Aftermarket head unit.

[X2Xtreme360]

Alright, so I just installed an aftermarket CD player, nothing special, just a CD player. I have some left over wires, and I wanna know what they do and if they're important. On the wiring harness, I am left with 3 wires. I'm doing this by memory right now, so lets see if I can remember. I had 1 blue wire left over for power antenna, one orange w/ black stripe for illumination, and another solid orange that I can't remember what it does left over. I also had left over (from factory radio) one larger round plug with quite a few pins inside, and a small plug that looks similar to the antenna plug, just smaller. How would I hook these left overs up, or do I really need to?

[Linebckr49]

Originally Posted by X2Xtreme360

I had 1 blue wire left over for power antenna, one orange w/ black stripe for illumination, and another solid orange that I can't remember what it does left over.

so your head unit won't light up, and the antenna won't go up so you'll have minimal radio reception.

Originally Posted by X2Xtreme360

I also had left over (from factory radio) one larger round plug with quite a few pins inside, and a small plug that looks similar to the antenna plug, just smaller.

large round with multiple pins cable is for the factory cd changer. don't need it. there are two small looking antenna plugs. one is for the antenna, not sure what the other is for. just try them both. only one will fit in your aftermarket HU.

as for the orange and blue wires you had "left over", there should be wires for them in your wiring harness. did you get an aftermarket wiring harness or do a hack job?

[X2Xtreme360]

This head unit is from my old car, so the harness came with the head unit, and I got the harness for the 3k radio harness. My head unit does light up so I guess I don't need the illumination wire, and at the moment I don't have an antenna but when I get a new one, I would like it to work, or else it would just be a waste of money. so how would I go about doing that? (I'm also not a fan of those black antenna's they sell for our cars that aren't motorized, I kinda like the motorized ones.)

On a side note, for some loud bass applications, the light on the unit dims when the loud bass hits. It did this also on the factory head unit, but it only does it to the CD player, not the guage lights or instrument panel.

[Linebckr49]

Originally Posted by X2Xtreme360

and at the moment I don't have an antenna but when I get a new one, I would like it to work, or else it would just be a waste of money. so how would I go about doing that?

i already alluded to that in my previous post. if you have some unused wires on your harness, then you have some unused wires in the car. please, do a simple check, count the wires in your harness and the wires in the car.

i wanna say that you won't need to hook up the pwr antenna blue wire, b/c the pwr antenna should activate whenever the HU is in radio mode. do you have a working pwr antenna to test this out?

On a side note, for some loud bass applications, the light on the unit dims when the loud bass hits. It did this also on the factory head unit, but it only does it to the CD player, not the guage lights or instrument panel.

there is a wire for the dimming as well. please get your HU user manual out, and look at the wiring diagrams. its pretty simple. also, most HUs have a setting in the menu to where you can turn off the auto dim feature.

[elYkYle07]

The "Ilumination" wire is so that when you turn on your lights, and the dash dims down so does the HU.

elYk

[liquidPunk]

In my experience, the antena will not fuction without a 12volt signal... So, on aftermarket Heads (that dont have a spot in the harness for the antanea wire), the easiest thing to do is to hook the antena wire to the power wire (put them all in the same splice) and then your antena will be always "on" meaning up, so then wire in a switch so that you can control it... Many times you actually dont need the antena up to get good reception (depends on your area) so this method usually works good... But some heads have a spot for the antena so check the book first.

[miami3000gt]

im gona put on a new head unit on my 3000gt do the new cd/mp3 models work correctly on the 3000?

[Linebckr49]

Originally Posted by miami3000gt

im gona put on a new head unit on my 3000gt do the new cd/mp3 models work correctly on the 3000?

work correclty? why wouldn't they? if you don't install it right, it won't work correclty.

i have a cd/mp3 player (kenwood) in mine. love it. works great.

[miami3000gt]

Originally Posted by Linebckr49

work correclty? why wouldn't they? if you don't install it right, it won't work correclty.

i have a cd/mp3 player (kenwood) in mine. love it. works great.

i was just wondering cuz the stock radio on my 3000 is very old and not working and i wanted to buy a new head unit that i knew will fit correcly but i know as long as they fit in they will work

[Linebckr49]

Originally Posted by miami3000gt

i was just wondering cuz the stock radio on my 3000 is very old and not working and i wanted to buy a new head unit that i knew will fit correcly but i know as long as they fit in they will work

most all aftermarket head units are of the single-din size. the stock 3000GT radio is a double-din size. you'll want to get a universal compartment that's a single-din size to fill in the extra space above/below ur aftermarket head unit. i found one at Best Buy, works fine.