This is no doubt due to a wonderful PO of my 88 GTA Notchback. I have tried two factory stereos with the same result. With the stereo on, I get static to all 4 speakers, but no display on the radio face at all. Neither seem to be getting any response from turning the tuning dial and neither will play a cassette. When I turn the balance and fade all the way to each individual speaker, they are working fine. I get static and can control the volume of the static with the volume knob. A PO has disconnected/reattached some of the wires in the radio harness. The yellow wire in the main harness has been cut/reattached (yellow to yellow) and another wire is the same way, too (can't recall the color right now). But the BIG thing is that the orange/black wire in the main harness (power, I assume?) is cut and has an 18-gauge red wire spliced to it that runs directly to the fuse box. And by directly to the fuse box, I mean it is wrapped around the bottom of the actual ACC fuse and shoved into the panel. Any ideas what I need to do to get this thing working? BTW the power antennae operates (up and down with power), but I don't know if it is actually working. Thanks!

Well your best bet would be to clean up that wiring. I'm not sure how completely messed up it is, but you may need to find a wiring diagram and put it back together. Trace all the wires and get rid of the bad splices and get it straightened up again. Can't guarantee that'll fix it, but it'd at least narrow down your possibilities.

Someone in another forum mentioned the ground? What do you think about that?

check the two power wires, orange and yellow. then make sure that the black is hooked up to a good ground. At this point, don't trust the ground in the harness unless you have a test light to be sure it works. The yellow should be a power wire from your ignition, and as such, you may only be getting power from that, which would cause it to come on, but may not let the rest of the radio function. Those three wires are the only wires needed to get the radio to function istelf, and the rest is for the speakers and power antenna. Make sure the three wires are working as they should (12V - orange, 12v switch - yellow, ground - black) and then go from there.

Jon

I disconnected the 18 gauge wire going straight to the ACC fuse and spliced the orange wire back together. Now ... nothing. I guess that was the need for the wire running straight to the ACC fuse. But either way this seems like it is going to be a pain to chase down. I'd almost rather not have a radio.

How hard is it just to start from scratch and wire up a custom system?

With a multi-meter:

Check the orange wire for 12V all the time.

Check the yellow wire for 12V when the ignition is on

Check the black wire for ground

Also, is either the head unit or the speakers Bose?

No, it's not Bose.

Now, when you talk about the orange wire, is it the orange wire that is in the same clip as the black wire ... or is it the orange wire with the black stripe that is next to the yellow wire in the large clip?

According to the wiring diagram in my manual, it only shows one orange wire ... I have two. Does this make any sense?

If there is no power these wires, how do I get power to them?

Ignore the previous post.

I did the tests with my multimeter.

Orange = 12v constant

Yellow = 12v with ignition on

Ground tests good.

I must just have two beat-up head units? That seems improbable though, but I guess it is possible.

Any other suggestions?

definitely possible they are older radios so hard telling what is correded or which resistor is bad etc, etc. If you know anyone close that has the same plug setup try a radio in theirs. they are fairly fast to remove. If it works correctly as much as I hate to say it call either thirdgen ranch or Thomas at house of Camaro and get another dash harness it is hard telling how much damage the previous owner(s) may have caused and it would be a shame to have a dash fire because of someone else's ignorance. In my experience I have seen alot of people that shouldn't have touched anything. I think I may start addidng mp3 inputs to some stock stereo's I am going to be testing the 87 Camaro radio I have sitting here for my vert. First attempt but I should be able to get it tomorrow.

I have another working head unit in my vert. But rather than pull that out, I am just going to drop $8 at Wal-Mart and get an install kit and plug it into an aftermarket unit I have to test. It's well worth $8 for me to not have to uninstall/install my vert's radio.

What gets me is that I didn't get a display on EITHER head unit. That seems odd.

yeah that is a good idea. yeah you should get the display pretty much no matter what but it could just be 2 junk radios. I kind of doubt it but anything can happen when you are messing with stuff over 5 years old, it doesn't take long for the sun (heat) and moisture to screw things up. keep us posted I would like to know what the deal is too.

Turns out I have one junk head unit (the original one) and one good one (out of my '92 parts car). It's just when I finally tried hooking up the '92 to try it, I had drained my battery so much that it didn't have the voltage to push it.

Regardless, I went and bought a not-very-expensive Sony head unit. It has a front auxiliary and of course CD, and I'm sure it is better than the factory unit. I am going to hold on to the factory unit, but I will enjoy this one much more. Also went ahead and bought two new Sony 6x9s and two Sony 4x6s to replace the old tired factory speakers. It has to be better than 22-year-old factory stuff.