yellow memory and irange dimmer wire for head unit.
goal is to replace the walmart brand head unit that the previos owner installed. speakers have all been replaced.
given the above, i have two weird things i found that previous owner had bubba'd and id like to un-bubba:
1. yellow wire that feeds constant 12v for memory to head unit was merged into the red keyed 12v power supply. That would imply that the stereo would never have kept radio presets or clock. i dont know as i never checked before i tore the interior down for refurb. the only yellow wire i can see that looks like it was cut is shown in this picture. there a few unused plugs sitting nearby. i suppose a great test for constant 12v would be to put the boltmeter on that wire and see if it is hot? you can see the second picture shows how the yellow was merged into the red (using a white wire to get there). the previous owner also had one of these feedback loop thingys and i have elected to use it again.
and 2. orange wire that controls dimmer for head unit.
it was severed at the back of the harness adapter. the only orange wire i can find is in this photograph.
it comes out this white plug and has been turned around and been crimped into a white wire.
note that the severed yellow cable and the orange wire come out of the same plug.
im totally inexperienced at electrical. ill figure it out but thought id post this to bounce off you guys if any guidance and thoughts come to mind. cheers.
the orange and yellow do infact come from the same white plug.
the yellow comes from the pink/white wire.
it iis hot 12v all the time. so i found where my yellow wire was supposed to be attached. not crimped into the red keyed 12v power. so i will make that connection.
the orange is as i feared, related somehow to the keyless entry. it is fed by a brown wire.
the orange wire looks to have been intended for the dimmer switch control on the factory stereo. but it was snipped and sent over to a black box that i assume is related to the keyless entry. why would keyless entry need a dimmer line? maybe i am wrong about orange being dimmer line.
here is a pic of the orange wire, which was changed to white in the process to make leap, as it lands over at the suspected keyless entry module??
he walked me through some diagnostics and I hate barking dogs is bang on
The power keyless entry in the car is an awesome feature that I really enjoy. I'm just going to hook up the wires correctly, the only two that work incorrectly installed by the always on direct 12 V battery memory wire, which is that pink and white striped one that goes to the yellow one on the aftermarket harness. And the second one was the dimmer switch which is commonly left uninstalled on aftermarket situations.
In the 2-pin, there is brown and pink/wht.
Brown is TAIL lights. It does not dim. Comes on in park or head lights. It is used for the LED dimming in the OEM radio. The
RKE module has a light-flash output, and the installer hooked that output to this brown wire because it was convenient, and is tail lights.
Pink/wht is HOT at all times. Used for memory. (Aftermarket stereos this wire is YELLOW).
In the BLACK 4-pin:
Black = Ground
Yellow = HOT in RUN or ACCY (Aftermarket stereos this wire is RED)
Grey = Dash lights (dimmer circuit). These DO dim. ( Because I often run at night with the dash dimmed to zero%, I use the brown wire so the stereo remains dimed).
Pink = Power Antenna. (Aftermarket stereos this is USUALLY blue/wht. There is also a blue, which is "Amplifier turn-on", which also works for antenna).
In my 85 (with Bose), there is a 1-pin Pink wire connector, similar to your 2-pin. It is for the turn-on signal to the amplifier relay. (I mention this because I think I see it in your pics. The antenna and amplifier turn on are both pink, so pay attention to which is which).
Again: All colors above are the CAR-SIDE of the aftermarket adapters.












