Am i missing a stereo plug?

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ANDY-C

Member
Posts
46
Location
WIGAN
Hi all,
I know there are loads of threads on this but i can't find exactly what i'm after so i'd just like someone to confirm - am i missing a wiring plug? I have a 1997 300tdi jap import with the standard UK Disco stereo + CD changer but the rear subs in the back door don't work. I have checked and there is power to the amp but no music signal. Should there be another plug with just black and red wires in it? Please see attached photos (if i've done it right) if not they're in the gallery.
Cheers
Andy
Disco stereo plugs.JPG

Rear door plug.JPG

PINK PLUG.JPG
 
Sorry - should explain the pics - pic 1 plugs at dash end - pic 2 rear door amp plug - pic 3 close up of wires in pink plug from pic 1.
Cheers
Andy
 
I cant tell you exactly mate as mine are completely ripped out of all their plugs...

Look at the connector in the boot. There is a red and a black wire, and a bare wire aswell, all on the same row. These 3 feed into one insulation. The bare wire is the shield for the red and black. That wire goes all the way to the dashboard out of the main audio harness. It may be part of one of the connectors you already have. Follow the wiring back a little bit from the connectors and see if you can see a red and a black coming out of some thick insulation. If not then it may be back there somewhere
 
Hi Andy, As u say not UK spec it's a bit different. The brown plug is loudspeakers the green plug is permanant and ign switched power (so two fuses), lighting + dash vol etc switches, the blue is CD player (not a philips plug), but I would have to put a meter on that pink plug and look see. Your wiring is a bit different to Philips stuff is it a Clarion unit.
I will post the colours at the sup amp as the change beyond that square plug at the amp terminals as there is a black screened wire at that point carring the signal.
 
OK based on a Philips system the green (grey for Philips) plug wiring is, Purple permant supply, Green/Orange is ign switch supply, Red/Brown lighting, Blue/Yellow amp switching supply out and on a Philips head unit a seperate plug red and black audio output. The other one or two wires on the green plug are for the dash volume etc switches.

At the subwoofer amp terminal strip green/orange is a permanant supply, purple/yellow is the switched supply (switches the amp on), black is the local earth and the audio supply is black and white wire in a screened cable so put your meter switched to millivolts across this pair of wires and if there's a signal you will have a reading..
If you have, and also the other two 12volt supplies then the amp or speakers must be at fault.

Pic is of the Philips head unit plugs the cd player plug is not shown its taped up and not used in my Pioneer system.
 

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Thanks for the replies guys - i'm still non the wiser though - have confirmed again that ther is power at the amp in the rear door but non of the wires at the dash end correspond to the music signal wires at the boot door plug. So i think i'm going to install a a spare amp that i have in the car and run new wiress to the speakers in the rear door - if nothing else this will stop me ageing prematurely.
Cheers
Andy
 
Post some pics of your head unit at the front so we can indentify it, also a pic of the rear with the plugs connected, It's always difficult to identify problems via texts which this is. It's a little Saturday morning job if you lived next door :)

But check for that audio signal is getting to the amp.

I have just found a Pioneer head unit in the loft that I bought in 1996 and installed if WOW 100 times better the the LR disco stuff the radio picks up stations I never new existed.
I had to buy a CD player from eBay to match and all that was installed in a few hours the only thing that is not working is the dash controls but they never did what they were suppsed to do :)

We should be able to get your sub amp working, if that is the unit is not faulty.
 
Or make your own for pennies. but like the above link item only if you are fitting an aftermarket head unit and then it must have a pre-amplified output.

One I made earler out of bits & bobs.
 

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Hi
In my case I fitted a Kenwood unit and snipped of the pink plug with the red and black wires.I then soldered on a phono/RCA plug with the red to the centre pin and black to the ground on the phono.Worked fine
Just check that your radio puts 12V on the connector that tells the subwoofer to turn on
Hope that makes sense
 
Andy, your wiring looks very similar to mine (also a 97 300tdi import) before I fitted an aftermarket stereo. Originally it was a LR Phillips model but the cd changer had been removed before I got it.

The pink plug is the one that sends power to all the speakers, they are all +ve except for the two black wires. Im not too sure about the sub as mine did not have them as standard but from reading other posts when fitting mine the supply for the subs should also be from the pink plug with 2 extra wires which yours doesnt look to have. The 6 wires showing in pic 3 are FL FR RR LR speaker +ves and 2 black earths.

Have you checked the speakers in the rear door are connected? The door card may have been replaced at some time as they do tend to get broken very easily.
 
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Ok guys - i've attatched pics of the front and rear of the stereo. On the rear the pink plug as shown in the earlier photos goes in the top slot on the back of the stereo.

stereo front.JPG

stereo rear.JPG

From what everyone seems to be telling me the red and 2 black wires on the pink plug should be the same ones that appear at the rear door but i've yet to sucessfully confitm this - is there a plug anywhere that may be disconnected behind the trim or do the wires just run straight through the main wiring loom?
Cheers
Andy
 
Ok I had the same unit but mine had a black plug there which was for the CD changer (you can see the earth connection strip under the screw), the vertical slot was for the rear sub amp plug with only two wires red & black + earth strip, the two short slots by the fuse one was loudspeakers the other power etc and the remote dash controls.

U have a uk spec unit and not a Japanese spec radio so not compatable with the wiring that will be confirmed by the blue round plug.
 

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So Discool do you think that the pink plug may house the music signal wires for the rear subs or do you think that there may be another (the vertical plug) behind the dash somewhere that i haven't found yet?
 
It would be easy if your wiring was uk spec... I don't know what the pink plug is, is it normally pluged into the top socket as that is used for the under seat cd player with the head unit u have.
I'm afrade u will have to check each wire to see what it is. If the pink plug is out do you loose power to the amp? Do you have a CD player as u don't have any where to plug in the blue plug.

If you have the audio plug it will look like the shiny one shown in my previous post with the two wires, the plug won't be anywhere than in the radio slot, may be down in the bottom as there is space there to stuff wires.

With a UK spec one of the plugs has all the connections required a the back door amp just plug it in to the head unit and there's power to the amp.
 
Quick update - connected the o/s rear passenger speaker wires to the music signal wires at the rear door plug - i know i shouldn't as the signal is already amplified by the head unit but i wanted to prove that the amp and speakers worked and it was just the music signal that was missing. Doing this resultred in only one rear sub working and following numerous combinations i have concluded that one of the channels in the amp is blown as i can get both rear spekers to work independantly just using the normal speaker connections - so i'm thinking i'll just bridge the good signal to both speakers. Now i proved it all works i'm going to trace the wiring back to see where the music signal wires end - this should be in the dash somewhere but who knows.
Cheers
Andy
 
Hi andy, "thats the way to do it" the logical way. Theres only audio channel to the sub amp from the head unit and thats mono so if you are receving that then from what u say its appears that the amp is not dividing the audio signal between the two speakers.
 
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