Hey what up all. I just finished wiring in my factory radio harness b/c there was none in the car when i got it. I had to hard wire it from the ecu. anyways since then i have been noticing that for no reason, my temp gauge has started to climb. and if i turn on my headlights, it jumps. If i turn on my hazards it jumps. I am thinking that it is a ground issue but my ground seems good. could it be anything else? all the wires were soldered and then heat shrinked. where does the ground go from the factory harness? does it ground somewhere in the engine bay? and can i still drive the car like that. i dont know if the gauge is correct when it starts rising. it has never overheated before. any help would be great thanks

 

recheck the all the wires in the areas you have been working.. ya could be ground

 

i looked right now, all wires are good. the ground is good as i used a previous ground from the alarm that used to be there. I think it may be another wire thats hitting somewhere b/c the hvac wires are spliced. i didnt know if the ground went to the engine bay or somethin.

 

When one of my fuses blew for like the radio or clock when i turned my lights on the temp needle shot to the top.

 

didnt check the fuses recently but i've checked them before. i'll double check them b/c i didnt think of that. but the radio plays fine

 

Your radio should not be connected to the ECU in any way. If you need to tap into a power source, use the fuse box on the drivers side or the ignition harness, but not the ECU.

 

sorry i didnt mean the ecu. i meant the fuse box, i just got my 2 mixed up. yes i found the wires on the fuse box that correspond to the radio. i have the ylw/red wire as my 12v switched, wht/blu as my 12v and the black grounded. i am not sure if i need the blk/red wire hooked up to something but i rechecked everything last night, cleaned up where it was grounded with a dremel, and put new ground wire and it was fine up until tonight. i drove around all day with it, no problems. so i dunno why it started to act up now. I'm pretty upset tho b/c i know its somethin on the radio cuz it never happened before. could the radio be drawing too much power? i also notice that the radios lights flicker when the beat is playing. not alot but just enough that if you look at it hard you can tell.

 

Do you have any amps or large speakers/subs? if your speaker/amp/subs overdraw the system there can be surges through the whole electrical system. Headlights are easiest to notice. If you have an amp you could use a capacitor to help with the power spike requirements.

 

nah i just have a cd player. I'm pretty upset b/c i rechecked all the wires and everything is fine. Lemme ask you guys this tho. If there are some other wires around the car that are exposed, could that be the problem seeing as that the radio is drawing current that wasnt being drawn before? i thought i had saw some exposed wires in the engine bay from the headlights or somethin. anyways i am figuring that that might be the problem. I am gonna look in the bay tonight and see if any are touching or exposed.

 

unplug your radio (not just turn it off) and drive the car. If the problem goes away, you did something wrong in the radio install.

 

nah i think i figured it out. I took a look around the engine and saw that there was a lil oil leaking from the gasket. turns out that the ground wire from the top bolt of the valve cover was loose b/c the bolt wasnt that tight. i guess every now and then when i would hit a bump or somethin it would short. maybe the radio just amplified the surge. who knows but its fine now