stereo installation nightmare

My husband paid to have a nice system put in my car, and that is when the nightmare began. First off, the next morning the backlight on my odometer was not working so I could barely read the mileage on the car. I took it back, only to be told 3 hours later that it was just a light and I just needed to replace it (thanks - considering I don't feel this was due to my negligence). Of course they took everything apart and put it back together to figure this out. The same day (after leaving there) the instrument panel went crazy. While driving the speedometer, fuel, and temperature gauge needles would spike up and down, and the lights (oil, engine, you name it) would all pop on at the same time, and then return to normal within a span of about 5 seconds. This happened a total of 15 times since Saturday. Now today, none of the needles on my gauges work. What happened? They told me to bring it back in, it sounds like something is wrong with the harness (faulty), but I have a feeling they really screwed up something in my car. Can anyone give some advice before I return for another marathon sitting event tommorrow?

Thanks...(btw - they did not keep the original factory stereo along with my new system - could this cause the problem - I was told by many people I had to keep the original with the new system)

if you have a newer model...like 2000 i think it starts...maybe earlier but if its fairly new you have to have the original hooked up using a harness cuz the original deck acts as a relay (pretty much the brain of the car) and if you dont have it hooked up you WILL have problems like your having right now...you will have to tell them to buy the harness for the original and get them to install in it the trunk or something..the harness should be like a 12 foot section of like 15 wires with a hookup at either end. GO AND BUY IT!!!! lol


good luck with that

NO you do not have to have the original deck! They will feed you bullshit that it will stop your airbags from working, but all it does is keep your chimes in the door from working. They should have used an aftermarket harness that connects to your factory harness though. If you really want to keep your chimes there is a harness that you can buy from www.crutchfield.com for about $80 dollars that has a little speaker with it so you will have your chimes. I do not have the factory stereo on my car and I have absolutely no problems.

Oh and just so you know...when my cd player was originally installed I had it installed with the factory stereo mounted in the trunk, and have since removed it. I know what I'm talking about because I've been there, done that :wink:

you mean to tell me i spent 90 fuckin dollars for a fuckin "ding" noise ?...you gotta be shitin me..that fucker at the dealership told me i would need it along with the new one...oh i am SOOOOOO PISSED OFF....FUCK!!!! hahaha

thanks for the info...but I would like to know how would I know if they already had the factory harness attached to a aftermarket harness? Is this something I should ask? Sorry for so many questions, I just want to be prepared and understand (for now and hopefully not in the future~lol) I don't care about the door chime as you can see it is the least of my problems, so thanks for saving me money from getting duped into that scenario.

I am so uneducated in this area, and if I do not get the results I want I will go to the mechanic I trust to check it out. Such a crazy thing that is happening~you never know it just may be coincidental, but I have a feeling it isn't. It only started after this.

Anyways~thanks so much for the insight~I feel a little better about what is going on than about 3 hours ago!

you mean to tell me i spent 90 fuckin dollars for a fuckin "ding" noise ?...you gotta be shitin me..that fucker at the dealership told me i would need it along with the new one...oh i am SOOOOOO PISSED OFF....FUCK!!!! hahaha

What the hell did you think the dealer was going to do? "Oh ok sir, you want a new deck installed in your car? Well, normally we tell people they need to buy some extra stuff so we can make bank off of morons but you seem like a nice guy so Ill let you in on the little secret. None of this stuff is needed. hahahaha"

WTF have you been smoking? Its puff puff pass
damn it. :smokin:

it wasnt the dealer of the car that told me that it was the salesmen of the deck i mean that told me i needed the original deck...and i thought he was telling the truth cuz i didnt even buy the harness from him..cuz the store didnt carry them...and he said he owns a cavy too.

thanks for the info...but I would like to know how would I know if they already had the factory harness attached to aftermarket harness? Is this something I should ask?

They should be able to tell you or you can take your new stereo out and look. You have to know what to look for though so the best bet is to ask them and tell them to take you to the car and show it to you. To be honest with you, I doubt they uses and aftermarket harness on your car and cut your factory harness and spliced they wires from the factory harness directley to the wires on your new deck. I'm suprised they didn't give you the bullshit story about having to keep your factory deck. Thats what makes me think they didn't use a harness at all.

As for mod'd the only reason I had mine done that way was because I was told the same thing and at the time I had not known about AF so I fell for it too. Thats why I do all my own installs now.

Thanks everyone for your help~however, they (Audio Xpress) messed up the plug in to my odometer board (shattered it exactly). My mechanic said it probably happened either when they were taking off or putting my dash back on...so $270 later and a new control panel I am able to see my controls again. They (the mechanic) gave me my old board and showed me the piece that was busted off - which I already knew was the piece because when I went back to the car audio place, before I went to my mechanic, they opened up the back of my board in front of me and I watched it fall off - and then they glued (yes glued) it back to the board.

Anyways - that is my horror story. Oh yeah, they did harness the aftermarket to the factory harness - so if anyone ever tells you that you still need your old deck set up in the back - they lie.

Number one I would not have let them glue it back together, and number 2 you need to go back to them and make them pay for the damages or refund your money for the install.

Number one I would not have let them glue it back together, and number 2 you need to go back to them and make them pay for the damages or refund your money for the install.

Oh absolutely! I am going back to their main headquarters and getting it handled. It was just something I could not wait to get fixed because I have to register my car again, otherwise I would have waited. It would not have mattered whether they glued it back together or not - it was busted anyway, so I am glad I got it back because I have all the stuff now showing the problem, plus a statement from my mechanic. Thanks for all your help~