radio nightmare

i have a 98 lumina ltz. I just purchased it two days ago. It had an aftermarket sony stereo in it. the stereo worked but the display was not working. I had a new kenwood radio that i wanted to put in. when i was unhooking the sony radio i didnt realize that my husband had the key on and there was a spark from the red power wire. Now i have no power. I have wired and rewired thinking that i missed a wire. I have 12 volts coming out of the factory plug on the yellow wire.. I have nothing coming off the aftermarket plug. I bought a new plug today thinking that something come loose inside the aftermarket. rewired it and still no power. this is a nightmare, all i wanted to do was have a clock and see what radio station i was listening too. anyone have any ideas.. i found a random wire laying by the radio compartment but it has never been stripped so i dont think its a ground that come loose. Is there a fuse besides the fuse thats on the pass side of the dash that i may have blown??? no ground???? if you have any ideas i would appreciate it. I have been googling for two days and cant find anything. thanks again

I don't have a lot of expertise in aftermarket radio/stereo; in fact I avoid them like the plague. So if you get other advice...listen to THEM and not me.

Does the radio make noise? Music, voice? What doesn't work is the DISPLAY, not the ENTIRE RADIO?

I'd expect TWO power wires for that unit--one of them constant power for the clock and station memory, one switched with the ignition that actually powers the audio section. Maybe even a third power wire that's tied to the dash lights, for dimming the display??? And if so, do the dash lights work--nicely bright? GM likes to tie the dash lights to the tail lights by putting them on the same fuse, and of course the dimmer for the dash lights could be all the way "off".

Which probably means that you're looking to verify at least TWO fuses, and perhaps more.

The old crap radios I screwed with years ago had in-line fuses as part of the radio wiring; the vehicle end of the wire was also connected to a fused power source. So the vehicle fuses had to be good, and the in-line fuses had to be good. Too damn many fuses!





If this was me, I'd grab a spare car battery (known to be properly charged), some alligator clips, and a big plastic cutting board, put the cutting board on the kitchen table, set the battery on it, and then using the wiring diagram, connect the radio/stereo power and ground wires directly to the battery. At that point, you'll know if the display works. Then you could jam a CD or tape or whatever into the thing, and if you have some extra speakers, you could verify that it plays music in air-conditioned comfort without your head under the dashboard.

When you're done, the cutting board goes in the dishwasher or gets rinsed in the sink, and there's relatively little mess.

At least that narrows the problem to "radio" or "vehicle". If the radio is OK, you know the vehicle wiring/fuses are at fault; and if you're clever, you'll know WHICH mating vehicle wire doesn't have what it takes.

Considering that the other radios also didn't have a working display, it's almost certainly something in the vehicle wiring...just a matter of tracking down which wire from the radio isn't getting power, and then checking the matching vehicle circuit.

You will need to get a wiring diagram for your Lumina and check each wire from the vehicle harness. An example of this is found here: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1066865 Note: this procedure is for a 99 Lesabre, not your Lumina. However, in step A6 I go through how to check each wire to make sure I have the proper voltage supplies and grounds. (You cannot check signal wires. Speaker wires are generally obvious).

Once you have confirmed your vehicle harness is gives the correct voltages/grounds, then you can wire up your radio harness correctly. You could study section B of my outline, but remember the pins identified are for a Lesabre, not your Lumina. You will only be able to use the procedures in my link for educational purposes, not for a specific installation procedure.

I've had enough trouble with the eject mechanisms of GM radios that I got an aftermarket radio. Also, the sound quality of my JVC is MUCH better. This comment is coming from a music lover, but not the kind who likes to make the neighbouring cars shake with my subwoofers!

If you choose to get an OEM radio, but need to fix the eject mechanism, I found this procedure:
http://rivperformance.editboard.com/t7443-write-up-repairing-cassette-player-eject-issue

Good luck!

This is a simple fix. I am almost certain you just blew a fuse. There will be two fuses you need to check. One is the fuse on the back of the head unit, newer head units come on the back, rather than on the battery 12 volt wire. If thats good, check EVERY, and I mean EVERY fuse in the fuse box, even though you might of blew the radio fuse, youd be surprised what fuses might of blown. Trust me, dont just check the radio fuse, check ALL of them just in case, if thats not the problem, ( almost CERTAIN ) it is, then its the ground, try taking a scrap piece of wire, and tieing it into the ground wire on the head unit and just touch it to something metal then turn the key on, see if it works, let me know how it goes thanks.