Ok, so I've looked at as many threads as I can find and I'm still struggling so any help is much appreciated!

Basically, I took out a perfectly working OEM headunit, and installed an Alpine 9884R which I took out of my old car in perfect working order too. I've connected the headunit up using one of these (I've subsequently realised I also need an aerial adaptor too but nevermind):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1210643561...84.m1497.l2649

Having connected that up, nothing fires up in the headunit, nothing at all. I've read that grounding can sometimes be an issue on the adaptor and that you can be better off connecting the Impreza OEM ground that connects to the side plates of the headunit, and connect that direct to the OEM wire. Still nothing! Is there anything I'm missing, or should check?

 

First off check your fuses both the car and back of stereo if it has one, although its unlikely a blown fuse if OE radio worked fine and you only connected the adaptor. Also when plugging in the adaptor plugs check the small pins have not pushed out of the housing from behind, you can see it if you look down on the plug.

Check your ISO harness wires match the OE Subaru loom as some converter plugs have live wires in the wrong place on the pin configuration and if you have another plug that comes with the radio that then connects to the aftermarket adaptor check wires match the rest of the plugs.

If the radio has the yellow and red wires where you can unplug and swap them around to retain memory then join both red and yellow wires together and plug in to see what happens, if it powers up its a switched live feed problem, if still nothing check your earth, if you have too, run a bit of wire direct to an earth point to double check its not an earth problem

The radio should earth through the cage if screwed to the side of the radio with the earth cable pushed on the side.

You could also wire the radio straight to the battery just to double check it is still working if it has not been used in a while.

Just a few to help

 

That's great, thanks!

I tried the ground as both the seperate one on the back of the H/U, and with the clipped on ground per the OEM unit and there was no difference. Can Alpine's earth using the same clip on method as the OEM?

I also tried the power switch; both as red-red/yellow-yellow, and as red-yellow/yellow-red (as I had in the old car). Again, nothing.

It was working a week ago but I'll try to get a multimeter on the wires coming in from the car to check there's definitely power, and I'll double check the harness adaptor too (clearly assuming too much that they'd all work perfectly!).

Thanks again for the advice, I'll give it another bit of playing tomorrow to see if I get any further!

 

No worries bud, when I say connect the lives together I mean from the plug out of the back of the radio by plugging the red wire in to the yellow one ( yellow is the main live and the red a switched ) there is normally a little extension that is attached to the yellow wire where you can plug the red one in to for instances where you may not have a switched live or want it permanently live for one reason or another, then plug the radio harness in to the other looms, like I say check the pin outs as I have had a few over the years that's been like that for some reason, its caused people major headaches especially if they have run direct lives and an earth and it still won't power up it has to be something trivial if you know it to be a good radio and the original factory unit was working as it should on removal, its probably staring you in the face. After a break away from it you will be fresh minded

 

And yes when the cage is attached via the screws to the radio it becomes earth when you push the spade on, have you tried taking the earth straight from the black on the radio to chassis?

 

Again, thanks for all the advice. I took some pics of the connectors on the way in to work this morning so I could check that they were going to the correct places against both the subaru, and the Alpine wiring diagrams. And they appear to have been wired by Stevie Wonder. So no surprise that they weren't working! The adaptor was from ebay and described as genuine autoleads but I have my doubts now, so I've ordered a proper Autoleads one from Amazon along with an aerial adaptor so fingers crossed this works. If not (or even if it does to be honest), I'm going to splice the spare Alpine harness I have directly into the mis-wired adaptor block I've got there just now to simplify the wiring a little...it's not as if either are going to be doing much else.

 

It works! The amazon one turned up today and breathed life into the system as hoped - I did cross check it with the wiring diagram before installing just incase but all seemed well. Unfortunately the aerial adaptor didn't fit so it was a quick trip to halfords to get the right one...but all is well! I've got a few pics so I'll upload them incase anyone else is having the same problem in not knowing what to look for.

Thanks again for the help bud, much appreciated!

 

No worries bud glad you got it sorted

 

I have a slightly different problem in that I have power when the ignition is on (switched live) but nothing to retain the memory (permanent 12v). I have tried two Ebay wiring adapters but they are both the same and for some reason the constant 12v is going to the antenna booster (blue wire).

Do I have the wrong adapter? Which do i need to buy?

 

Take the constant 12v away from the Blue wire ( bullet connector's ?) And connect it with the corresponding wire from the original loom via the plug. The blue wire is probable a remote antenna wire that isnt needed

http://incartec.co.uk/subaru/2097/10...o/Browser.aspx


That will do the trick

 

Ah, yea thanks for that. I just pinned out the blue wire and got rid of it, pinned out the yellow and put that it the blue wires place. Now all memory is stored.

 

Having a similar problem with my CDE-133BT. It's brand new, so it's either dead or its getting no power. I bought one of the cheapy ebay ISO cables so maybe thats the problem going by this thread!

 

Odds on bud if you know the head unit works or is new then chances are its the adaptor wires between the plug from the radio to the car harness, just double check all wires are connected correctly and its earthed tidy, and just check your fuses, but if the old radio powers straight up then there is no problem with power or earth

 

Sounds very much like you bought the adaptor I did! PM me your email address and I'll email you over a pic of the one which was wrong. I can't remember exactly what the colour differences were off hand but as one of them was the power lead, it was a bit of a major flaw!

 

PM'ed.