87 GTA stereo won't work..help w/ wiring - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

hawkdriver · 11-03-2009, 05:52 PM

I have had this car in storage the last 6 years and have just taken it out to start fixing it back up. "At no time does the clock light up. When I turn on the radio the power antenna goes up but the FM receiver is not receiving anything....just static, tape player does not work either, if you turn on the headlights and rotate the dash light dimmer switch the static gets louder and softer....I've checked the fuses, the 10amp fuse is good but there is a spot that says radio with an arrow pointing to a female connector spot that looks like the ignition connector...however, there's no wire underneath that would plug in....so I am thinking it's not used....this was my dad's car from 94-03 and when I received it I put it in storage....any help with where to start would be greatly appreciated.

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hardon85 · 11-03-2009, 06:30 PM

I would guess your head unit is bad if you have another one I would throw it in and you would know for sure

Steveh4263 · 11-03-2009, 07:12 PM

Did the radio work when your father had it? From what I have read, it seems like the antenna wire is not connected to the radio?

hawkdriver · 11-03-2009, 07:30 PM

I remember it working..I even thought it worked when I parked it...what is confusing me is that the clock does not even light up. I am trying to keep everything stock and I can't seem to locate another one to purchase....so I'm hoping it's a wire or something I can fix.

hardon85 · 11-03-2009, 07:57 PM

I would guess that thing is toast since the radio has power and not working "correctly" it is probably not a wiring issue. You have a couple of options

#1. if you want to know for sure it is your head unit bad and not some other wiring problem you could just try a different radio from a different car, if it is a GM vehicle the harness will probably match unless it is real new. If that head unit works you will know it is the head unit currently in your car that is bad that is about the only sure way to know for sure.

#2. when you find out it is the head unit that's bad (and I'm sure you will) you can get that one repaired which when I had that done about 10 years ago it cost in the neighborhood of about $250.

#3. you could go to a junkyard and try to find another factory head unit but you might end up in the same boat you are already in.

#4. personally I think the best option would be to just get an aftermarket head unit your sound quality will be much better and I'm assuming with an '87 you don't have a cd player. By the way why do you want to keep a stock head unit? Don't take this the wrong way but the head units back then were garbage in my opinion compared to head units that are out now.

Steveh4263 · 11-03-2009, 07:58 PM

Must be in the wiring harness to the radio. I know I changed the stock radio to a jvc head unit. Did it myself. Really easy to change the radio on the 87 GTA. Some people put 4th gen ta am/fm cd radios in there third gens. I was thinking of doing that at first. But I wanted to be able to play mp3's I also have a jvc cd changer that has'nt been put in the car yet.

hawkdriver · 11-03-2009, 08:11 PM

For now I'm just trying to keep everything stock until I figure out what I which direction I want to go...it only has 110,000 original miles and overall is in good condition.

Steveh4263 · 11-03-2009, 08:17 PM

Your best option is to examine the radio and wiring harness. Since you want to keep it stock.

hardon85 · 11-03-2009, 09:11 PM

ok I understand now, it looks like it is a beautiful car, but just but like I said above it looks like your radio is shot the reason I believe this is you said your antenna goes up and you get static, by the way does the cassette deck work? are you old enough to remember what those are? lol. So by this I would say you are getting proper power to your head unit. By having no display I would say there is something internally shorted, I have never heard of a radio having no display but playing static but it could happen some how maybe. As far as having no reception it could be that the antenna is unhooked or shorted somewhere outside of the radio but there again the only way to know is to try another radio. Also I would try playing a tape in there and see what happens. Good luck and let us know what happens.

hawkdriver · 11-03-2009, 10:30 PM

good luck bad luck night....after 15 years the problem to why the power lumbar on the seats weren't working was because of the fuse under the driver's seat..... I do remember cassettes..lol..I remember 8 tracks and LP also but barely..I'm 33..lol. I meant to mention that cassettes do not work either....none of the lights are working on the head, the volume, fade, and balance indicators don't light up, the cassette lights light up when you shove a tape in but it kicks the tape back out after about 3 seconds. Do you know of any rebuild places I could send it to?

y84pauloflondon · 11-04-2009, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawkdriver

I remember it working..I even thought it worked when I parked it...what is confusing me is that the clock does not even light up. I am trying to keep everything stock and I can't seem to locate another one to purchase....so I'm hoping it's a wire or something I can fix.

You had it in storage for 6 yrs. Rats or field mice could have nested in your car, chewed up your wiring!!!

Lights!!! The light in side your deck could have burnt out! Its a small light, and can be replaced, not too hard to do!

hawkdriver · 11-04-2009, 02:07 AM

I pulled the radio out and everything looks fine. Is there an inline fuse or something I'm missing? None of the lights work but the volume, fade, and balance work as far as directing sound. I just can't believe it just quit working. Wishful thinking probably. The antenna is hooked up but it seems like something simple is a miss.

87 WHITE GTA · 11-04-2009, 02:09 AM

Did you check your fuse box?
That mite help.

hawkdriver · 11-04-2009, 02:31 AM

The fuse under the drivers side is good...I didn't know if there was inline somewhere...I found a replacement but it's 300 bucks.

hardon85 · 11-04-2009, 06:03 AM

hey hawk as far as an inline fuse I have never heard of one and I believe your wiring is fine and the reason I think this is I had an aftermarket head unit that i replaced and forgot a cd in there and didn't feel like ripping my dash apart again so I just hooked up 3 wires directly to the battery to get the unit to turn on and eject the cd all I hooked up was the constant power, ignition or switched power and ground and it worked but obviously wasn't hooked up to any speakers so it didn't play any sound but the unit functioned just fine with just 3 wires hooked up so I'm guessing your wiring is fine and you said the volume fade and balance work so it looks like your speakers are hooked up correctly, also if you want to verify that these 3 wires are working you could use a test light, . If you don't know the wire colors to check just let me know and I can find them out for you.

as far as getting this one repaired you can take it to your gm dealer I did this like I said in an above post but it cost me about $250. Otherwise there is Barry's Electronics, 615-516-3451, they are located in Springfield, I don't know anything about them but other people that have used them said it cost around $100 for a radio repair. You could also get one from a junkyard but who knows what you are getting. Another option is http://www.oem-auto-accessory.com/ but it looks like they also want around $300 and I don't know if that includes shipping or not. We were kind of talking about this in another post http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/in...e-factory.html (Anybody else have a factory CD player???)

Like I have said I would just go with an aftermarket unit for now if you use the correct harness and antenna adapter it will not affect the value of your car at all as no factory wires will be cut and you could always swap your factory unit back in. I also think this would be your cheapest option they now sell these new at Walmart for $100 and if you look on craigslist I'm guessing you could easily find one for $50 or less add in $20 to $30 for the wire harness dash mounting kit and antenna adapter you could easily have tunes back in your ride for less than $100 and a much better head unit let us know what you decide and if you have any other questions

hawkdriver · 11-04-2009, 08:30 AM

I'm heading to Barry's today. Thanks. Are you near Clarksville?

hardon85 · 11-07-2009, 06:38 PM

no I actually live in Minnesota but I just happened to see Barry's in another thread. What did you find out? was he able to get it working?

hawkdriver · 11-07-2009, 10:32 PM

Barry will have it kicking out REO and Journey come the beginning of the week! I can't wait! I've got the Journey's greatest hits and some AC/DC on cassette ready to go....

hardon85 · 11-08-2009, 03:02 AM

good deal I hope I helped you somewhat, also just want you to know I wasn't trying to be critical of your choice I just wanted to let you know my experiences and I was very disappointed with the factory deck but if it works for you that's all that matters by the way how much did he charge you for the repair

hawkdriver · 11-08-2009, 09:22 AM

I do remember the sound quality being very poor. I'm going to upgrade the speakers and hope that helps. It should be about 85 for the repair...75 for labor and 10 for parts. You definately helped. I was about to order one for 300 online. Thanks again

hawkdriver · 11-16-2009, 01:04 AM

Just wanted to close this out by saying Barry ROCKS! He totally overhauled my radio and made it run like new for only 115 bucks...lots cheaper than a new head, adapters, and faceplate..changing out parts and resodering things that typically break. After plugging it in my stock speakers sounded awesome...not bose quality of course but as good as they would have back in 87 new....I thought I was in a time machine....Highly recommend contacting him for all stereo work needed especially stock radios.

New2Chevy · 11-16-2009, 05:07 PM

I would check the wiring and also check to see if the antenna is plugged into the back of the stereo.

Side Gripe:

Every third gen Camaro I have bought has suffered some less than intelligent person hacking off the factory harness/plug assembly.

WHY they never just buy the darn adapter plug is beyond me. It saves a bunch of time and headaches, and it costs around 15 bucks. GRRRRR.

hawkdriver · 11-16-2009, 05:24 PM

It was internal problems with the head

New2Chevy · 11-17-2009, 12:15 PM

Now I found all sorts of wires that were changed and are not the factory colors, and they aren't even being used. Someone did not know what they were doing when they messed with the wiring in my car.

I wish people would take their time a little and just think and simply buy aftermarket harnesses. What's so hard about this?

Sheesh!

hardon85 · 11-17-2009, 08:42 PM

did you get it working yet

hawkdriver · 11-18-2009, 08:11 AM

Yes...after it was rebuilt it worked great

ellocojorge · 11-18-2009, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by New2Chevy

I would check the wiring and also check to see if the antenna is plugged into the back of the stereo.

Side Gripe:

Every third gen Camaro I have bought has suffered some less than intelligent person hacking off the factory harness/plug assembly.

WHY they never just buy the darn adapter plug is beyond me. It saves a bunch of time and headaches, and it costs around 15 bucks. GRRRRR.

yep that was the problem with mine... i ended up re splicing a factory harness , and then bought a harness adapter, just so i wouldnt run into this problem if i ever decided to change head units again( probably soon , i saw a really nice one with HD radio)