Headunit and subwoofer issues

gam3r · 1 Apr 2009 at 12:43

Recently i bought a pioneer headunit, and everything works fine apart from the cdplayer function. It just seems to chew the cd when you put it in, plays fine for the most part but skips a lot. Also when i take the cd out there are loads of small scratches on the cd. Does this mean i have to send the HU back? whats pioneers standing on this does anyone know?

Also i have a subwoofer which i want to fit into my car, although i'm not sure how to go about doing it. I know how to wire everything up, its just running the power cable from the engine bay and the other wires from the headunit which are causing me problems. How should i go about running these wires to the back of the car?

Also, my power cable which runs from the battery to the amp has no fuse holder. Is this considered dangerous?

Thanks

peterattheboro · 1 Apr 2009 at 12:44

What car? Does the HU have pre-outs?

gam3r · 1 Apr 2009 at 12:48

Sorry, Its a 2003 E46, headunit is a Pioneer DEH-2100UB and it does have a pre-out.

peterattheboro · 1 Apr 2009 at 12:54

Sounds fairly straightforward then.

Should be fairly easy feeding the power lead down the edge of the car under the trim. Tricky bit will be getting it though to the cabin from the engine bay. On my Mondeo, the power lead is fed through the front door pillar. Remember to feel the auxillary wires down the opposite side of the car to reduce interference.

With regards to the faulty HU, does it scratch original CDs or just backups?

gam3r · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:03

Scratches any cd, when you go to put it in, it doesn't accept the CD like it should and you have to apply some slight force in order for it to go in.

With regards to all the wiring, in my old focus, i ran the wiring down the passenger side door pillar from the engine bay so i never had to feed it through the firewall hopefuly i can do the same thing with the E46? Also what about the fuse holder for the powercable - is this essential?

thanks mate

mejinks · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:07

Where is your battery? IF its in the boot, its still dogy, but if its at the front of the car then its a fire hazard.

You need to run the positive from the battery to the amp with an inline fuse, then run the negative side of the amp straight to the bodywork of the car. You will probably need to find a point such as the seatbelt mounting bolt and sand away a bit of paint to make sure you have good contact.

The only difficult thing is running 2 rcas down the passenger side of the car as you need to lift the trim and its a bit of a pain getting it back on again. Yoou plug the RCAs into the head unit at one end and the amp at the other end.

Before you power it all up, make sure the amp is set correctly. By this, where it says gain, you set it to the voltage that your headunit supplies via rca eg 4v preout from the headunit means you need to set it to 4v on the amp. Set the crossover to 80hz or slightly lower and in the menu of the head unit, you will see a crossover for the mids/tweets, you need to set this at 80hz.

If your HU is physically damaging the CDs put in, then it definately needs to go back. Pioneer will want you to send the unit back, but you should just be able to take it back to the shop you bought it from and ask for an exchange.

peterattheboro · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:07

gam3r said:
hopefuly i can do the same thing with the E46? Also what about the fuse holder for the powercable - is this essential?

thanks mate

No idea with a 3 series. Each car is different. I had a Punto which had a grommit in the floor that I used.

A fuseholder is essential. You can buy cables with one built in but you can add your own. ******s have quite a bulky one for a couple of quid aswell as the fuse wire. It's very simple to install.

I'd be getting my money back for that headunit or get it replaced

How old is it?

gam3r · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:11

Cheers for the advice guys, looks like the HU will need to go back first before i can do anything.

On a side note anyone know how much i can get all of this done at halfrauds?

peterattheboro · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:12

gam3r said:
Cheers for the advice guys, looks like the HU will need to go back first before i can do anything.

On a side note anyone know how much i can get all of this done at halfrauds?

Too much. Is the Sub an Active? ie built in amp?

Do it yourself, it's a piece of ****

I dunno what hellfrauds charge but specialist installers round here charge £30 an hour.

gam3r · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:15

Nope its a seperate sub and amp, all i actually need done is the wiring from the front of the car to the back, i can do the rest if no problems!

mejinks · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:23

gam3r said:
Nope its a seperate sub and amp, all i actually need done is the wiring from the front of the car to the back, i can do the rest if no problems!

You cant run a single rca cable under the carpet?

peterattheboro · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:29

Wiring it up is the hard part

gam3r · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:10

I got my replacement headunit back and i bought a bmw aerial fakra adapter to get it connected to the antenna but it's a different connnection and doesnt fit! its this one:

have i got the wrong one? which one do i need?

Also i'm having issues fitting the unit itself. There is not a lot of space behind to put all the adapters and this stops the unit from going all the way inside and clicking.

what can i do?