August 6th 07, 06:42 PM
So here's my story. I've had my car (86 VW Golf) for a few months
now, but the radio has never worked for me (the make of the radio is
Rampage, which should do all I need it to with a working Aux In). I
just recently started an attempt to fix it. When I pulled the radio
out of the dash, all of the wires from the dash and radio were severed
with the wires exposed. The fuses for the radio's constant and
ignition wires are fine, as is the radio fuse in the fusebox. I got
my radio tested at a local stereo store, and they said it powers up
and works, though the CD player does not (as long as it doesn't
interfere with anything else working properly, it's fine with me).
When I got home I checked for the car's constant, ignition, and ground
wires because every VW radio wiring map I'd found didn't match up in
wire colors. Using a multimeter set at 50v DC, I found the constant
by placing the negative at a grounded point on the car and cycling
through the mess of wires. I tried finding a ground wire by placing
the mutimeter's positive to the constant then cycling through with the
negative, but I wasn't able to find one, so I just placed the radio's
ground on the car's radio antenna plug that had looked to be
grounded.
I was unable to find the ignition wire, which led me to search around
the internet where I found that VW's are supposedly notorious for not
having an ignition wire. I hooked up the radio with only the constant
and ground connected (I didn't seal with electrical tape, not sure if
that would make a difference), but I wasn't able to get the radio
powered up, nothing showing up on the radio's display or anything. I
tried with the car both running and not. I would think that with a
proven-to-be-working radio and what I think are connections to good
wires, the ignition wouldn't be absolutely needed to get my radio
powered up. I do plan on rigging up some sort of Y from an existing
ignition wire nearby, but I don't want to go through all that trouble
until I'm able to get the radio at least to a point where it actually
turns on.
So my question is what could possibly be the cause of the radio not
being able to power up, in this case. Is there anything I've
overlooked?
I tried to provide as much information as I could about the situation
so people could better visualize the state of things, but there's
probably something I'm missing in the detail. If so, I'd love to
answer any questions that arise from this potential lack of
information. Any kind of help at all will be greatly appreciated.
Needless to say, I'm very new to this wiring stuff, so anything will
help. Thanks much. =)
now, but the radio has never worked for me (the make of the radio is
Rampage, which should do all I need it to with a working Aux In). I
just recently started an attempt to fix it. When I pulled the radio
out of the dash, all of the wires from the dash and radio were severed
with the wires exposed. The fuses for the radio's constant and
ignition wires are fine, as is the radio fuse in the fusebox. I got
my radio tested at a local stereo store, and they said it powers up
and works, though the CD player does not (as long as it doesn't
interfere with anything else working properly, it's fine with me).
When I got home I checked for the car's constant, ignition, and ground
wires because every VW radio wiring map I'd found didn't match up in
wire colors. Using a multimeter set at 50v DC, I found the constant
by placing the negative at a grounded point on the car and cycling
through the mess of wires. I tried finding a ground wire by placing
the mutimeter's positive to the constant then cycling through with the
negative, but I wasn't able to find one, so I just placed the radio's
ground on the car's radio antenna plug that had looked to be
grounded.
I was unable to find the ignition wire, which led me to search around
the internet where I found that VW's are supposedly notorious for not
having an ignition wire. I hooked up the radio with only the constant
and ground connected (I didn't seal with electrical tape, not sure if
that would make a difference), but I wasn't able to get the radio
powered up, nothing showing up on the radio's display or anything. I
tried with the car both running and not. I would think that with a
proven-to-be-working radio and what I think are connections to good
wires, the ignition wouldn't be absolutely needed to get my radio
powered up. I do plan on rigging up some sort of Y from an existing
ignition wire nearby, but I don't want to go through all that trouble
until I'm able to get the radio at least to a point where it actually
turns on.
So my question is what could possibly be the cause of the radio not
being able to power up, in this case. Is there anything I've
overlooked?
I tried to provide as much information as I could about the situation
so people could better visualize the state of things, but there's
probably something I'm missing in the detail. If so, I'd love to
answer any questions that arise from this potential lack of
information. Any kind of help at all will be greatly appreciated.
Needless to say, I'm very new to this wiring stuff, so anything will
help. Thanks much. =)