jasonaaronfox

Did a heater core job on my car, plugged everything back up, got everything in order (or so I thought.)

Now I have two problems. One is fairly normal, air bag light flashes non stop. Second is WEIRD I stereo doesn't work anymore. The headunit and the brain on my kvt617dvd are both fused and neither fuse is blown. What is worse, without attaching anything but the wiring harness, (no head unit, no brain, just the harness,) I get a strange vibrating sound out of the rear passenger side of my trunk. I opened the trunk, and it was not my rear speaker. It was something vibrating literally in the right side of the trunk. Goes away after about 45 seconds.

Are there ghosts in this thing or did I hook something up wrong. :P

What on earth could cause this??

beegeezy

iTrader: (3)

Hmmm...did you reconnect all the harnesses? Also, the radio is chassis grounded...did you put all the bolts back. (this would lead to a bad ground)

Airbag light might be related to the other problems. (or not) <----duh, that was a safe statement on my part.

Honestly, I would just recheck all your molex plug connections in case one is loose or disconnected. And then check your bolts, grounds, etc.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Only 3 things on the right side of the car near the rear are the rr door window motor, the power antenna and the trunk unlock solenoid. When you say the stereo doesn't work, I assume you mean does not power on. Where does the power come from? the power source is most likely fused. Checking for disconnected ground wires is a good idea as the vibrating in the rear may be a ground feedback problem.

If you don't have a FSM, you can download one from here:

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/

jasonaaronfox

Ahhh! the antenna motor, I didn't think of that because my actual antenna was snapped off before I bought the car!! Thank you.

I am betting it is a ground problem.

Kico

The antenna is the ground for the radio. You want the radio to work pull the radio out and ground the ground wire to body under the shifter area where there are other grounds.

As far as power antenna I cant help you with that I don't have a power antenna heck I don't have one out side my car it's shaved.

jasonaaronfox

Alright, weirdness update:

I have checked and checked and cannot find where I am missing anything bolt/ground wise on the install. The sound in the trunk engages whenever I plug into either of the stereo plugs (which I find odd since I'm not completing any form of circuit and the keys aren't in the ignition,) and when everything is hooked up and I try to screw the mounting bracket for the center cluster in it ARCS quite brightly. I'm thinking I have a dead power short somewhere, but I'm not seeing any wires that are broken in any way.

Also, there is an odd shaped connector I have plugged into nothing, couldn't remember if it was something that was hooked up before or was a feature I don't have. It's shaped like a rectangle with the two sides angled inward like the sides of a triangle.

MaXPoWA

Well the sound in the trunk on the passenger's side of the car I'm 99% sure thats your antenna motor trying to raise the antenna. Even if the key's not in the ignition you still have certain wires which are always live. Meaning that you have 12V going through them at ALL times. You could simply be providing a 12V power source to your antenna without knowing it.

When you try and screw in the center console where the radio is it arcs behind the center console? That's a definite short so take a close look at your wiring very carefully cause a short like that will leave a wire warm/hot or will actually melt a wire. There should be some trace. Again, pics of your harness and connections would be nice.

Also a picture of that connector you have floating around in there would help. now your aftermarket radio might be fused but BEfore those there is the radio fuse. The short more than likely blew your radio fuse and that's why it won't work.

Lastly, check to see how many times your airbag light flashes
If it flashes a sequence, stops, then flashes another sequence you have more than one code present.

Here are the codes:

2 flashes = Airbag module
7 flashes = Airbag computer
8 flashes = Assist a/b module (1&2)
9 flashes = Indefinite failure
Once you figure our what code it's flashing I can further help you diagnose the problem. Chances are it's related to the recent work you've done.

Shame you didnt live in montreal I could come help you out.

Subscribed to this thread.

M.

jasonaaronfox

Found the short, fixed it, but I think I melted out my battery wire before I managed to fix it. Used an electrical tester on the dongle, have power through the ignition wire, but nothing through the battery wire. I'm thinking I friend it. Instead of taking my entire in dash wiring harness apart would it be wiser to just use a secondary wire I already have fused at 10 amps and running from my battery into that area to provide main power to the stereo?

The airbag flashing never stops, has no pattern just flashes over and over again.

MaXPoWA

Hmm well does your battery wire look melted? If you take a DVOM and check do you have power from the positive terminal of the battery to the fuse box?
Then take your DVOM and measure after the fusebox. Does the car even start anymore?

Personally i would run another wire to the stereo and make sure i'm using the same amp rating on the fuse as the original. This is only if I'm 100% sure that the power feed is scrapped. Is the radio fuse blown at all? If it is simply try replacing it. Oh and if you wanna keep memory in your radio you'll also need to run a second wire to the yellow wire on your stereo in addition to the red wire for your power.

I hate to give you bad news but that short you found might have been responsible for blowing the SRS computer. Might be why it's continually flashing. There are procedures to check that. If you want me to check it out for you let me know. i'll look it up in mitchell.

M.

jasonaaronfox

I have a hunch you are right about the srs computer.

I'm thinking of pulling the radio fuse and running my own fused power for the stereo. If I pull the fuse from the radio I think the red ignition wire will still provide a power signal to let the stereo know to come on. Is anything other than the battery power routed through that fuse?

Either way, i'm with you on running my own power to ensure it. Thankfully my headunit and brain are both fused and no fuses have blown on anything as of yet. I realized I might have a wire fried when the power was running to the antenna motor without me doing **** to it. Will work on it tomorrow and update. Appreciate the help.

Car starts and runs fine. Absolutely everything works except for the stereo. :P

Update:

I never would have thought I would be thankful to say this, but more stuff isn't working. :P Now the clock and the backlight for the instrument cluster aren't getting power. lol Perhaps this will help me figure out where the foul-up is.

MaXPoWA

Ok well since the car starts, you haven't blown the positive cable from the battery. So that's another bit of good news.

As for your instrument cluster and clock, I'm assuming they have the power cable in common. Everything else works though? speedo? rpm? gas etc? I am thinking that could be a fuse.. I'm looking the diagram up now.

M.

jasonaaronfox

Everything else in the car works. I checked most of the fuses and they are all good. I'm thinking somewhere in the root of where all these cables get their power I melted it. Going to strip open the wire bundles tomorrow and take a closer look.

Br0nz

you have to get the srs system in diag mode or it'll just flash all the time.

jasonaaronfox

Wiring harness is all fine. Checked the wiring diagrams and noted that the electronic parts fuse in the top right hand corner of the fuse panel could be the culprit instead of the audio fuse near the center. Replaced it and it works! Joy, now to reset the airbags and hope and pray.