I have a 1997 Nissan Maxima SE w/ the stock stereo system (no Bose). I recently replaced my headunit, and I'm having a problem getting it to work. The CD player doesn't turn on, and my in-dash lights no longer work. I noticed a wire coming from my wiring harness marked "Illumination" but the Alpine CDM-9821 doesn't have a wire coming off of the unit to connect this wire. What should I do?

 

leave the illumination wire alone. unplug the new HU you just installed, then check your fuses. replace any blown fuses, and make sure everything works. then plug the HU back in. see if the same thing happens. if so, you wired it up wrong. double check everything. if you take a picture of the harness you used i can tell you what's going on...

 

I figured out the problem... The ground coming from the headunit plugged into the aftermarket harness I bought to mate with the old harness... though there was no ground in the old harness. All I had to do was cut the wire from the harness, put an eyelet on the wire, and ground it inside the console. Everything works beautifully now

 

Glad you found it. This is correct. Maximas use a floating ground, thus no ground wire in their harnesses.

--Don

 

Hmm thats odd that you said that there is no ground in the harness. I just installed that same head unit into my 97 and it works perfectly without a ground onto the console. I assumed since the stock radio didn't have a ground on the console that there would be one in the harness. Can anyone explain why mine works but his didn't?

PS I've got non bose as well.

 

Because your HU is either A: using the antenna as a floating ground, B: using the chassis holding the radio as ground. Neither of which are recommended.

It is factual that there is no working gound in the harness.

--Don

 

Hmm well perhaps this warrants another tearing apart of the center console. Ha actually I guess mine doesn't do just perfect, i turned my lights on last night and the illumination wasn't on for my climate controls. The AC and stuff still worked ok, I thought maybe I had just busted it when I was installing it or something. Perhaps the bad ground is causing the problem? We'll have to see later tonight.