ok, im putting in a pioneer head unit into a friends car. the problem is i cant locate any of the wires that are supposed to be hooked up and i don want to go through and rip the dash out and everything else to trace them (there was no stereo in it when he she got it) how can i wire this up, i konw there has to be a ground and i can run a wire straight from the battery. thats what i did with mine. but hers wont turn on. what am i missing?

And, she has what kind of car?

If you just ran power and ground, you're missing the turn-on lead. You should tap into a fuse that comes on when the ignition key is turned on. You said you ran a wire right to the battery; you did put a fuse on it close to the battery (12-15 inches away), right? Don't just trust the single fuse at the radio; you need a fuse by the battery in case this wire ever shorts out in the engine compartment... as in, rubbing against the firewall. A fuse by the radio, inside the car, won't protect against that.

Depending on the installer, they'll sometimes cut off the factory wiring harness and cut the wires real short. I guess maybe it's to make it harder to steal, i dunno Anyways, try and find any loose wires. The bigger concern than the stereo not coming on is that you have to power wires, one that's always hot and one that come on with the ignition laying around somewhere. If either of them touches metal, you'll start blowing fuses. Then you'll end up with no courtesy lights, cigarette lighter, etc. because they're all on the accessory fuse.

yea im still not able to find a wire that goes on with the ignition, is there anything in the dash that i can tap into?

There will be one at the ignition module, which is probably gonna be on the steering column. You could also go to the fuse block and track down the radio wire. That would probably be a better solution.

Is it a ford or a chevy or an f-body or WHAT???

You know, thinking about this... if the car didn't come with a radio (which the occassional car doesn't), you're gonna spend all kinds of time hardwiring a headunit and end up with no speakers to hook up to it. That would be kind of amusing (for us, anyway). Better check.

true that would be funny, though i bought 4 mtx 6 1/2s and two infinity subs

the car is just a crap passat, i had no one else to ask about this cause everyone just said " i dont know"

A few solutions, depending on the situation.

Now, it wasn't too clear as if the car came with a radio from the factory. If it was, sorry, I missed it, lol.

Anyway, get a Haynes or Chilton manual, or if they want to spend the extra cash, get a factory service manual from the dealer if available. I know some times that can be 3 to 4 times the cost of a Haynes. Any one of those should have a wiring diagram. Or if they are nice enough, go to the local car audio shop and see if they have a book or anything with various wiring diagrams. Other options include going to the dealer and see if they can dig up a schematic or go to the junk yard and hope they have a similar car there and snage the wiring out of it with leads as long as possible.

One of those will work. If not, tel her to set the car on fire, roll it off a cliff and buy an f-body just kiddin, lol.

If the car never came with a radio, this is actually a good thing in a sense. This is an opportunity to install better wiring than the factory would put in, so even if it is a crap car, at least the stereo will be clear, lol. 12 and 14awg will be your friend.

I bought three 20' rolls of Monster XLN speaker cable at like 10 bucks each. This stuff rocks. If you find a Wiz around where you are, they're going out of business. So you might be able to find some nice and cheap. If not, they're about $20 a roll retail. A good investment.

i just ran all new stuff anyway. makes my life easier when i go to change system stuff around or upgrade

thats is somethigni see alot of in the F-bodys because its hard to get the head nit ti fit in the pod with all the wires so they cut the wires short so the head uit will fit better in the pod. my guess is to look for really short wires if you can't find then that you need to run a wire from the fuse box to the unit for power and then run a wire from the battory to the Momory Back-up to the radio (have it fused 12" away from the battory) and then run a ground. it should liek a apin in the *** but it isn't that bad. (make sure the POWER wire goes to the fuse box of the head unit will stay on with the key is out of the car)