stereo problems!

[rifster]

hi there
im a new member and new owner of a lovely red 2003 mr2,
all seems well with the car but the stereo......
from reading on here i have the "fisher price" stereo installed. this however has problems the stereo will turn on when the key is put in the ignition but you can only turn it on and off and retune/scan etc when the sidelights or headlights are switched on.....
naturally this has been doing my head in, does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be?, i removed the old stereo and the existing cables dont seem to have been messed about with..
i will be getting a new double din unit for the car but want to sort this first.
also on this year car does anyone have an idea which colour cable to cut to stop the aerial from making that row every time i turn the key!...the aerial is broke but im not really fussed about replacing it, i will change it to an unpowered one soon.
i found this diagram but want to check..

[rifster]

sorry forgot to add link for diagram!!!
 m https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/829436456342298254/ m

[Justin.D]

Blue is normally the power antenna wire. Needs checking for sure. I have a wiring diagram on the big pc, but I'm not switching that on until tomorrow. I'll let you know

Check the orange wire too (again, I'll check I have suggested the correct colour tomorrow) as that is normally illumination and could be messing with the sidelights / headlights issue

[JoeCool]

Sounds like your head unit is somehow linked in to the 'illumination' wore in the loom. Normally this would just light the stereo up (or brighten it) when the headlights are on. But it sounds like it's doing rather more in your case.

To stop the aerial, it's the light blue wire in the loom. When this sees +12v it puts the aerial up. Just disconnect it if you don't want to use the power aerial.

It's worth getting back to the car loom, there's often an intermediate connector block and that could be hiding some rewiring someone's been doing back there....

[Enjay]

Yup, definitely blue for the aerial.  I put a switch in the dash for mine a week or two back so that I could switch it on if I wanted it to go up (mine still works of course).

I wasn't sure which wire was the lights illumination one but it looks like Justin has that covered.  It certainly makes sense.  Most HUs should have the ability to dim their illumination when the car lights are switched on (so that the HU doesn't look too bright at night).  This requires a feed from the lighting circuit to let the HU "know" that the lights are on.  So, if you are experiencing weird stuff happening that corresponds to the lights being on/off, there's a good chance that the problem lies here.  Of course, it could be either because the wiring for this is weird (perhaps lighting connected where the permanent live for storing radio stations etc is meant to be), or that the HU is weird and responding incorrectly to the correct wiring.

[rifster]

cheers guys, will have another look tomorrow and let you know!

[Justin.D]

There is an alternative to cutting the antenna wire - unplug the antenna module (which can be plugged back in if you want to re-instate the power aerial)

 l viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19646&hilit=antenna+module l

 l viewtopic.php?f=47&t=30031 l

I've kept my powered aerial, but as others have done I have an inline switch so it can be raised and lowered when I want to listen to the radio

[Enjay]

I've kept my powered aerial, but as others have done I have an inline switch so it can be raised and lowered when I want to listen to the radio

That's what I have now.  The HU that I had in the car previously was smart enough to only put the aerial up when the radio was being used (i.e. when I switched to radio mode, the aerial went up, when I went back to a CD, the aerial went down).  Unfortunately, it didn't have any USB capability (and it was getting a bit tired in other areas too) so I swapped it out.  With the new unit, on = aerial up regardless of what mode it's in so I put the switch in.

[rifster]

ok sorry for late reply, been at work etc!. so i went out to the car sunday with the intention of checking the wiring on the main loom to sort out the (radio buttons not working till lights are on problem).
which to be honest i have not done yet. but i did manage to do the aerial disconnect from behind the bins..thanks all for help on that one!.
anyway an amazon guy turned up with this double din stereo which my missus had ordered for me

 m https://www.amazon.co.uk/Qiilu-Double-B ... car+stereo m

along with these fascia adapters...

 m http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DFP-11-08-TOY ... 231c89b036 m

i then removed the fisher price stereo and removed its bezel surround to check fitment of the fascia adapters with the new stereo, however the stereo was a bit too big and the fascia adapters overlapped on each side,when fitted flush into the fisher price bezel.
do these fascia adapers have to be trimmed to fit some stereos?. measuring the fascia adapters thay are 14mmwide are they too big?
i thought it would just be a straightforward job to fit a double din the Installation Dimension of the stereo says: 14 x 17.8 x 10cm/5.51'' x 7'' x 3.93''
i returned the stereo today which is a shame as it looked smart and had really good reviews.
i wish i had taken some pictures really to show you all.

[rifster]

got a feeling these fascia adapters are too big...

[rifster]

to be honest i might even fit a stereo this way, i think it looks cleaner and gets rid of the old fascia, what do you guys think?.[[attachment=0:83vphbrm] ia0 IMG_3064.jpg ia0 [/attachment:83vphbrm]attachment=0]

[rifster]

another picture, its not my car got the pics from spyder chat!. i do really think i might try this i like how it shows more of the weird beam side things!.
plus i reckon i might replace the cupholder section with a more up to date one (mines not very clever!)and replace the ashtray bit with storage?, but probably keep cig lighter socket.
anyone else do this and have pics to show?

[Justin.D]

TBH, I like that. I have a single din unit in mine which would look daft without the surround, but double din looks fine

I am 'ideamongering' with changing the cupholder section myself, just not sure what with (and more importantly how to) yet

[shnazzle]

I quite like that flush look as well to be honest. I'd have to replace the cup holder part as well though because that looks a bit off

[rifster]

arrrgh!, so had another double din arrive today, this one to be exact:-

 m https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1 m

all powered up and worked great, apart from poor radio reception due to my aerial not rising anymore!.



problem is it just wont fit with or without the fascia, as the metal brackets off the original just dont fit in the right place as the holes in the side of the stereo just are not in the right place , not enough holes    s:( s:(  .....dont really want to have to go drilling more holes into it.

so going to have to ask you guys about which units fit with no hassle, im after a cheap unit with bluetooth for hands free calls and ability to change bass etc.

on the plus side the new stereo controls worked no problem without having to switch my lights on so i think the old head unit is just bollo##d!

[Call the midlife!]

arrrgh!, so had another double din arrive today, this one to be exact:-

 m https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1 m

all powered up and worked great, apart from poor radio reception due to my aerial not rising anymore!.



problem is it just wont fit with or without the fascia, as the metal brackets off the original just dont fit in the right place as the holes in the side of the stereo just are not in the right place , not enough holes    s:( s:(  .....dont really want to have to go drilling more holes into it.

so going to have to ask you guys about which units fit with no hassle, I'm after a cheap unit with bluetooth for hands free calls and ability to change bass etc.

on the plus side the new stereo controls worked no problem without having to switch my lights on so i think the old head unit is just bollo##d!

Laterally thinking, can you not drill some holes in the bracket that match the holes in the HU? Or isn't there enough meat?


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[rifster]

arrrgh!, so had another double din arrive today, this one to be exact:-

 m https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1 m

all powered up and worked great, apart from poor radio reception due to my aerial not rising anymore!.



problem is it just wont fit with or without the fascia, as the metal brackets off the original just dont fit in the right place as the holes in the side of the stereo just are not in the right place , not enough holes    s:( s:(  .....dont really want to have to go drilling more holes into it.

so going to have to ask you guys about which units fit with no hassle, I'm after a cheap unit with bluetooth for hands free calls and ability to change bass etc.

on the plus side the new stereo controls worked no problem without having to switch my lights on so i think the old head unit is just bollo##d!

Laterally thinking, can you not drill some holes in the bracket that match the holes in the HU? Or isn't there enough meat?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

honestly didn't think of that!
cant remember, will have another look tomorrow if i can be bothered!
sick to death of removing the damn thing!

[Call the midlife!]

arrrgh!, so had another double din arrive today, this one to be exact:-

 m https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1 m

all powered up and worked great, apart from poor radio reception due to my aerial not rising anymore!.



problem is it just wont fit with or without the fascia, as the metal brackets off the original just dont fit in the right place as the holes in the side of the stereo just are not in the right place , not enough holes    s:( s:(  .....dont really want to have to go drilling more holes into it.

so going to have to ask you guys about which units fit with no hassle, I'm after a cheap unit with bluetooth for hands free calls and ability to change bass etc.

on the plus side the new stereo controls worked no problem without having to switch my lights on so i think the old head unit is just bollo##d!

Laterally thinking, can you not drill some holes in the bracket that match the holes in the HU? Or isn't there enough meat?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

honestly didn't think of that!
cant remember, will have another look tomorrow if i can be bothered!
sick to death of removing the damn thing!

Haha! Yeah, I've had mine in and out quite a lot over the last couple of months so I know what you mean. Even when they fit properly they're still a tight fit, I know they're more secure that way than in a cage with release keys but still a pain in the rear...


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[Justin.D]

It looks like the unit you have doesn't have the standard holes in the sides. I've just googled 'Double Din Side View', and looked at the images - different layout for the holes

I'd go with drilling the brackets - seems like the easiest option