Help need with headunit in mk2 nova

[ash.blue]

I probably sound a right tool in askin for this but im proper stuck. Ill say what im doin and the wires I have.

From car I have:-
*red - live
*black - ground
*yellow and a yellow/brown - right front speaker traced to
*blue and a blue/brown - (guessing) at left front speaker
*green/grey (or poss white) - ?? Not a clue ??
*big thick brown - ?? Again not a clue ??

Adaptor:-
*Red - live
*blue - arial
*Black - ground
*Orange - dimma
*yellow - memory
speaker cables for front left and right located and I believe its an iso adaptor as its got purple, green, grey and white wires with black stripe

Theres no plug on stereo wires from car so having to join them. Ive tried but its makin no sense to me all wires were in place except yellow from plug. Wasnt gettin power to headunit, checked fuse and its ok, but when I touched yellow to red (as previous told) the power button lit up, but was tickin slightly and still wouldnt turn on.

If anyone can help me out on this it would much appreciated :thumb: cheers

[Jon_nova1]

is the top one the Nova wires?

red- permanent live
black - ignition live
thick brown - earth
green and grey sounds like a dimmer wire, but not too sure

[brainsnova]

Grey/ green will be illumination. So when you put the headlights on the stereo lights up but that only works on original vauxhall stereos

[ash.blue]

Jon_nova1 : yes the top was list for car wire colours .. I thought black was a ground wire :wall: .. Cheers for the help :thumb: .. Ill give that a go, cuz I got them mixed up nothin happened :s

Brainsnova : if the green/grey is illumination for original headunit, how do u get light to it if it dont work ? Ive heard u can wire it to light swith but how true is this

Cheers for the help guys Rep+ to you both

Also whats the thick brown earth wire for ?

[brainsnova]

Is your nova a mk1 and the thick brown is the earth for the stereo but I changed it for a smaller gauge wire. When you put the headlights on do the dash switches light up as you might have blew a fuse and that's why the stereo one does nothing

[ash.blue]

Its a mk2. So the ground wire for adaptor is linked to brown from car Im guessing.
Turn head lights on all dash lights up fine. Have checked fuses and theyre all fine .. But I think I know where my problem was now I saw comment earlier from jon_nova1 .. I had black from adaptor to black wire in car nd red from adaptor was to red from car I had matched cable colours and got them wrong lol cuz ive got the blue haynes manual and its abit vague on diagrams and not clear. Gonna get the green one as its got the model year of mine in and mines a lil tatty now.

Gettin a few issues nd bugs in the system, I pulled off my speaker cover nd vent to locate speaker wire, and my hazards/indicators dont work now, but they flash on dash when put on but not on the outside at all. Ive looked in the book found the fuse and thats ok too :confused:

Ive also noticed that many wires in the harness have been spliced into in the engine bag nd been bodged together .. some of its like a rainbow of 3 colours for 1 thing so thats gotta be sorted, so really need the manual tbh for diagram and directio of original colours

[brainsnova]

A multi meter would be more useful than the manual

[ash.blue]

brainsnova: I think I might be in need of a multi meter tbh

Just to update I went out to garage with all the intentions on gettin that flamin headunit in. however im now getting no power through the red perm live wire. I have a silly clip on circuit tester and it did nothing ..

Saying that though, I saw a unusual coloured wire in with the harness in the engine bay, so I tried to see where it came from (as per all other wires with it being spliced together by some clever d**k) .. And the lil sod came loose, was only after that, that I realised the perm live had no life in it .. The wire in question was a goldish clear cased wire .. Any ideas ??
Ive looked and cant see another wire like it.

[Jon_nova1]

goldish clear cased wire will be a speaker wire, although in your case it might no actually lead to a speaker lol

to get permanen live take your glovebox out, theres a fat red wire that goes straight from the battery and is crimped to lots of thinner red wires behind the glovebox

[ash.blue]

Cheers for all this help guys

I was thinkin it looked a lil out of place tbh .. With all wires bein solid colour black,yellow and all that .. Thinkin of trackin down where the lil rascal goes tbh

Sayin that im also gonn remove glovebox and check the wire hasnt came loose or summat aswell. Got plenty of spare cables if I need some :thumb: .. Dont think that goldish cable was some how connected to thick red wire in engine bay and fed through and linked with a red as shortcut bodge wire ??
Summat else to check i guess

Once again cheers for the replies, very appreciated and useful tips and info

[ash.blue]

Jon_nova1 I reckon your right on the "not actually leadin to speaker" .. I have a feelin it was used as a substitute wire to get power or use of summat else tbh

gonna test the perm live behind glovebox with my cacky testing tool lol

[Jon_nova1]

the red wires behind the glove box will have live to them, its straight from the battery there, if it has no live you wouldn't get live in the car, just get your dodgy speaker wire and connect it to a red wire behind the glove box and to the permanent live on the head unit

[ash.blue]

Sorted :) stereo is in and working .. I took the glovebox out and poked around at the reds and even behind centre vent/clock/hazard .. Then my lil tester light lit up :) stereo is ok nothin like a full system only got dash speakers but it will get there in time.

That dodgy goldish bugger is behind glovebox and appears to be part of the wiring, oddly enough o_O mega confused me, I do believe its been attached to 2 black wires .. The end thats loose is in engine bay in the passenger corner where loom comes out bulkhead area and into the bay, but cant see for life of me where it was connected. Its fraid so it hasnt been crimped into place just cut, twisted nd spliced into summat

Half dash is still out and loose so will poke about and follow it along see what and where the other goes too then might have a clue where to put it back in the bay

Cheers for the stereo wiring info .. Was a great help :thumb: can listen to music and work now