Stereo Installation Issues!! Help Needed.

[ings]

Hello.

I thought I would be able to take on fitting a new stereo into the FD today, but like all things, I have ran into some issues which Im hoping someone will be able to advise me on.

Firstly, I have managed to succesfully fit the stereo into the mountings:



However, my problems started when trying to wire it all up.

I have a Mazda ISO connector, so have connected the relevent bits up, however the stereo does not turn on.  I do have a black wire still available that was connected seperately to the old stereo. Is this the power cable, and if so, how should I connect it up to a power source??



Finally, I have aerial issues. I have noticed that there is no usual aerial wire and connector in the old stereo. The only thing I can think of being the aerial is this wire. Can anybody confirm this, and if so, how do connect this up to a connector so I can fit it to the stereo. If not, were would I find my aerial end. Also, is there anything I have to do to get the electric aerial working again, or will it just work as normal when everything is connected.



Any help or advice would be very helpful. Im not very technical, but hoping that I can get this one right.

Many Thanks.

[SmbFD3S]

Japanese cars had the earth wired differently, you need to connect the loose black wire to a good ground.... Basically that wire is the ground lead...
 
The aerial should be there somewhere but will have the opposite connector so you will need to buy the converter for it from maplins or somewhere...

[SmbFD3S]

Oh and you\'re aerial will activate when the stereo is on, whether you have cd, radio or whatever which is annoying... I put a separate switch inline so i could have it up or not at leisure...
 
There is somewhere a thread on how to wire it up to the rear screen... If you look at the heated elements in the rear screen, just above them there are 3 or 4 wires... These are actually a radio aerial and have nothing to do with the heated screen

[batman]

ditto mate black wire is the earth ground and simply connect a fused power wire to the left over wires with the aerial connected and you should hear  the reception from the radio improve just check before connecting power to it the the wires arent live themsleves

[ings]

Thanks for the replies.

The good news is that after connecting the black wire to the stereo earth, all is working.

Now the bad news is as follows:

I cannot see to find anywhere near the stereo a connection that resembles the aerial, be it male or female connections. The only outstanding wire is shown in the third picture.

I have also looked at my old stereo. As shown on he picture, there is nowhere an aerial would connect to. And the wires in pcture 3 were attached to the the left hand side, which has me thinking that this could be the aerial connection.



Appologies for asking so many questions. Any ideas on how to overcome this.

Many Thanks.

[Nik da Greek]

Oh and you\'re aerial will activate when the stereo is on, whether you have cd, radio or whatever which is annoying... I put a separate switch inline so i could have it up or not at leisure...
 
There is somewhere a thread on how to wire it up to the rear screen... If you look at the heated elements in the rear screen, just above them there are 3 or 4 wires... These are actually a radio aerial and have nothing to do with the heated screen

Not trying to be pedantic, but I think the aerial operation varies with different makes of head unit. My Sony one only puts the aerial up when you switch it to radio function, if it\'s playing CDs (or tapes! old skool rools!) it retracts the aerial. Some makes seem to and some don\'t, dunno why. IIRC there was a thread about this a few months back.
 
Sorry, Ings, I guess thats not much help if you can\'t find anywhere to wire it up, but it\'s something to look forward to finding out about when you do get it sorted!

[ings]

Hi,

I decided to fit a Sony stereo purely based on the fact that it looks fairly plain and works well with the interior. I just did a quick test, and the aerial seems to go up and down as per usual. A bit of luck in my model choosing really, so one less thing to think about.

[batman]

the   aerial cable will be a piece of coax cable all an aerial needs is two wires the outer negative and the inner positive only other choice is follow the cable run

[SupraZed]

The aerial wire would have been connected at the bottom left hand corner in your pic but it looks like it was removed for some reason.

[SmbFD3S]

Indeed, point taken Nik
 
Glad you got it sorted anyway Ings

[ings]

Hi,

Just to update this thread for future search references, and to let you know problem has been solved.

I couldnt work out why the connection for the aerial to the head unit was so strange. Today, I opened a cupboard type opening I discovered in the drivers side footwell, basically where your left knee would touch if you sat in the car. I opened this up and fiddled around a bit, where I discovered two typical looking aerial connections as you would find on most cars, connected into some plugs. These plugs were connected together and linked straight to the odd connection that I had.

Basically, I removed one of the connections (presuming that one is for elec aerial and one is for heated screen aerial) rethreaded the wire to the stereo, and plugged straight in.

I have done a quick diagram, the yellow circle showing the two connections together, and the red circle and line showing how I connected.



Technically, I guess I am loosing one of the aerial supplies, but my stereo and radio works so I am happy.

Hopefully this all makes sense, and is some use to anybody like me who has absolutley no idea what they are doing. I found it by pure luck.

Thanks for all the help received.

[Mimus]

heh, I was just about to post and say that that is where the aerial connectors are, I had the same trouble finding them!

[leeroy_25]

I have the same problem! Although I have found the aerial pugs and they are both female? Are they male if you go back to the foot well area or did you get an adaptor for them? I think the little black plug is something to do with the Centre speaker amp from what I can tell? It has amp written on it in tiny writing!

Lee

[SmbFD3S]

I have the same problem! Although I have found the aerial pugs and they are both female? Are they male if you go back to the foot well area or did you get an adaptor for them? I think the little black plug is something to do with the Centre speaker amp from what I can tell? It has amp written on it in tiny writing!
 
Lee

The black plug you are referring to is actually the Ground (-ve) lead and nothing to do with the speakers