I just installed a Pioneer head unit in my hatch. It was used so I matched the colors on the harness and everything. My car came wired to the firewall for the old stereo that was in in(POS Clarion that the cd player didn't work). On the harness for the old unit that I used the red and yellow wires were together. So i spliced the two red wires with the two yellow wires. I tried doing them seperately(red with red and yellow with yellow) but got nothing. I re-connected the battery and started the car. The stereo came on and played cds fine. then I went and turned off the car and took the key out and the stereo is still playing. Anyone wanna help?


Also now my dash lights and tail lights don't work. but that was from attempting to install a different head unit that i gave up on the wiring for as the harness didn't have a orange wire for the dash illum.

 

You wired your stereo constant.

The red wire is what tells the stereo to turn on/off with the key in the ignition.

The yellow is constant battery power to actually power the stereo.

Each are on their own separate fuse, and it is very common for someone who doesn't know what they're doing to blow these fuses. One fuse is under the dash, and the other is under the hood.

I don't know what you mean "wired to the firewall".

Is the original factory stereo plug cut off?

 

yea the idiot who had it before cut the stock wiring harness and wired it all together with butt connectors. bu the stereo won't turn on unless the red and yellow wires are spliced together. so i don't know what to do.


and can someone help me with my dashlight/tail light problem?

 

1. Check ALL of the fuses (including the ones under the hood, by the battery)

I'm betting that is the cause of your tail light problem.

 

Exactly. Check the fuses. Also, confirm the wiring. There are Honda stereo wire colors all over the net and searchable in this forum.

What that idiot did was cut the harness with a big pair of scissors. Power travels across the scissors and into the other wires, overloading those circuits, even though it only takes an instant to cut the wires. The fuses blow to protect those circuits from melting down. Sometimes they don't protect the wires sufficiently and the insulation gets cooked off various wires, in turn causing more shorts. Then you have to get a new dash harness. Seen it many many times.

 

I replaced the back up fuse(which was indeed blown)

and i checked the dash/tail light fuse and replaced it with a 15a

and the dash/tails still don't turn on. I learned that taking the cd out of my stereo allows me to power it off(kinda weird)


my whole wiring harness throughout the car is frankensteined.

(my windows are wired together with speaker wire.)nuf said

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92widebodyeg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
my whole wiring harness throughout the car is frankensteined.

(my windows are wired together with speaker wire.)nuf said</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is the most likely cause of your tail light problem. Your best bet is to trace the wires going back there and look for possible faults (opens & shorts).

Good luck... electrical gremlins are the worst.