No power to Seat Alhambra Stereo / radio

Austinhead

I have an Alhambra, 2000+ model. When I bought it there was no stereo in it so I got my old one out (was selling the car) and put that in, but got no power to it. I mentioned it to someone I knew, and they did something which got it working quite quickly - sorry for being so vague !.

A couple of years down the line, I bought an upgraded stereo which I replaced fine, no problems. I have now swapped the Alhambra for a little car and my OH uses the Alhambra. Unable to leave my lovely music player behind I moved it across to the little car. No problems.

Right, the problem is, that my OH's old stereo does not work in the Alhambra, no power is getting to it. I have put my old one back in and that works fine in the Alhambra still. Today I bought my OH a new stereo and that doesn't work either.

In total I have tried 5 different stereos' in the Alhambra, 2 worked and 3 didn't.

I've looked a the wiring, and it looks like a standard ISO connector which hasn't been messed with that I can see. One thing I know is that in a stereo that worked it was permanantely on and I had to press the power off button or remove the fascia to turn it off. That same stereo in the new car only turns on when the ignition is in. This leads me to believe that it's something to do with the ignition/12v wires. According to websites I shouldn't need an adapter and I'm totally confused as to why some stereo's work and some don't.

If anyone can offer some advice regarding this I would be very grateful as it's driving me mad. I'm sure it's something simple !. Unfortunately I can't even find a wiring diagram for the car in order to consider fitting a new connector that came with the new stereo (obviously the wires are not the same colour, that would be too easy !)

I'm not too bad with DIY but I don't have much kit, and no multimeter.

Hoping someone can help me out.

Thanks.

casseus

Austinhead wrote: »

I have an Alhambra, 2000+ model. When I bought it there was no stereo in it so I got my old one out (was selling the car) and put that in, but got no power to it. I mentioned it to someone I knew, and they did something which got it working quite quickly - sorry for being so vague !.

A couple of years down the line, I bought an upgraded stereo which I replaced fine, no problems. I have now swapped the Alhambra for a little car and my OH uses the Alhambra. Unable to leave my lovely music player behind I moved it across to the little car. No problems.

Right, the problem is, that my OH's old stereo does not work in the Alhambra, no power is getting to it. I have put my old one back in and that works fine in the Alhambra still. Today I bought my OH a new stereo and that doesn't work either.

In total I have tried 5 different stereos' in the Alhambra, 2 worked and 3 didn't.

I've looked a the wiring, and it looks like a standard ISO connector which hasn't been messed with that I can see. One thing I know is that in a stereo that worked it was permanantely on and I had to press the power off button or remove the fascia to turn it off. That same stereo in the new car only turns on when the ignition is in. This leads me to believe that it's something to do with the ignition/12v wires. According to websites I shouldn't need an adapter and I'm totally confused as to why some stereo's work and some don't.

If anyone can offer some advice regarding this I would be very grateful as it's driving me mad. I'm sure it's something simple !. Unfortunately I can't even find a wiring diagram for the car in order to consider fitting a new connector that came with the new stereo (obviously the wires are not the same colour, that would be too easy !)

I'm not too bad with DIY but I don't have much kit, and no multimeter.

Hoping someone can help me out.

Thanks.

seems like a job for auto lecky if the yellow and red wire trick dont work? see your new stereo's handbook for this procedure.

s_b

put seat iso lead
into the bay
basically if you took this car with the wrong stereo fitted for a code read you could well damage the equipment plugged in and it could lead to a very nasty dispute

Austinhead

Yellow and red wire trick ? Please explain.

Sorry SB, I have no idea what you are talking about either ?!!

Lum

Seats are basically VWs

On VWs while it looks like a standard ISO connector, the red and yellow wires are wired backwards.

Both of these wires are power wires, one is a permanent 12V supply, used to store your preferred radio stations and so on, the other is a switched 12V supply used to tell the radio when to turn on and off.

Some radios get very confused when you swap these over, some remain on permanently, some constantly lose their settings but otherwise work and some don't work at all.

Many radios come with a wiring harness that lets you detach the red and yellow wires and then swap them over, failing that you can get a little adaptor from most car audio shops or Halfrauds.

Austinhead

This makes perfect sense, thanks Lum, I had a feeling that this was the case but I couldn't find any information to confirm that, plus I guess I expected all the radio's to work in the same way.

I'll pick up a converter, hopefully today, to test the theory.

Austinhead

OK, i've had a look around and every website only show a harness/converter for earlier models of the Alhambra (or VW) which implies that no converter should be required for a 2000 model?. Any idea ?

Sorry, just found this: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/vw-wiring-adaptor.html looks about right.

Lum

Check the wire for your radio doesn't have the detachable wires before you spend money on that adaptor, but otherwise yes, it should work.

I suspect the reason it's hard to find one specific to your car is that the Alhambra isn't really a car that people typically upgrade the audio on.

s_b

off one of the code readers i use here at work

important note
vw/audi/seat/skoda aftermarketradio problem
we have been alerted to a problem on some vag group cars where an aftermarket radio has been fitted,Care should be taken when connecting any diagnostic tool to a vw/audi/seat/skoda car that has been fitted with an aftermarket radio.
Factory fitted radios are diagnostic enabled,but use of a non diagnostic radio can leave pins on the OBD11/EOBD diagnostic port set at 12volt,where they would normally be 5 volt
diagnostic equipment can be irreparably damaged if used on such a car

message ends.....................

Lum

ahahahahaha!

Not going to be a problem for the OP, but yet more examples of VW not quite conforming to the ISO standard, despite using an ISO connector.

Austinhead

Lum wrote: »

Check the wire for your radio doesn't have the detachable wires before you spend money on that adaptor, but otherwise yes, it should work.

The radio I bought came with an ISO connector with bare wires at the other end. Where would I be looking for detachable wires ?. I've tried to pull out the 2 power cables from the current connector in the car but am unable to.

I am considering just cutting off the connecter thats in the car and getting some tools/connectors to permanentely attach the ISO that came with the stereo rather than spending £10- £15 for an adapter.