plastikboy

I just bought a 2004 cavalier. I put an after market stereo in it, but I'm baffled by the wiring.
First of all, I couldn't find a compatible wiring harness for it ANYWHERE. I looked all over town. But here's my problem: I decided to wire it myself. I located all of the speaker wires no problem, and the ground and the hot lead. Now the problem is, I couldn't get the stereo to work unless I hooked up the yellow and the red wire to the hot lead which means it's not tied the ignition switch and I have to remember to shut it off manually or just take off the face plate. I have three wires left over that have .23 volts DC between ground (or is it -.23vdc??? Can't remember) and I have no freakin' clue what they go to. I think one of them is purple, one is black and one is grey. could be wrong though, it was getting dark outside by the time i finished. Also, my chimes (door, e-brake, seat belt, key in ignition, etc.) don't work anymore. Are they actually run through the stereo?!?!?!? Please help me!!!

z24 fanatic

yes the door chime unit is tied in to the radio on my 03 when i disconected my door chime the stereo did not work but when i plugged it back in the stereo worked fine.purple black and grey should be speaker if i am not mistaken.

z24 fanatic

so i realized that to hook up your stereo you need to take the red wire off the hot lead and run it to the fuse panel hook it to one of you fuses that only come on when you turn your key like i think the radio fuse will work but not like the headlights or somthing that will make the radio turn off when you turn the car off also about the door chimes i think they make an after market box that you can pick up at most stereo shops hope thyat helps if your still reading this thread

plastikboy

That's what I ended up having to do. I connected the red wire to the windshield wiper fuse since I know that the wipers only come on if the key is in the ignition. Also, I live in Arizona and it never rains here so I figure it's not likely to blow the fuse.
But that still doesn't fix my problem with the chimes. Are you telling me that the programming for the chimes is actually inside the stock stereo system and that those extra wires are for the chimes? And I did test those wires and they are NOT speaker wires. One is black, one is grey and one is purple. I assumed that the purple one was originally tied to the ignition switch. But for whatever reason it doesn't work. So the black and the grey one would be the wires for the chimes? Do the chimes sound through the system speakers or is there a seperate speaker inside the dash?

wht69chev

If your stock stereo has that auto volume that means your radio goes through your BCM which you have to get a special harness that costs like $150 or another harness that costs $20 and you mount your stock radio in the trunk.