I have a Sony MEX XB100BT installed in my 1983 Z28. I thought I had it set up correctly, but the stereo has power regardless of the key being in the ignition or not... I have to remember to shut it off after shutting down the car
or it will drain my battery.

Best I could figure, RED "accessory" wire from radio connects to ORANGE wire in car;
BLUE/ WHITE. "power antenna" wire from radio connects to PINK. wire in car;
ORANGE/WHITE "illumination" wire from radio connects to GRAY. wire in car.

Not sure where the brown wire from the car gets connected? Does it attach together with the orange car wire to the red acc. wire coming from the radio?

Lastly,I think my power antenna wire is connected correctly, however I don't hear the antenna motor. It may be shot though- I haven't investigated that.

Thanks and please note the 2 pages from Sony's manual, as well as (I think) the correct schematic page from the Chevy repair manual, and a photo of my wires.

Thank You for any help- this stuff baffles me.

 

Orange in GM harnesses is always hot. Tha't's your #1 problem. Orange from the car needs to go to Yellow on your deck. You need to connect the power wire on your deck to the Yellow wire in the car. Brown is the dimmer circuit for the lights in the factory deck. Most aftermarket decks don't have dimming lights. Gray is night time illumination, so the lights on the factory radio would come on at night with the park/headlights.

 

So the orange wire from the car needs to connect to the yellow wire on the deck- seen here coming out of the black fuse block? I think it is the only power wire coming out of the deck- are you also saying I need to connect the yellow wire in the car (seen in the picture with electric tape around the end of it) to this same power wire that comes out of the deck? Sorry I am confused. I appreciate your help.

What I did originally was connect the deck's yellow power source wire directly to the car battery, as seen in this photo. This seemed to be Sony's recommendation in the installation instructions, which aren't of much help.

 

The instructions are fine, you're just reading them wrong. You've got two power wires to your aftermarket deck. Yellow, which is a constant 12V+ (Orange wire), and Red which is switched 12V+ with the key (Yellow wire). Then you've got your Orange w/White stripe that needs to connect to the Gray wire. Black to black or a ground. Blue w/White to Pink. Then the rest are speaker connections.

Pretty much every aftermarket deck is going to have a constant power connection, to keep the memory and the clock time, and a switched power source so it only comes on when the car is on. Those are pretty much universal color coded red and yellow. It'd be nice if GM used the same color coding, but they change things up a bit.

The factory radio has an additional wire for the dimming feature that most aftermarket decks don't use. That's the brown wire that lets the radio lights dim with the rest of the instrument panel when you turn the headlight **** or turn the wheel up/down. Your deck doesn't use that one so just cap it off so it doesn't touch anything and short out.

 

Thanks again for making it crystal clear. I appreciate the help.

 

Just a short question if allowed: Where do you guys get these nice colored wire schemes? Is this another FSM I don't know? I've seen them often in scans but never had one in my hands...

 

Front and back covers of the manual are gone. Says "1983 Camaro Shop Manual" on the spine. Pretty certain it's just the standard manual.

 

The earlier manuals had the diagrams printed in color. Later manuals they're black and white. I'm not sure which year they switched, the 87 manual on my shelf is color, the 91 manuals are B&W.

 

So I corrected the wiring. All good now; thanks again Drew.