I've got a Pioneer DEH-45DH that just recently became problematic. The stereo turns on and plays music for about 10 seconds, then all four speakers cut out and the sound is gone. The tuner and CD player appear to work just fine, but there's no sound. If I turn the HU off, then on, the speakers kick in for a few seconds, then cut out again. Sometimes, I hear a series of pops and whistles from multiple speakers right after the sound/music cuts out. Does this sound like an internal HU, wiring, or speaker problem? I don't have much experience in car audio (a previous owner installed the Pioneer), so I don't really know where to start looking for problems. I've checked out the wiring and harnesses behind the HU, and everything looks OK (good crimps, no bare wires, etc.). That being said, I really don't know what to look for. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

see the point in installing your own system is that.. you know where everything is and if someone pulled sumtin off halfassed u kno where that is or what it could be ... i like doing stuff on my own cause you kno how everything works what wires are what..what your problem is sounds like say

A subwoofer blows in my system , I have 2 subs but only 1 blows.. my amp protect kicks in and shuts off the system.. i turn off my headunit then turn it back on.. music plays for a sec then the protect kicks on ... i'm not sure if you have this happening becuase of a defected component.. or it even sounds to me that wires are touching or that your positives and negatives on the components arent wired right.. maybe in the wired behind the headunit itself.. how long has everything been wired up and playing correctly?

 

are you running a apm? make sure the speaker wires are + to + and - to - on the the wire comeing from the HU with the black line is the negtives i think creact me if a wrong guys , there should be 4 of them. it should say on the sticker on top of the HU wich one is neg. you can see on the speaker the + and- well just make sure the wire with the black line goes the neg..

it sounds like you wired something wrong also cheak the omes on the car speakers to see if it is compadable with the HU it should be 6 or 8 omes

 

yeah usually right on top of the headunit or the bottom there is a shematic of what wires on the headunit are what.. then if needed get a haynes manual or research what your wires in the car stand for.. whats your ign switch ect.. its pretty much straight foward..

 

O, how I wish I'd done the wiring myself.

I've had the car for 4 years. The stereo worked great until 1 month ago when I was driving and the speakers all of sudden cut out. I started hearing occassional whistles and pops shortly thereafter.

FYI--The car used to have a single 12" sub and amp in the hatch, but these were literally ripped out one night about 2 years ago when some guys broke into my car. Despite the incident, the stereo worked fine (although sadly without the bass pulses of the sub), so I didn't dig into the wiring.

 

Could be a couple of things. My first thought would be bad install. A intermittent connection to a speaker or a speaker shorting to ground. You said you looked over things and they look OK behind the radio, but check at the speaker as well.
And do this fast. A short to ground or intermittent connection CAN kill the internal amp in no time, and then no radio.
It could also be IN the radio. The DEH-45dh (and other models) has some problems with bad connections IN the HU. This could give you the same kind of problem. They would get bad solder connection at the harness and at the amp IC. If you can swing a soldering iron this can be fixed.
BTW, the squealing is the amp IC dyeing a slow and noisy death.
The only real test for this kind of problem (short of just swapping out the HU and seeing what happens) is to just go over every inch of the install. If there are no problem, it's IN the radio.