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alanayres · Jul 1, 2007, 02:54 PM

Hi,

My wife just recently bought an auto Nissan Primera 1998 model, it is a Japanese import into NZ and after attempting to fit a new stereo for her I appear to have stopped the dash lights working. Now there are no lights around the gear lever or behind the instruments when you switch the headlights on. I am not a complete novice at electronics but I am no car expert and have never owned a Nissan before. The stereo works fine and also controls the antenna OK, all the speakers are working.
I didn't have a maual so I cut the factory stereo connectors of the loom and soldered the wires from the new stereo to the loom as follows:

Loom colour -> Stereo connection
Pink/Black - 12v battery
Blue/Orange - 12v Ignition
Orange - Ground
Red - Antennac Control
Black/Red - Speaker Front Right+
Brown - Speaker Front Right-
Black/White - Speaker Front Left+
Blue - Speaker Front Left-

Black/Pink -Speaker Rear Right+
Orange - Speaker Rear Right-
Black/Yellow - Speaker Rear Left+
Green - Speaker Rear Left-

I found the speakers by checking for 4 ohms and tested their locations with a 9v battery - I'm pretty sure they're all fine. The orange ground wire buzzed to the chassis gnd with the ign off using a meter and the Pink/Black wire had 12v on all the time. The Blue/Orange wire only had 12v with the ign on. It is possible that the 12v bat may have touched either the ground or ign wires but I did not see this happen and there were no sparks or nasty burning smells. All the wires above connected to the old factory stereo. All the fuses look OK. I'm pretty sure I didn't disturb any other wiring as no force was required to fit things back together - in fact the job seemed to go v.smoothly apart from me braking the car!
I would be eternally grateful if you could get me out of the dog house, the stereo was a birthday present and the car's her new pride and joy!

Thanks,
Alan

Stratmando · Jul 1, 2007, 06:02 PM

If you didn't pull connection loose, I suspect blown fuse. Test all.
I use a tone generator for speaker. 1 1/2 volt will work for speaker identification by "scratching" battery with wire. Can tell polarity with battery also, Battery positive identifies plus, when it pushes out. May get power via headlight switch.
This site may be of help.

Wiring harnesses, car wiring harness, car stereo wires, metra, best harness, into car, into radio, harness, car stereo, factory radio, pioneer, kenwood, clarion, eclipse

alanayres · Jul 2, 2007, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by Stratmando

If you didn't pull connection loose, I suspect blown fuse. Test all.
I use a tone generator for speaker. 1 1/2 volt will work for speaker identification by "scratching" battery with wire. Can tell polarity with battery also, Battery positive identifies plus, when it pushes out. may get power via headlight switch.
This site may be of help.

Wiring harnesses, car wiring harness, car stereo wires, metra, best harness, into car, into radio, harness, car stereo, factory radio, pioneer, kenwood, clarion, eclipse

I checked all the fuses and they're OK. I did some checking on the web and discovered that the Orange wire was not gnd and so I effectively shorted this wire to gnd when I connected the stereo. However, I don't have enough information to tell me what is damaged. I disconnected the offending orange (with grey dash) wire (H) on the diagram of the factory stereo connector.
What would be great is if someone out there could tell me what the most likely damaged part is and preferably what the p/n might be. Incidentally, the headlights still work OK - it's just the dash illumination that has broken.

Thanks,
Alan

Stratmando · Jul 2, 2007, 03:22 PM

I'm guessing that orange wire was orange to stereo illumination to dim with dash, maybe.
How do your dash lights dim(what switch)?
Schematic would be nice.

alanayres · Jul 3, 2007, 01:43 AM

Hi,

Unfortunately, I only have the schem from the Haynes manual which does not seem to correspond very well to the car (stereo wire colours don't match). Would you like me to email you this?
The wire that goes to one side of the dash lights appears to come from the 'combined lighting switch' (I assume headlamp switch on steering column) directly. The wire on the other side of the dash lights appears to be routed through the 'illumination control switch'.
Sorry this isn't much help, my problem is that I have a lack of information about the car.

Thanks,
Alan

Stratmando · Jul 3, 2007, 04:53 AM

If you could email schematic, that would be great. I would look at combined lighting switch,
Look for orange wire or follow to dash lights, also would see where power source(s) coming from. Power not making it to switch, or switch burnt out, Don't know if solid state
Dimmer. Thanks

alanayres · Jul 3, 2007, 04:15 PM

Hi,

I was being a muppet, I took it to the experts and they changed a fuse under the bonnet (near the battery I think) so all is well now. It cost me NZ$75 for a fuse but what the hell at least I'm out of the dog house!
I hope this helps someone else who has the same problem.

Thanks for the help,
Alan