Installing 02 Cavalier Stock Stereo

Hi, everyone. I've researched for ages trying to figure this out with no luck.

I have an '02 Cavalier with a stock CD Player/Radio that needs to go into a '99 Cavalier, both have different stereo plug-ins. The only problem I have is that the stereo has just a female port in the back with no wires to splice into a wiring harness.

How would I go about connecting it to the 99? The only thing I can think of would be to cut the wires straight out of the 02 and splice them into the wires on the 99, but would the colors match up?

Any help would be appriciated.


Oh, and on a related note, anyone have a source for a non $100 no-chime wiring harness for an 02 Cavalier? :P

yes, the wires should match up, '95 to '04 models should all be the same, just cut the plug from the '02 and use it in the radio, splice the wires from that onto the wires from the '99. but if you have to cut the plug from the '99 keep it, don't get rid of it, you may need it in the future. below ive listed which wire is for what, so you can test them to make sure.

Multi-function alarm module - orange/black
Hot in ACC or RUN - yellow
Interior lights system (2 wires) - gray, brown
Air bag steering wheel module coil - light green (may have white stripe)
Left front speaker (2 wires) - gray, tan
Left rear speaker (2 wires) - brown, yellow
Right front speaker (2 wires) - dark green, light green
Right rear speaker (2 wires) - dark blue, light blue
Ground - black
PCM - dark green

I know that a few of the wires are the same color, but remember that the speaker wires are the smallest gauge, like 16, and the ground, hot, lights, etc. are larger. if you arent sure about a wire, you can find out real easy if you have a digital multimeter that has a continuity setting. for example, lets say you are confused about the left front speaker wires. one is tan, and its the only tan wire, so that one you can be sure of. take one of the gray wires and the tan wire and probe both with the meter on continuity. if it beeps, those wires are in the same circuit and that is the correct gray wire, and the other gray is for the lights, see? simple. any questions, just ask. all the wires should match up, just remember that that radio might need a code to unlock it. make sure you have that code before disconnecting it so you can reactivate it in the other car.

yes, the wires should match up, '95 to '04 models should all be the same, just cut the plug from the '02 and use it in the radio, splice the wires from that onto the wires from the '99. but if you have to cut the plug from the '99 keep it, don't get rid of it, you may need it in the future. below ive listed which wire is for what, so you can test them to make sure.

Multi-function alarm module - orange/black
Hot in ACC or RUN - yellow
Interior lights system (2 wires) - gray, brown
Air bag steering wheel module coil - light green (may have white stripe)
Left front speaker (2 wires) - gray, tan
Left rear speaker (2 wires) - brown, yellow
Right front speaker (2 wires) - dark green, light green
Right rear speaker (2 wires) - dark blue, light blue
Ground - black
PCM - dark green

I know that a few of the wires are the same color, but remember that the speaker wires are the smallest gauge, like 16, and the ground, hot, lights, etc. are larger. if you arent sure about a wire, you can find out real easy if you have a digital multimeter that has a continuity setting. for example, lets say you are confused about the left front speaker wires. one is tan, and its the only tan wire, so that one you can be sure of. take one of the gray wires and the tan wire and probe both with the meter on continuity. if it beeps, those wires are in the same circuit and that is the correct gray wire, and the other gray is for the lights, see? simple. any questions, just ask. all the wires should match up, just remember that that radio might need a code to unlock it. make sure you have that code before disconnecting it so you can reactivate it in the other car.

You have no idea how much I appreciate the help! I'll try it first thing tomorrow and report back. Thank you, very much.

I managed to get the stock installed into the 99, thanks to Spitfire. Now I've run into another problem...

I have a JVC KD-LHX550 (http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?pathId=87&modelId=MODL027445&page=2) that I want installed in the 02 Cavalier. I purchased the generic no-chime harness and spliced the matching colors/functions together, but it won't power on.

When I turn the car on (cranked or battery power), the LED's behind the buttons light up for about 4 seconds and disappear, leaving the screen blank and the power button completely unresponsive. The eject function still works fine, LED's turn on for the duration of the process then straight off. The "Display" button actually activates the screen for a few seconds and just shows the time before going dark again. I can't get any music to play whatsoever, CD or tuner, but I did hear the radio's chime once or twice.

I'm at a loss on what to do. There's 3 wires on the harness that don't have a counterpart on the player: Dash light illumination (Orange), unlabeled red/white, and an unlabeled black/white.

There is also a blue/white wire that I have questions about. The head unit counterpart reads "This is not the wire for the power supply. Please connect this wire to the remote for the amplifier, equalizer, and/or auto antenna.", while the harness side is labeled "AMP Turn On (12v) +". I've had no luck with this connected or seperated.


As always, any help would be more than appriciated.


Edit: Crappy, blurry picture of the wiring added

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/Felbane64/438fa121.jpg

I think I can help a little. :2cents: The blue/white wire is for a power antenna, or if you have an amp or equalizer, any kind of extra equipment that needs power when the radio is on. The radio turns on and sends power through this wire, as a signal that the radio is on, and it will raise a power antenna or turn on your amp, etc. Just connect both wires, the AMP/remote from the harness and the one from the radio. But if you don't have a power antenna or any kind of extra equipment wired through the car, it won't matter really.

As for the other wires, the orange illumination wire is for a radio that can be dimmed. A lot of older radios don't have this, but newer ones usually do. When you dim your interior lights and dash lights, the radio display will dim down as well. If your radio doesn't have this, don't worry about it. But if there is an extra orange wire from the radio, its probably for that. The black/white might be the ground, but you said it comes on so the correct ground must be hooked up. The red/white sounds like the switched power (acc and on). What wire do you have hooked to the ACC wire from the radio? You can test the red/white with a voltmeter too, if it is the ACC wire, it won't have power until you turn the key on. If it is the ACC, then thats part of the problem.

Also the package for the harness should have a list on it, or a paper insert, with all the wires and what they are for. If you don't have this, you can just check each wire with a meter to see when they get power and you can figure out which wire is for what. Usually, the speaker wires are white, gray, green, and violet, the GROUND(NEG -) is black, the HOT is yellow, ACC/RUN is red, ILLUM is orange, and AMP/REMOTE is blue. Sometimes these are striped as well, but thats the basic color scheme for most wiring setups. But you can always test the wires with a multimeter to check, the HOT wire will have power all the time, the ACC will only have power when the key is turned to acc or run, the ILLUM will get power when you turn on your instrument panel lights, and the AMP/REM will have power when the radio is on.

Seriously Spitfire, you're a godsend.

I don't have the documentation to the harness unfortunately, but almost all of the wires on the harness have their functions printed.

I think the problem would lie with one of 2 things

1. The red/white wire from the harness is unlabeled and goes nowhere. I'm not sure if it's the ACC... The red wire from the radio is connected to the solid red harness wire labeled "12 Volt Ignition/Switched" which seems right.

2. Not sure if this would make a difference, but the orange striped wire from the radio is connected to an orange striped wire that's unlabeled. The solid orange one is labeled "Dash Light Illumination" and remains unconnected. Would that be an issue?


Also, here's the diagram from the radio's manual that shows the wires and listings:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/Felbane64/6a06f212.jpg


Sorry to keep asking, I'd just like to be sure of the problem before I make any more splices. The wires are getting short :P


Edit: I'm almost positive that the problem lies somewhere between the harness and the radio. The stock unit works fine when plugged in, and the radio worked fine plugged into another car just a few days ago. The more I think about it, the more it seems that the ignition wire is the problem.

everything sounds right .... check the wires with a multimeter to see if they actually have power on them.

This unit follows the pretty much standardized wire color sheme
Yellow=constant 12V
Red=Switched 12V
black=ground
blue=auto turn-on

The first 3 wires are all that is required to get the unit powered up. Check all the fuses that go to them - including the ones under the hood.

I checked most of the fuses and they all seem fine. Besides, wouldn't a blown fuse mean that the stock radio wouldn't work as well? (Tested it and it works just fine)

I also tried swapping the red radio wire to the red/white unlabeled cable. Not a thing changed. Still turned the little led lights behind the buttons on for a few seconds, then nothing at all. Same with swapping the orange/white radio cable to the solid orange. No change.

Blah, I'm at a loss. I don't have a voltmeter handy, but I'll try to track one down to see what I find out.

Update!

I managed (After a few pops and sparks) to wire the head unit directly to the battery terminal and it works perfectly.

So, I'm not sure what that means... Is the wiring harness bad? As I said, the stock stereo still works, so the problem can't be between the battery and the built in harness, can it?

Well if the radio works fine when you hook it up right to your battery, then the problem lies somewhere between your radio and the battery. Sounds like it might be a bad wiring harness, since the stock radio worked fine. (Assuming all your splices are good, of course.) Which wire did you connect to the battery, the yellow or red, or both? If it works with just the yellow to the battery, and the others to the harness, then that's the bad wire, and if you need to hook up the red as well, then its that wire thats bad. If the yellow wire is bad you can just run another wire from your radio through a spot on the firewall to the battery, just make sure its connected securely to the battery. You don't want something bad happening, and keep it away from moving parts. If the red wire has a problem, you would have to run a wire to the ign. switch, which would be a lot more complicated, you'd have to find the right wire to hook it on.

Or you could always take your power wires and go past the harness, to see if its bad. just look at which wire lines up with the power wires from the harness, those are the power wires from the car, take the wires from the radio and touch them to the wires from the car, see if it works. If so, its something in the harness. If not, then its the wiring itself. :P That means running your own wires, which isn't too hard, you just have to know where to run them to.

Alright, this should be the last hang-up.

I didn't think to test which of the power wires wasn't making it through the harness. I'll get to that in just a little bit. I did, however, test that the speaker wires were. With the power cables wired to the battery and everything else running through the harness, it worked great.

So, let me see if I have an understanding of this.. Since the stock stereo worked, there has to be power coming through the stock harness. The problem has to be in the aftermarket one. Could I just splice directly into the wires behind the stock harness for the power, leaving everything else plugged in? Because, tbh, I'd love to leave wiring it through the rest of the car as a last resort.

Only problem I have with that is the colors don't seem to match up, and the two ports for red and yellow on the stock harness line up with just one orange wire and an empty slot. I wouldnt' splice them both into it, would I?

I promise, I'm almost done hassling you :P.

well you can test the wires from the stock harness, there should be one wire that is hot all the time, thats the one you splice the hot from the radio to. there should be at least one wire like that, it might be the orange one, or it might be the yellow one. im not exactly sure, but with a meter, or a test bulb and some wires, you can check the plug from the car and find which wire is hot all the time. you can do the same to find the switched wire too, just see which wire has power only when the key is on