
Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
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i would run a positive wire straight from the battery to the radio. after that i would ground the radio with an o connector to a bolt inside the cab (make sure it has a good clean bare metal spot to ground) sounds like a power/ground supply issue. the yellow wire is the memory wire, it keeps your programed stations in your radio it can be ran to any all time power source ( it only draws like .2 amps)
So I just tried this.
I ran a power wire straight from the battery to the radio.
As for the ground, I didn't use the o connector to a bolt inside the cab cuz I couldn't find a good bolt. So I used one of the open ground connections right there above the parking brake pedal, with the proper connector, which I took off another truck.
Nothing changed. It's cutting out just like before.
I don't know if this will help but it seems like it likes to cut out right in the middle of me going from park to reverse.
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I tried removing all the speakers and the stereo is still turning off and then back on :-\
It seems like it's the worst when I drop it in gear and the rpm's are low enough to make the truck shake.
It's really not liking any vibrations.
How are the wires from the firewall to the battery?
Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
If you're talking about the wires that come out of the drivers side firewall, behind the motor, down to the starter, and back up to the battery, then these all look good.
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does the radio shut off or stay on and just lose sound?
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does the radio shut off or stay on and just lose sound?
It actually shuts off.
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ok, so we are worried about power not speakers. a bad ground is still a possibility, i know they've caused me a ton of head aches before. Another quick test, run a ground directly from the battery as well. you may want jump the red and yellow together (main power from battery with both yellow and red wire twisted to it) in-case its losing power. if that doesn't help i would get a multi meter and check battery while someone put it in revers, you could have something lose and shorting out causing the issue. If straight wiring it to the battery fixes it then check each wire for power while someone put it in reverse and look for a voltage drop. also check original negative for voltage drop when putting it in reverse. if you find one of the wires is losing voltage start tracing back to the fuse box
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ok, so we are worried about power not speakers. a bad ground is still a possibility, i know they've caused me a ton of head aches before. Another quick test, run a ground directly from the battery as well. you may want jump the red and yellow together (main power from battery with both yellow and red wire twisted to it) in-case its losing power. if that doesn't help i would get a multi meter and check battery while someone put it in revers, you could have something lose and shorting out causing the issue. If straight wiring it to the battery fixes it then check each wire for power while someone put it in reverse and look for a voltage drop. also check original negative for voltage drop when putting it in reverse. if you find one of the wires is losing voltage start tracing back to the fuse box
Alright I'll give these a shot tomorrow in the daylight. Thanks for the ideas winky
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any time bud. im sure its something simple. always is, lol.
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Normally I don't chime into radio issues cause I know we have better people for this. But clear something up when you unhooked the speakers how did you do that? I would of took the wire nuts off every wire and disconnected each on on the stereo side of the pigtail. Then either capped them off or put tape on them and only have a new hot wire wired into the power and memory and then a new ground. If the radio still shuts down and powers back up would say it's a radio issue itself and might be time for a replacement. Unless it's a bad connection right in the back of the radio.
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Normally I don't chime into radio issues cause I know we have better people for this. But clear something up when you unhooked the speakers how did you do that? I would of took the wire nuts off every wire and disconnected each on on the stereo side of the pigtail. Then either capped them off or put tape on them and only have a new hot wire wired into the power and memory and then a new ground. If the radio still shuts down and powers back up would say it's a radio issue itself and might be time for a replacement. Unless it's a bad connection right in the back of the radio.
When I unhooked the speakers I just pulled the Positive and negative on each one and set the speaker aside.
I kinda hope its not the radio itself cuz it's probably one of the nicest radios I ever had. I never had one with Cd player and aux or any Pioneer. But it did come with the truck when i bought it, so I wouldn't feel too bad about replacing it.
Would I be able to find another radio that uses the same connector I have now or are they all the same? (the connector right in the back of the radio)
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ok, so we are worried about power not speakers. a bad ground is still a possibility, i know they've caused me a ton of head aches before. Another quick test, run a ground directly from the battery as well. you may want jump the red and yellow together (main power from battery with both yellow and red wire twisted to it) in-case its losing power. if that doesn't help i would get a multi meter and check battery while someone put it in revers, you could have something lose and shorting out causing the issue. If straight wiring it to the battery fixes it then check each wire for power while someone put it in reverse and look for a voltage drop. also check original negative for voltage drop when putting it in reverse. if you find one of the wires is losing voltage start tracing back to the fuse box
So I ran the ground and power to the battery, and I did twist the red and yellow together to the main power from the battery.
When I did this it worked great! I drove it around my bumpy yard and it worked great. Didn't cut out at all.
I wanted to isolate if the problem was power or ground, so I took the power off the battery and hooked it up like I had before. Yellow from stereo to fusebox, and Red from stereo to factory harness. Ground still on battery. When I tried this, the stereo didn't turn on at all. So I tried checking voltage on the power wires. The yellow was good but the Red was reading -2V with the key forward. So then I decided to hook up the Red to one of the empty IGN slots in the fusebox, and I was getting the correct voltage.
When I did this it worked great again! No cutting out at all. So the only thing that was left was the ground.
I would really like to use one of those ground tabs inside the dash on the drivers side, but when I connect to it, it cuts out, and for some reason it cuts out as soon as I apply pressure on the brake. I even tried removing that whole piece with the ground tabs and sanded and clean every part that was making contact inside and out. Installed it back on and its still cutting out as soon as I apply a little pressure on the brake? I also noticed when I apply that little pressure on the brake, the parking brake light dims, and a couple of my gauge needles move?
Will it hurt anything if I just hook up the ground for the stereo straight to the battery? I might just do that cuz I'm getting fed up with this. Or what do you guys think.
Thank you all so much for helping me get this far.
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Connect your voltmeter: positive to bare cab sheetmetal and negative to the battery negative post. Switch on the radio and accessories as usual then step on the brake and watch the meter. What happens?
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Connect your voltmeter: positive to bare cab sheetmetal and negative to the battery negative post. Switch on the radio and accessories as usual then step on the brake and watch the meter. What happens?
I just did this twice.
First time what it did was: Power On 2.3V, then brake on, 1.3V, then brake off, 2.3V, then brake on 1.3V...
Second time: It just stayed at 2.3V whether I hit the brake or not.
What does this mean bd
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Get rid of those quick connectors. Solder and heat shrink all of your connections. Run an auxiliary ground from the dash to the kick panel bus. Run another auxiliary body ground to the engine block. Run another one to the radiator support and back to the battery.
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Poor cab ground. The cab is actually grounding through the brake pedal arm and connecting pieces. Move the brake pedal with your foot and the ground path is interrupted.
Follow Vile's advice. At minimum you need the following grounds to function perfectly: 1) battery negative-to-engine, 2) battery negative-to-right (passenger side) frame rail, 3) back of engine right side cylinder head-to-cab sheetmetal, 4) battery negative-to-radiator support.
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Get rid of those quick connectors. Solder and heat shrink all of your connections. Run an auxiliary ground from the dash to the kick panel bus. Run another auxiliary body ground to the engine block. Run another one to the radiator support and back to the battery.
By kick panel bus, do you mean those ground connections, on the drivers side, in the dash?
And by running all these extra grounds, is it gonna make the ground stronger or something?
And do I have to make new holes for these grounds or can I just put them where there's already a ground?
Poor cab ground. The cab is actually grounding through the brake pedal arm and connecting pieces. Move the brake pedal with your foot and the ground path is interrupted.
Follow Vile's advice. At minimum you need the following grounds to function perfectly: 1) battery negative-to-engine, 2) battery negative-to-right (passenger side) frame rail, 3) back of engine right side cylinder head-to-cab sheetmetal, 4) battery negative-to-radiator support.
Alright I'm gonna try to clean some of these up and see if it helps. Thanks guys
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basically your cab isn't grounded at the moment. What they are telling you to do will guarantee your cab is grounded well, he is talking about the current grounds you mentioned. You dont necessarily have to make new holes. On my truck i ran a ground from the battery to the engine, ground from the radiator support (where headlights are grounded) to the battery, A ground from battery to frame, a ground strap from engine to the firewall of the cab, and i also have a round strap from the back of the cab to frame (stock location)
Also make sure all your grounds are clean bare metal
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basically your cab isn't grounded at the moment. What they are telling you to do will guarantee your cab is grounded well, he is talking about the current grounds you mentioned. You dont necessarily have to make new holes. On my truck i ran a ground from the battery to the engine, ground from the radiator support (where headlights are grounded) to the battery, A ground from battery to frame, a ground strap from engine to the firewall of the cab, and i also have a round strap from the back of the cab to frame (stock location)
Also make sure all your grounds are clean bare metal
Alright thanks for the clarification winky.
The rain started coming down on my last hours of sunlight, but when I was taking a quick look @ my wires, I noticed the ground strap from the firewall to the pass cylinder head was just hanging and not even connected to the head, so thats probably a big part of it ha.
I can't wait to finish this up tomorrow and be done with this. I got my 3.5 inch kickers in the mail today and got the 4x10's coming soon.
I can already see myself jammin out in my old truck. Can't wait!
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Fixed it! All it was was the ground from the firewall to the motor. It wasn't even connected.
My cylinder head actually didn't even have the bolt hole for the ground, so I just put it on one of my valve cover bolts.
It's not cutting out at all. I didn't add any auxillary grounds or clean up any of my old ones even though I should've, but it was getting dark.
Thank you guys so so much for the help. I really appreciate it.
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i would take that ground off the valve cover as its not really a good ground. attach to the intake or block. theres no bolt holes in the passengers side read head?
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i would take that ground off the valve cover as its not really a good ground. attach to the intake or block. theres no bolt holes in the passengers side read head?
Alright thanks for the advice. If it starts giving me issues again, I will do so.
And yeah I was feeling all over the back of the passenger side head, and didn't feel any holes suprisingly. Maybe heads were swapped @ one point.
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the only heads that i know of (might be mistaken) are double hump heads and if you want accessories you have to drill and tap them for it.