Member
now i have it all hooked up.. and it works.. but when i get on the highway and do like 75-80 or more the stereo shuts off. i thought this was because i was sending a powered signal to a powered amp, but after searching this forum a little it seems thats not it. the posts ive seen say that you should hook up the powered signal from the head unit because the amps arent true active amps. i was about to take it out and rig up something to hook it up using the rca outs.. anyone know about this?
<-Child actor gone bad.
Sounds more like a ground problem then a signal problem. Don't quite understand why speed would have anything to do with it though. Just so some one smarter than me can help you, are you running stock speakers and amp and the only aftermarket piece is the radio?
Good luck!
^--Distraut over the loss of his brother Dale, Chip turned to drugs.
"I hit the railroad tracks so fast that my car caught air and my girlfriend almost choked to death."
"Thats it! Now I'm madder than a fat kid watching the last twinkie being ate!"
Member
yes that is correct, stock speakers and amps. i think rather than the speed being what causes the problem its probably the rpms.. which in that case would be the alternator.. the signal from the alternator would increase as the rpms increase right? however, its only on the highway.. i can wind it out on the road at lower speeds but, on the highway if i put it down the stereo either skips or shuts off.
i hope its not my wiring.. i left the stock harness thing in there and just made plugs from the head unit, i dont like the idea of cutting the wires. all of the connectors are snug tho. i made sure everything was ok before i put the head unit in.
<-Child actor gone bad.
More questions then. If its rpm based it would shut off at the top of every gear. Does it come back on when you slow down? Does the display shut off or just output to the speakers? How is the condition of the vehicle battery?
The alternator out put is going to be regulated at 14v so if it were alternator related I would think it would shut down at the peak of every gear. The draw on the radio doesn't increase with speed so I can't figure out the corilation. Only think I can possibly think is that the battery is low enough on charge that when the alternator has reached peak ouput there is not enough juice left for the radio so it shuts down. I would think that you would have starting problems too though...hmm
^--Distraut over the loss of his brother Dale, Chip turned to drugs.
"I hit the railroad tracks so fast that my car caught air and my girlfriend almost choked to death."
"Thats it! Now I'm madder than a fat kid watching the last twinkie being ate!"
<-Child actor gone bad.
Did you use a harness adapter or just cut into the factory one?
^--Distraut over the loss of his brother Dale, Chip turned to drugs.
"I hit the railroad tracks so fast that my car caught air and my girlfriend almost choked to death."
"Thats it! Now I'm madder than a fat kid watching the last twinkie being ate!"
Member
i dont think its the alternator either.. and it only shuts off on the highway at higher speeds.. and it does come back on after i let up. what i did with the wiring is i made pins to fit into the stock harnes thing so i didnt have to cut anything.
as far as the car starting up.. when i start it sometimes the rpms will go up to like 2 for a sec then come back down.. is that a bad sign?
<-Child actor gone bad.
With the start up thing it sounds like its just loading up with a lil fuel. No biggie. I would have the battery checked just to make sure (autozone or checker will do it for free). Also, I would reccommend going to cartoys, soundtrack, best buy or circuit city and picking up a wiring harness adapter. I never have any luck trying to do what you did with making pins. I sure don't know if thats it but the harness and the battery is where I would start.
Keep me updated as this is definately a head scratcher....
^--Distraut over the loss of his brother Dale, Chip turned to drugs.
"I hit the railroad tracks so fast that my car caught air and my girlfriend almost choked to death."
"Thats it! Now I'm madder than a fat kid watching the last twinkie being ate!"
Senior Member
well e36m sure has this covered, and he's right, speed should have nothing to do with the functioning of the radio (sans lightspeed theoretically)
"Does it come back on when you slow down? Does the display shut off or just output to the speakers? How is the condition of the vehicle battery? Did you use a harness adapter or just cut into the factory one?"
Perfect questions.
Curious as to seeing if this is just another wiring problem, factory amp on the fritz or what.
There is no speed sensor for the radios on the earlier cars as far as I am aware, and I really don't think there would be any method to connect that to an aftermarket radio anyway...?
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<-Child actor gone bad.
Unless the previous owner of the radio was in law enforcement and he had it programmed to shut off when speeding......hmm.....Just another example of the man holdin us down.
^--Distraut over the loss of his brother Dale, Chip turned to drugs.
"I hit the railroad tracks so fast that my car caught air and my girlfriend almost choked to death."
"Thats it! Now I'm madder than a fat kid watching the last twinkie being ate!"
Member
yeah i'm confused too.
they dont make wiring harnesses for bmws do they? i was always told they had to be hard wired.
the other thing is.. i found a diagram online for the e36 stereo and what all the wires do. if you look at the little block that plugs into the stock stereo all the wires are numbered so hooking this up wasnt a problem at all.
i've gotta take another highway trip here in a couple hours.. i'll test it out some more and see what the deal is.
[edit]
hey JP.. send me a pic of those wheels.. i'm looking around for some. send it to this email.. j4ys0n@gmail.com
also.. the factory radio worked fine.. i had no problems at all. and i know this one i have is still good even tho its a couple years old and been in a few different cars. haha (jvc kd-sh99)
<-Child actor gone bad.
Yes, I believe the company is Metrics/Matrix (something like that). Its an odd looking creature but makes installation a snap. While you are out cruisin around, stop by somewhere and have the battery tested. If they can do it, and do it for free, have em run a test on the alternator. The only thing with the alternator test is they need to run a full test on it. I'm beginning to wonder if the alternator doesn't have a dead spot between 3000-4000 rpm (i.e. highway crusing rpm).
^--Distraut over the loss of his brother Dale, Chip turned to drugs.
"I hit the railroad tracks so fast that my car caught air and my girlfriend almost choked to death."
"Thats it! Now I'm madder than a fat kid watching the last twinkie being ate!"
Member
theres no way it has a dead spot on it.. besides that sounding weird.. ive driven nearly 2000 miles in the last 2 weeks. there is a little hole in the air intake hose that goes to the alternator tho.. i should probably tape that up til i can find a new one.
Member
wrong power wire? the yellow one is battery and the red one is ignition.. i think there might have been 2 for the battery or ignition and i only used one... if i use both would that fix it?
i tried looking for the page where i found the wiring diagram for the radio, but i cant find it. it was a pdf diagram from like a 94 m3 said what all the wires do and i just hooked it up myself.
Senior Member
http://www.dakarm3.com/e36_200w_stereo_pinouts.gif
Metra makes the harness. Scosche does too IIRC
You get my email about the wheels?
WantingE36M is the man, he's still got this covered quite well. Anyways, still sounds like a goof up in the wiring somewhere.
keep us posted, and posting brings the thread to the top.
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Member
yeah i went out and picked up the metra harness at circuit city... from looking at it.. thats exactly how i have everything hooked up. i'm going to rewire it using the harness.
also.. should i use the pre-amp outputs? just hook up an rca cable and cut it. i've heard it sounds better.
and i emailed you back
Member
fixed, must have been a loose wire somewhere.. i'm thinking the ground. thanks for the feedback
Senior Member
glad it all worked out
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