So I started on my audio install this weekend. Saturday morning I spent working on mounting the JL 500/5 in the trunk. I had to stop around noon and go shopping with the ball&chain. When I stopped, I put the trunk back together and forgot to hook the plugs back into the Bose amp. This didn't bother me that much, no music, but everything else worked. In fact the radio would come on, just no sound. The AC controls worked too.

Then Sunday morning I went past the point of no return. I cut off the two plugs, the white and blue ones, that were going into the Bose amp. I began using wire taps to add about a 2 foot section of wire to each one of these. I was using this post for matching the different wires.

I expected that one plug was going to be the incoming wires from the HU and the other plug was going to be the outgoing wires to the speakers. However, using the wire colors posted in the link above, I realized that the incoming and outgoing wires were mixed across both plugs... was this a correct assumption?

Lastly, I had to move my car out of the drive way. I started the car up with the plugs cut off (and that's it, wires not hooked to anything). I noticed the AC was off, so I turned it on... or at least I tried, it did not come on. So I push a few more buttons and suddenly it comes on, but it comes on at full blast and set to 60 deg. None of the AC buttons would light up and none of them would do anything. Now the AC is stuck on full blast @ 60 deg. It could be worse, it could be stuck on off

And finally the radio no longer comes on.

Are there wires that directly or indirectly affect the AC that are part of the two plugs that connect into the Bose amp? Maybe I just blew a fuse? There are three wires which I am unsure what they are. First is the red/yellow wire in the above post labeled "Backup", another is the light blue wire labeled "control" and the third one is a black and red one that was not in the post at all. I hooked all three of these back together (with no other wires reconnected) and no dice.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to try and wire-tap the bose plugs back on tonight so it'll be like I never cut them off (I hope?) so maybe everything will go back to normal... but that doesn't help me in terms on going aftermarket with this. Thanks all.

 

Hmmm....my first suggestion without checking wiring diagrams, etc. would be to check your fuses. It is possible that when you started the car up with loose wires, one of the wires may have grounded out and blown a fuse. I will see if there is anything else in the wiring diagrams.

 

I fu***** hate wiring diagrams, but looking through the printouts of a previous post that had them in there, I can't see ANYTHING listed about any system being involved other than the audio system. Thanks for the suggestion, I will check the fuses when I get out of this hellhole of work. Anyone else have any other ideas or things I should check out?

 

Believe it or not, there is one fuse in the drivers kick panel that controls parts of the AC, stereo, alarm, and some other things. It is in the lower row of fuses in the middle, but you can look at the kickpanel diagram to figure that one out.

 

I assume you were referring to the one that is located directly under the Fuse Remover thingy. The one labeled "ELECT PARTS" or something like that. I popped it out and it does not look like it's blown

A couple of more tidbits. When I start the car, the AC does not immedately come on. It come on probably within about 15 seconds. It starts at lowest fan setting and then steadily increases up to full blast (continuous increase, no pauses in between).

Again, this is really confusing because I don't understand how cutting the plugs off of the Bose amp could cause this...

 

No, the one I am referring to says something like "radio" or "audio" or something like that...can't remember right now....but check them all, because you never know what else is linked in.

 

My kickpanel diagram def. didn't any anything about radio or audio or anything. But I will check each one. I'm gonna get this thing or I'm going to die trying, I can't believe I screwed up my baby. Bleh

 

If you took apart your radio unit, check to see there's no loose plug back there. If you disconnect the AC controls on the HU and put the key into the ignition, the AC will automatically turn on after a 10 second delay. It happened to me while I was trying to install and test out a new HU. I made sure I turned off the AC before disconnecting all the plugs to the HU but after removing the HU, the AC will automatically turn on once the key is in the ignition. The only way to turn it off was to put back the HU and the AC controls will work.

 

That sounds like the problem, because my AC controls will not light up or do anything. Ok, here's the thing. I didn't take a single screw out of my dash. The only thing I did was cut off the two plugs that were going into the stock Bose amp. So either

1. The AC controls receive some sort of power from a wire back there that is part of the wires that are going into the plugs that hook into the Bose amp OR

2. I blew a fuse when these plugs were cut off, which is denying power to the AC controls OR

3. Something much worse

I purchased some more wire taps today during lunch so I'm going to connect the Bose amp plugs back to the wires in thr trunk and see what that does.

I'm also going to check every fuse I can put my dirty fingers on.

Thanks for the info., that sounds like exactly the problem (my AC controls not having power). Starting to get somewhere! Whew... I think...

 

Personally I wouldn't cut the stock wire harness or plugs if you're planning to keep the stock HU or plan to turn it back to stock if you ever sell your car. Wire taps are much better alternative and less permanent. If you didn't take apart your HU, I would guess it's a blown fuse. If the car detects that there's no AC controller, it will automatically turn on the fan/AC from my experiences. It won't save the last setting before it was unplugged.

 

amthar, I don't mean anything by this question, but did you cut the wires one at a time?

As far as cutting the plugs off, a little heat shrink can make them look OEM again if you do want to go back to stock, and it's way hard to make a nest of t-taps look clean.

 

Hey el_duderino, nothing wrong with asking a question, I just appreciate the help.

Yes, I cut the wires one at a time, specifically because I wanted to make sure that I cut them all at the same length, instead of trying to cut them all at the same time and having some possibly pull back or pull out and end up with different wire lengths.

I will repeat what I said earlier, I do not know what three of the wires in the two plugs are for. One is supposedly a "control" wire, which is light blue. Another is yellow & red and a larger gauge then the others, and it is supposedly a "backup" wire, and the third I have not found a name for and is black and red and is of the same gauge as the yellow/red (larger than the other wires).

Without going into bloody detail, I cut the stock plugs off, but I have used wire taps and those spade looking connects/disconnects to basically make two harnesses, one for hooking up my aftermarket stuff and one for hooking back up the stock stuff. I ran out of connectors last night, but bought them today during lunch, so I will hook everything back up "stock" and see how it goes. I'll also check all the fuses.

 

When I was doing an install in a Z, I accidentally grounded out the remote wire, which in turn killed the AC and the radio completely (blown fuse). The Z is wired VERY similarly to the G. That is the main reason why I think it was a fuse.

 

Let me make sure this is correct. The AC controls plug INTO the HU? So, pretending (I hope) that my head unit completely dies, my AC controls would die as well?

 

No, but they share some of the same fuses.

The "Back up" wire you're refering to is +12 Batt. The wire right next to it (B/R) is power ground. I don't know what the light blue one is.

As everyone says, it very likely a fuse, my money is on #6 (See pg. 71 here ).

Cutting wires one at a time is a good idea, but disconnecting the battery until you have all ends safely terminated is better .