Car Radio issue, half-diagnosed

suited-aces

The radio on the new (to me) car I bought was not working. It was a non-standard unit, so the first thing I did was buy a new one thinking the old radio was goosed, however this was not working either.

The car in question is a 1996 corsa. I think I have worked out that there is power going through the yellow permanent live, but not through the red live. There is power through the fuse at the back of the radio itself, and the cd slot behind the fascia is working (pulling cd's in and ejecting them) but besides from that it's completely dead and won't turn on at all.

Basically I've 2 questions:

Does my diagnosis sound right, and will it be an expensive fix?

KillerWatt

You should find 2 12V feeds at the back of the radio.

One will be the permanent live for the radio memory, the other will be the switched live that provides power for the radio itself.

suited-aces

Thanks. Is there any way I can sort this myself?

molerat

Many corsas only have one power feed, the yellow one. Most units have a break in the red and yellow cables for this (you join the red and yellow together) or you can buy a cable from Halfords or eBay. Some makes, JVC for example, have a moveable fuse to cater for this. You need the VW cable (PC2-18-4) not the Vauxhall one (PC2-04-4). This means the radio has to be switched on and off at its main switch.

suited-aces

Thanks, but I'll confess this is going over my head. I'm using the bog standard iso connections at the minute?

molerat

If you can put up pictures of what you have got it may help. Basically you need to join the red and yellow so that they both are supplied from the one cable on the car.

suited-aces

Will try to do that later, thanks.

Hammyman

suited-aces wrote: »

The radio on the new (to me) car I bought was not working. It was a non-standard unit, so the first thing I did was buy a new one thinking the old radio was goosed, however this was not working either.

The car in question is a 1996 corsa. I think I have worked out that there is power going through the yellow permanent live, but not through the red live. There is power through the fuse at the back of the radio itself, and the cd slot behind the fascia is working (pulling cd's in and ejecting them) but besides from that it's completely dead and won't turn on at all.

Basically I've 2 questions:

Does my diagnosis sound right, and will it be an expensive fix?

Yellow is constant live and keeps the radio memories.
Red is switched live and only comes on when the ignition is turned on.