I am replacing the stock tape player of my 97 Maxima. I purchased the Nissan harness and wired it to the Pioneer harness and turned on the ignition and it doesn't work. All the fuses are fine.
I think it has somwthing to do with the ground. Oh, by the way the antennae is not plugged in and I haven't put the dash back together. What do you guys think is wrong?

 

Its most likely not grounded. There isnt a ground in the factory nissan harness. Ground the deck to bare metal and you should be fine.

 

double check all of your wiring.

it could be the power wires aswell.

(you can test the headunit itself by grounding it and then hooking up both the red and yellow power wires to the same constant on 12v source)

 

pioneers almost always require a chassis ground. plug in the antenna and u'll get that ground. is the mounting bracket screwed back into the car?

 

If the screws that hold the bracket that the radio is in aren't screwed in tightly, it is NOT grounded. I found this out while I was trying to get rid of my whine sound. While you have it all torn apart, reground the h/u to bare metal in the car. Do not use the factory ground because as you found out, it is only grounded now if you have the bracket secured into the car.

 

I am 99% sure you need a ground. I was in the same boat about a couple weeks ago.

 

I had the same issue with my pioneer 8600, you will need to find a really solid ground point in the dash, if you have a voltage tester, use that to find the best grounding point. I had to try several locations that all "looked" good before finding one that was good to ground to. Oh and the black wire in the nissan harness isnt connected to a ground. Good luck