I've got stereo problems

[n2x4]

I've read all the old threads and see others have had the same problem as I do, but no one has really found any answers, so I'll ask again.

My '90 Legacy had a cheap Jenson cd player in it, so I decided to replace it. I took it out, and wired up my nice Panasonic deck. After it was all said and done, I have the following problems:

The headunit stays on for like 40 seconds after the key is removed, when the old Jenson unit shut right off.

The new headunit displays that there's sound coming into it, but I get no sound output to the speakers.

I've looked at all the diagrams, triple checked my wiring, and can't figure it out. Only problem I had with the Jenson before was that the drives door speaker didn't give any sound, so I replaced it, and it still didn't work so I thought the cd player had a bad channel which I expected to be fixed with the Panasonic. I know my new deck is ok, because I just took it out of my last car.

I'm tempted to get a new harness, and just rewire it again. I could take it to a car audio shop and let them look at it too, but there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to get this to work. Any ideas guys?

[DLC]

Take out the deck and check to make sure that you know which wires on the factory harness are the speaker wires. A trick I learned from a friend at a shop was to use a 9V battery to make the speaker pop, so you knew exactly which speaker you were wiring.

Try removing the deck, and while it's out, disconnecting all of the speaker connections. One by one, see if you can get a speaker working, and do this until you have all four (or more) wired right, then finalize your connection.

Consider buying a new harness, especially if you had some problems with the old deck.

[Brat4by4]

The timing for the Panasonic turning off, just don't worry about it. An anomaly that really doesn't hurt anything. If you don't want to lose your place on a CD, then pause it before you get out.

I had a rats nest for head unit wires after 2 splice installs before I owned the car. I cut all of it out, had someone send me a factory plug that was cut with a couple of inches of factory wire attached. Then grafted the factory plug back in and bought a adapter from Crutchfield... Made it much easier to troubleshoot a couple of issues I needed to check out.

[n2x4]

Stereo works! I decided to get a new Metra harness (had a hard time finding one, best buy seems to be the only place that still has them).
I put the new harness in, found a short in one of the speakers, fixed that and it works wonderfully.

Still wonder about the delayed shut down after I take out the key. I tested it with my voltmeter and watched it step down from 12v by about .03v every second until it was dead. The thing I can't understand is why it didn't do this with the old cd player that was installed before.
I know it's not a problem to be concerned with, but I've asked car stereo shops and searched online, and I don't see any answers. Oh well, at least it works now! Thanks.

[kidatari]

Do you have the P/N for the Metra harness that you used? Thanks

[n2x4]

part number: 70-1780

I googled subaru metra harness as well and was able to find the harness for sale online as well. The package I got said it was a generic harness for all subarus 87-94, which is the same as what's online. Hope that helps

[magicmike]

Still wonder about the delayed shut down after I take out the key. I tested it with my voltmeter and watched it step down from 12v by about .03v every second until it was dead. The thing I can't understand is why it didn't do this with the old cd player that was installed before.
I know it's not a problem to be concerned with, but I've asked car stereo shops and searched online, and I don't see any answers. Oh well, at least it works now! Thanks.

this is normal for some decks. it is not a problem. You new deck must have a large cap in it thats holding some voltage in it for a short time. I used to see this on some sony's back in the day when I installed. I do think it happened alot in VW's though for some reason. On second thought, how is your ground?

[n2x4]

I assumed there was a cap in the stereo too just because the older cheaper CD player didn't have this problem. However, when i took my voltage readings, it was from the factory harness, I didn't even have the stereo hooked up at that point. It's coming from the car (which I don't think subaru installed a cap in the factory system). I also tried the stereo in a Dodge, and it worked fine.

Something I found interesting though, last nite I was running my wipers, and when I stopped the car, turned off the wipers, then took out the key, the stereo shut down just like it was supposed to. I wonder if running the wipers prevented the voltage from storing up somewhere? I'll investigate more.

[Brat4by4]

Interesting find on the stepping down voltage.

In the other thread about this one of the things found out is if the radio is playing after shutdown, hitting the wipers and/or cigarette lighter will kill the radio.

But I've also seen that hitting the one sweep on the stalk will kill the radio... then let it start right back up to finish off its "overplay" time. So weird, its like the voltage didn't step down far enough to keep the unit from re-powering on. Maybe Panasonics are built to tolerate and work on much lower voltages that might be present in a car with a dying alternator, large power draw, etc...?

Does your car happen to have a anti-theft system installed? I doubt everyone's car that does this has one installed. But mine has one from a previous owner and the security system has its own small battery...

And one more thing of interest to note. Apparently, the wipers and lighter draw power and that kills the radio from playing after everything is off. But it is only certain items that do that. My headunit had no problem playing the subwoofers in my trunk at any level during this time. The sub definitely pulls more power than a wiper motor. And I don't think the volume level of the head unit (aka power draw) affects how long the unit stays on after shut-off. So to summarize, I'm still really confused and obviously lacking in electrical knowledge.

[n2x4]

No alarm on the car, the drivers door won't even lock (that's the next project)

I played with the wipers a bit more, and you're right, it does exactly that. It's interesting though that even though it kills the stereo, it doesn't trigger the wipers which leads me to wonder how much initial voltage the wipers require to run (might have to pull out the voltmeter again and look). But then again, the single wipe doesn't completely drain that voltage, and turns the stereo back on, so there's still voltage in the line, but why wouldn't the wipers have actually moved? Maybe something prevents them from moving with the key out even when there's voltage?

As far as the amount of playback goes, you're right, volume doesn't matter. I don't think the subs that you have would actually have much to do with our problem though, because if they're hooked up to an external amp (which I'm assuming they are), they don't draw power from the stereo, but from the amp, which won't turn off until it receives a signal from the headunit on the remote power off line (I think it's called, but there's a wire that does that.) So the amp will still get it's power from the battery until the headunit tells it not to.

You also brought up a good point on my cd player running on lower voltage, that could be the difference why the jenson shut right off when the power dipped to 11.9V on that line.

Either way the problem isn't too major, it's gives my friends a good laugh when I show them how I use the wipers as my ghetto stereo off switch. The panasonic is worlds above the Jenson anyways too. I'll keep investigating, because if I ever want the stereo off when I drive, turning the power off just displays the word ADJUST across the headunit, where in the other car it would just go dark and be dead. Kind of annoying when you want the inside of the car a bit darker during foggy nights. Granted I could go ghetto with that and remove the faceplate, but I want my subaru to remain slightly respectible

[Brat4by4]

As far as the amount of playback goes, you're right, volume doesn't matter. I don't think the subs that you have would actually have much to do with our problem though, because if they're hooked up to an external amp (which I'm assuming they are), they don't draw power from the stereo, but from the amp, which won't turn off until it receives a signal from the headunit on the remote power off line (I think it's called, but there's a wire that does that.) So the amp will still get it's power from the battery until the headunit tells it not to.

I was inferring that it isn't total power draw. Power must draw off some "circuit" that kills the radio. Something that can't drain the capacitor or something like that.

I'll keep investigating, because if I ever want the stereo off when I drive, turning the power off just displays the word ADJUST across the headunit, where in the other car it would just go dark and be dead. Kind of annoying when you want the inside of the car a bit darker during foggy nights. Granted I could go ghetto with that and remove the faceplate, but I want my subaru to remain slightly respectible

That should be adjustable. If you have the book, there should be different modes for the display when the unit is turned off. The face is trying to display the time, so if you set the time it will show that. Which is less characters than ADJUST. I know on mine I can set the "off" display to Clock - Blank (off) - Demo.

I wonder why no one else is chiming in? Maybe they just don't care, lol. It doesn't bother me because I sort of like it, but the stepping down voltage piqued my interest. Maybe I'll bust out my multimeter and take a look-see.

On a side note, my unit has stayed on for periods of longer than a minute at times, but it varies.