I pulled the stock tape deck out of my Liberty and installed a Fosgate cd player that I've had for sometime. Now the dash lights don't work nor do the lights around the a/c and stuff. I hooked up the dimmer switch to the dimmer switch on my cd player which is just an acc. power feed so the dash lights work again but they come on whenever the car is on, even if the headlights are off. I've never seen the dimmer power feed go through the stereo like this so I'm wondering what my options are right now. The car is obviously new and I want every feature to work correctly so I'm wondering if this means that I have to get a different cd player with adjustable dimming or what? I guess what I want to know is, is there a special way to install a cd player in these things or am I just out of luck and have to pay to have it installed professionally?
Your help is appreciated,
Chad
Just to clarify you hooked up the dimmer wire from the car and hooked it to the dimmer wire on the radio? The radio shouldn't apply a power to this wire it should only sense when it is on and dim the radio face. Or did you apply the cars dimmer to the acc lead of the radio? You should check the fuses for the inst cluster/dash lights and see if it blew during the install. Also if you didn't use an aftermarket wiring harness to adapt the vehicle to the radio you should check your ground and make sure you didn't ground to an illumination wire ( this would cause the fuse to blow). What you would want to do is unplug the radio check the fuses (and replace any blown ones) and turn the light on and check your power and grounds. While doing this you should turn the lights on and off on each wire to verify that you didn't use and illumination or dimmer wire, if any wire you test changes with the light switch you have the wrong wire. This may just be a rumor but I have heard that there is a multiplex wire running through the radio that controlls some of the car's computers
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Certified Security Specialist
Always check info with a digital multimeter.
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Well I haven't blown any fuses, yet...But I think my problem is that I don't have a dimmer wire exiting my radio. I looked and my model fosgate doesn't allow me to hook into my cars dimmer capabilities so-to-say. I need a wiring diagram for the 2003 I think. I've seen the 2002 model but I have more wires on mine than what they show for the 2002. I've also researched some stuff on the net and almost every site said not to hook the dimmer switch from your radio to your factory wiring. Any idea why not? I guess I'll ask the people on here if they can get me th wiring diagram and maybe that will help. Thanks for the help,
Chad
The dimmer wire for the radio is a voltage sensing wire and it will only dim the radio face. It doesn't supply voltage to any lights. The wire just controls the radio not the other way around. Most people don't hook up an illumination or dimmer to the radio because they would rather have the radio stay bright all the time and it can be confusing which wire to tie into. Also I would hook the factory radio back up and see if the lights return to normal operation. If they do then the radio is part of the light circuit and the dealer will prob say it shouldn't be removed.
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Certified Security Specialist
Always check info with a digital multimeter.
I promise to be good.
Tell Darwin I sent you.
I've been sick lately, sorry I won't be on much.
I just had someone else tell me the same thing, that the factory radio could be completing a circuit for the lights. It would make sense but there has to be a way around it right? I'm going to be pretty pissed if I'm stuck with a tape deck for the next five years!!!!