Can't program a remote to the car
 

Here's what happens when I try to start the procedure. I turn the key on/ off to disable the anti theft system. I remove the RADIO ACCY fuse, I cycle the ignition 3x within 5 seconds while leaving it in RUN just like the manual states.

Firstly, the radio stays on (Aftermarket head unit). Second, NOTHING happens. It never pops the hatch or chirps like its supposed to.

I'm not sure where to start, any suggestions? Thank you

Check post #8 for update/ solution

Bump. Anyone?

Today out of curiosity I tried again while turning the ignition on/ off rapidly. When I pulled the radio fuse, the sound was still coming from somewhere. When I plugged it back in, all of the speakers came on. Any ideas?

Your aftermarket radio is obviously wired wrong. I don't know if that is what is causing your programming problem but I would say it's a good place to start looking. Disconnect the head unit and try programming again. Hopefully the head unit was installed using a proper harness adapter so it will simply unplug but I doubt it because of the incorrect wiring which is almost impossible to do with an adapter harness. So you may find a wiring nightmare behind the HU.

Quick update

Last night I took a corner a little more aggressively than usual and the radio shut off. The display powers up if I hit the eject or display buttons, otherwise its dead.

I pulled it out this afternoon and the wiring is of course just spliced and electrical taped. After playing with each connection I had no joy on the radio turning on, BUT I got the car to go into programming mode! So I'll order a remote and find myself some wiring diagrams so I can fix this hack job.

The best way to fix that wiring mess is to get the harness adapters for both sides of the connection. Metra part #71-1858 is the replacement connector for the damaged factory side of the wiring. Metra part #70-1858 is the connector for the aftermarket head unit side of the wiring.

Splice each connector's wires color-for-color to the corresponding wires in the harnesses (i.e. red to red, yellow to yellow, etc.) using either crimp-on butt connectors or solder and heat-shrink tubing. Then the two connectors will just plug together like a factory connection. Much cleaner than directly splicing the head unit into the factory wiring and makes it easy to swap the HU if you upgrade later.

Alrighty, so I pulled the radio again today and used butt connectors to splice all the wiring together.

I also swapped fuses to check, the radio still doesn't work!

I pulled the main radio fuse and it still does the same thing (So its not wired into the radio wiring..), when I hit eject or display the radio powers up for a couple seconds and shuts off. I tried resetting the head unit as well.

Any suggestions on the next step of checking this? Someone must've been playing electrician when messing with the radio :mad:

Pic of how I spliced the wires together, the only ones not connected to anything are both orange ones. Whoever did it in the first place was such a slob, sigh..

Attachment 722208

Alright so I want to try to get to the bottom of this tomorrow, I found this from a post of yours WhiteBird:

"Unplug the connector from the back of the head unit. You should have battery voltage (12V+) on the yellow wire at all times. You should have battery voltage (12V+) on the red wire when the ignition switch is on or in the accessory position. If you don't have those voltages then you need to start tracking the wiring to find why not - blown fuse, broken wire, etc.

Also check that the black wire provides a solid ground. If all these things check out than it's a safe bet that your HU is dead. There is usually a fuse for the HU - it is either on the outside back of the unit or it is inside the casing. Your HU owner's manual should tell you where it is."

Afterwards I'm going to pull fuses until I can get the radio to shut off. Then drop the d/s kick panel under the column and see if I can trace the wiring from that circuit and see why my radio is wired the way it is and hopefully why its not working.

Okay! So I'm an idiot :emb:

I had been pulling the wrong fuse this whole time when trying to get into programming mode. I was pulling the Radio Accy 25A fuse instead of the 15A Radio fuse at the bottom. That fuse was toast, why? I can only assume that hard turn I took made the hacked up wiring behind the radio touch and short out..

Anyways, so the radio works- except for the fact that now I'm getting a very annoying distortion similar to the sound of when speakers rattle with too much bass. It happens regardless of music source (Radio or aux), bass or volume levels.

Once again I'm assuming that its due to the shitty wiring job (The electrical tape used left a film of black goo on the wires). I guess its time to trim the wire connections a bit and see if that helps.

I pulled the wiring apart again and cleaned each wire with Afta cleaning fluid. Hooked it all back up again and TA DA, just as I suspected. All the leftover glue was causing the distortion, crystal clear now.

Can't wait to get the key fob and have everything 100% already :burn:

Edit: Got the remote today, everything works 100%

Are those wires just shoved into the pins of the factory harness?!