Deck Installed, But not working. - Honda Prelude Forum

PuYang · 07-17-2010, 11:08 PM

Hi, i have just installed my new aftermarket deck. it is a SONY CDX-GT640UI.
My car is a 1999 Prelude.

so... i HAVE purchased a Harness, and i HAVE connected/Matched all wires that have a pair. (there are like 3 wires remaining that did not have a match: Black, Light Blue, and Blue i think). those are for antenna, ATT, and the Black is a grounding wire.

the Deck TURNS ON, LIGHTS UP, and can play USB if plugged in. HOWEVER! NONE of the buttons on the deck work, nothing reacts when i press anything. cannot even change volume, or bring up a setup menu etc. NOTHING works. the USB music plays, but cant change volume or switch songs. cannot switch to FM, CD, etc etc. I have reset the deck (reset button) twice, and the problem persists.

The deck also turns off (or atleast all lights/display turns off) after a few seconds. The deck turns on when i turn on my car, but then doesnt do anything. and turns off in a few seconds.

i have read this (and it was extremely helpful), however, somethings not adding up ;S
Installing an Aftermarket Head Unit (How-to with Pics)

One thing im wondering about, is that our car comes with a plug (like an adapter plug), that goes into the deck (it also went into the stock one). THAT plug doesnt look like it goes FULLY into my new deck, because of badly designed deck plug. is it possible that is the reason none of the functions work? im totally out of ideas now, i tried a lot of things, and nothing works.

anyway, thanks a lot for any feedback/advice/support. and sorry for the lengthy thread, on a common topic.

thanks!

Lude168 · 07-17-2010, 11:17 PM

I'm not an expert by any means, but I remembered having a similar problem when I installed a JVC stereo in my Prelude a couple of months ago. I accidentally mixed up the antenna cable with another cable. I wish I could be more help... Good luck!

PuYang · 07-17-2010, 11:19 PM

hm... thanks for the feedback, right now, i appreciate anything xD

however, i matched all wires with corresponding wires. NONE of them are wrong... so... unless its because my harness didnt come with the last 3 colors, (ATT, antenna, grounding...?) i dont know whats going on! >;C

thanks though!

Lude168 · 07-17-2010, 11:25 PM

the antenna cable I'm referring to is not the one that plugs into the harness, but the one that plugs into the back of the stereo. I think I had another cable plugged into the antenna port and vice versa. Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm sure someone else will chime in w/ some advice :-)

aznxpsyko · 07-17-2010, 11:58 PM

there could be a loose connection or something (im also not an expert)... when u spliced the wires on the harness and connected them to the stereo wires, did u twist them together and then use a wire connector and made sure they are secure?

PuYang · 07-18-2010, 12:00 AM

yes, i followed that guide i linked to in my original post. twisted each individually, than twisted them together. then crimped them... even without the crimps though, they shouldnt come loose, because they are twisted together nicely, and i tried tugging them gently, its impossible to just slip out.

bullwinkle99 · 07-18-2010, 08:10 AM

It looks like that model has a detachable face - have you checked to be sure one of the contacts on the back of the face isn't bent or not making contact with the deck?

indylude18 · 07-18-2010, 08:59 AM

Ok stupid question: Did you attach the ground cable to anything?

PuYang · 07-18-2010, 10:10 AM

i havent looked at the contacting area, but i'll check that later. i believe its fine though... nothing is wrong with either side alone, not sure about when it closes though.

about the grounding cable, i have not attached that to anything.... should i? i thought the grounding cable is purely to prevent shocks... please tell me if thats the reason mines not working! ;O

ColinK · 07-18-2010, 10:31 AM

That ground is black and pretty sure that is connected to a wire from the harness, kind of important. Also, is this a known working deck? If there was no power/sound/distortion that would be a connection error. Buttons not working sounds like a hardware deck issue.

PuYang · 07-18-2010, 10:47 AM

hm... instructions say to connect grounding wire to any metal surface on the car (which i ignored). the grounding wire has a different head, it has a clip/crab claw looking thing. am i supposed to cut that off, and connect it with the black wire from the harness?

this deck is NOT a known working deck, so... i DID contact sony (yes its sony, and i hear bad reviews), and they said to try cleaning the connecting area from the plates.

any advice for the black wire? there IS a extra black wire from the harness, but the only black wire from my deck is the GROUNDING wire. if im really supposed to connect those somehow, please let me know!

PuYang · 07-18-2010, 11:15 AM

OMG, so, i connected the black wires, and now it works perfectly............

so.... i guess thats my bad. only reason i didnt connect them was because one of the black wires came with a weird head, which made me think its not supposed to be used that way. anywho.... thanks everyone for the input, i really appreciate it!

EDIT: ok... so my celebration was short lived. now theres another problem. the turning DIALS dont work! which means i cant change volume, change settings, anything. all other buttons work.

FM also doesnt receive anything but static. i still have not connected the antenna wires, as they didnt have a pair.

any suggestions? @___@

indylude18 · 07-18-2010, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuYang

OMG, so, i connected the black wires, and now it works perfectly............

so.... i guess thats my bad. only reason i didnt connect them was because one of the black wires came with a weird head, which made me think its not supposed to be used that way. anywho.... thanks everyone for the input, i really appreciate it!

YW. I was kind of hoping that you knew better than not connecting the ground, but I guess not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuYang

EDIT: ok... so my celebration was short lived. now theres another problem. the turning DIALS dont work! which means i cant change volume, change settings, anything. all other buttons work.

That sounds like a problem with the faceplate on the HU.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuYang

FM also doesnt receive anything but static. i still have not connected the antenna wires, as they didnt have a pair.

Uh, given the source of your last problem, I have to ask the stupid question again. Did you plug in the antenna? It's a big fat plug metal that usually plugs in on the bottom corner of the HU, separate from the rest of the wiring harness.

PuYang · 07-18-2010, 02:31 PM

yes, i plugged that in.

i have a question... as i mentioned before, my black/grounding wire from the deck came with a wierd metal claw head, so i just wrapped the harness' black wire around that claw. should i REMOVE that claw head? and strip the wires and crimp them with the harness? or does that claw work just fine. also, as a side note, since im out of ideas, the black claw has 2 prongs, i only wrapped the harness around ONE prong. would that make a difference? doesnt sound like it would, but still want to ask.

thanks again!

spin_r_g · 07-18-2010, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuYang

yes, i plugged that in.

i have a question... as i mentioned before, my black/grounding wire from the deck came with a wierd metal claw head, so i just wrapped the harness' black wire around that claw. should i REMOVE that claw head? and strip the wires and crimp them with the harness? or does that claw work just fine. also, as a side note, since im out of ideas, the black claw has 2 prongs, i only wrapped the harness around ONE prong. would that make a difference? doesnt sound like it would, but still want to ask.

thanks again!

That black wire was meant to be grounded using a screw. Sounds like you still messed up somewhere. Installing decks are extremely simple. There's 2 power wires yellow and red, 1 ground. Those power up the deck. Even if you didn't plug any of the other wires in the deck will still turn on and function you just wouldn't get any sound. 4 pairs are the speaker wires, there's a remote lead and some have dimmers and maybe 1 or 2 other depending on the manufacturer. Take a a clear picture of your wiring and the rear of the deck so we can see what you did.

bullwinkle99 · 07-18-2010, 05:59 PM

Although the ground may be a problem, I don't think it is because the unit is turning on-it wouldn't if there were no ground. I still think you've got an issue with the contacts between the face plate and the deck-can you press on the faceplate or wiggle it and get the controls to work?

PuYang · 07-18-2010, 09:36 PM

hi, i havent tried wiggling it.

hm... to be honest, before, the deck TURNS ON, when the black/ground wire was NOT connected, but NONE of the buttons work. after connecting the black/ground wire, the buttons DO work, but now the WHEEL/DIAL doesnt work, and i only receive static with FM. (there are potentially more problems, but just havent got very far without the dial).

i will post pictures tomorrow, its getting dark now to take a good photo.

do you guys have any idea what would cause such a problem? like spin_r_g said, everything should work with just the power/ground wires connected (without sound). but this doesnt seem to be the case ;(

EDIT: i understand the ground wire's head is meant for a screw, but where exactly does that go? like i mentioned earlier, i ended up connecting that ground wire to the other black wire from my harness, which had good results, but not perfect.

indylude18 · 07-19-2010, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuYang

EDIT: i understand the ground wire's head is meant for a screw, but where exactly does that go? like i mentioned earlier, i ended up connecting that ground wire to the other black wire from my harness, which had good results, but not perfect.

It needs to go onto some piece of bare metal that is touching the body of the car.

PuYang · 07-20-2010, 12:12 AM

ok, so i got a friend to look at my problem, and he said how i connected the grounding wire is fine.

he also, FIXED the wheel issue, by connecting a BLUE wire with a ORANGE wire. (wtf?)

so, now, ALL my deck's button functions are working fine (havent really used it yet, but from the looks of it, it works).

LAST PROBLEM NOW! the number of wires from the sony deck and the harness is different. there is ONE more wire remaining, without a pair. and, due to that missing wire, i now have no FM tuner... just static. i think i'll settle for now with USB/CD functions for music, but i still plan on visiting a professional to take the final look.

thanks everyone for your help, and if you do happen to know why im stuck with an odd number of wires, please let me know ;D thanks!

Matta1 · 07-20-2010, 03:26 PM

Umm, if you connect the ground wire to the harness or the chassis, it's basically the same.
If you look at the minus pole on the battery, you'll notice a wire going directly to the chassis. This means your whole car is the minus pole on the battery. Just to clarify.

Also, the FM tuner should work as long as the antenna is wired to the unit.

What wire are you talking about exactly? Does it come from the unit or the car's harness?