Sigh. Need help with A/M stereo wiring.

[PowJesse]

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm new here, and I'm hoping someone can help me out. I have a 2005 Pontiac Grand Am with the typical stock stereo. Recently, I purchased an aftermarket Sony unit to replace the stock unit with. When I made the purchase, I had a friend with me. Upon being offered the 'Best Buy expert installation', I was prepared to say yes. I know a thing or two about stereo equipment, but admittedly, not that much. My friend however insisted that I allow him to install the unit for free. He assured me that he knew how. In the interest of saving fifty bucks, I agreed.

Little did I know that I had just opened the gates to Hell and that Satan himself would be working on my car. Fast forward three hours. I arrive at his house expecting to see a newly installed stereo. Instead, I find a hacked wiring harness, a stereo that has power to eject an inserted CD, but nothing on the display, non-working turn signals, and a very confused look upon his face.

Further inspection shows that all of the speakers appear spliced to the wires on the new unit, as do the wires for the amp and the orange 12v wire. However, still nothing on the display and still no turn signals. No fuses appear to be blown, but I'm far from an expert. Can anyone shed some light on this situation? I'd like to get this fixed ASAP. I'll worry about killing my friend later lol. Thanks in advance.

[Matt95GT]

Undo everything he did first. If there are features of the car that still don't function, start checking fuses.

Fix all of that first, then get the proper installation harness and do it the right way. And keep your friend away from your car.

[firefightincwbo]

Hate tp say this but u proably wanna kill your friend sooner. frist off why did you not use a wiring harness from best buy? Let me guess beside what u said with no blinkers bet you have no door chimes anymore either. depending on how much is hacked up u might want to have it checked by a pro. Without seeing what was all cut up i cant give u a honest idea of what to do.

[PowJesse]

Thank both of you for replying so quickly.

Matt95GT: Once the harness is hacked, is there a way to reattach the wires that have been cut to the harness?

Firefightincwbo: I will never let him touch my car again, thats for sure. You are correct about the door chimes. It looks like the only wires he but from the harness are the 8 speaker wires, the orange 12v orange wire, and the dark green amp wire. Everything else is still attached to the harness, which is now not hooked up to anything. It looks like the headlights and dash indicator lights still wo
rk.

[Matt95GT]

Matt95GT: Once the harness is hacked, is there a way to reattach the wires that have been cut to the harness?


Best quality: solder wires back together + heat shrink tubing
Quick and dirty: Butt connectors + crimpers

If he didn't leave enough wire on the harness plug, then you're kinda hosed.

[PowJesse]

Best quality: solder wires back together + heat shrink tubing
Quick and dirty: Butt connectors + crimpers

If he didn't leave enough wire on the harness plug, then you're kinda hosed.

So I finally (after a few days) managed to (mostly) undo what had been done. I have one remaining issue that I'm hoping someone could shed some light on. My new CD player (according to the instructions) does not have a spot for many of the wires that the original unit did. There are 3 unused pins that the harness it came with has nothing attached to. My main concern there being the Illumination / Dash and Dimmer wires. Could this have had anything to do with my non-working dash lights and turn signals? Is there a workaround? The wires for these items would have to be connected to SOMETHING in order to work, right? Sorry for asking so many questions. I'm just lost as to what to do with these wires.

Thanks in advance.

Jesse

[Matt95GT]

If your new new headunit does not have an illumination wire input, tape off the bare end on the car harness side. It doesn't have to be connected to anything, but if the end of the wire touches metal behind the dash, it will cause a short.

[PowJesse]

Ok, that makes sense. That is probably exactly what happened. Do you think such a short would cause the problems I'm experiencing (non-working turn signals or dash lights, and the "service vehicle soon" light is on). Is there anything I can do to correct this on my own, or am I pretty much stuck taking it to a dealer / service center?

[Matt95GT]

If you're 200% positive the fuses aren't blown, then yes you'll need to do additional troubleshooting.

[PowJesse]

Oh man. Forget this, I'm just going to get a new car. lol jk.

I'm absolutely sure that none of the fuses are blown. I actually took a tester to every fuse in all 3 boxes. I will be looking at additional possibilities tonight. I have wiring diagrams for my entire car. So I'll be looking at those and following the circuits to see if anything jumps out at me as a possibility. If you have any suggestions as to where I might start, I would appreciate it.

Thanks again!

Jesse