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Stereo stolen, Factory CD player problems

M

mmulvenna

New CEG'er
Joined
Dec 20, 2006
Messages
5
Location
Chicago Suburbs
First off let me say I’m not the most knowledgeable in car audio. I have a ’99 contour with premium sound. A few years ago a friend installed a Kenwood head unit and used a wiring harness. My car was broken into and the head unit and wiring harness were stolen. All the original wires and connectors are there and intact. I recently tired to reinstall the factory CD player with no luck. All I get is some crackling and low volume even with it turned up all the way. Everything seems to be hooked up fine including the antenna. Audio played fine before the Kenwood unit was stolen. Is the CD player bad? Or is there some sort of problem in the original wiring? Any input would be a great help
 
Sounds like maybe your friend bypassed (or removed) the factory amp which comes with the premium sound package. If this is the case your options are to either unbypass the factory amp (which is located behind the glove box on the right hand side) or forget about the factory head unit and just put in a new one which is probably the better option. If the thief just unplugged the kenwood harness this should be pretty easy.
 
I would love to put in a diffrent head unit but right now I just can't afford one. So hopefully at a later date. Now this may seem like a really dumb question but if my friend did bypass the factory amp, how do I unbypass it?
 
That depends how he bypassed it. First thing would be to check that its still there. It possible (but unlikely) that he used a harness that just connects around it, but more likely he cut the end of the plug going out of the amp and spliced the wires onto the input side. If this is the case its going to be a bit more difficult to undo me thinks.
I haven't done this myself so if someone can provide better advice please take over.
 
SVTC1136 said:
That depends how he bypassed it. First thing would be to check that its still there. It possible (but unlikely) that he used a harness that just connects around it, but more likely he cut the end of the plug going out of the amp and spliced the wires onto the input side. If this is the case its going to be a bit more difficult to undo me thinks.
I haven't done this myself so if someone can provide better advice please take over.
Click to expand...

You are on the right track, but unless he posts some pictures of how it was bypassed, there is no way to really tell. I personally do it the neat way and buy the harness, but some just cut wires.
 
I had a stock cd player that went dead too. It was from a 98 svt with premium sound. I sold my HU and put it in while waiting on the new one and it had the same problems. Also I had a Chrysler with premium sound that had an aftermarket headunit and it got stolen. After that any hu wouldnt work. They did something to the wiring. I hadnt bypassed the factory amp either. All that I could figure was that they strained and broke a few wires away from the connector and it messed everything up. I had to rewire the entire car.
 
It looks like he did use a harness. I got in there and took pictures the best I could. They are posted here http://www.plachy.net/Mike.htm I'm not sure if these will really help you or not. I'm not sure what my next step should be. I'm considering buying a cheap cheap hu and a new wiring harness and trying that out.
 
its hard to tell from the pics but you need to see if that gray bundle from the opening is plugged into the far right hand side of the amp. Then see if the factory feed from the amp to the speakers is connected(left side of the amp). This is were a bypass would be. It would be from the opening to the factory harness that is in the amp. If that is all hooked up you could have blown your factory amp by running a HU through it. If you get to that point and need a new amp i have one sitting around. Good Luck
 
reconnect your remote amp turn on for the factory amp. its the blue wire with a white stripe off the aftermarket wiring harness. not sure what color it is on the factory harness
 
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