A/C issue after radio install.

[vkyolv]

Peeps,

I finished my install yesterday on my Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD. The unit is awesome, but I ended up having some wierd issues initially.

On my first install attempt, I had the standard wiring harness and the line convertor. The convertor that was actually used was a PAC SOEM-4 (Crutchfield recommened the PAC OEM-2), I bought it off of eBay (oem-2) and was sent the SOEM-4. So I confirmed with PAC that the SOEM-4 is actually replacing the OEM-2. In any case, aside from the bulk of the convertor, everything was properly soldered and terminated. I followed the guides here on the forum to make sure everything was right. I went to install the radio and everything worked fine and sounded great.

Here is where the issues began...

After driving the car for about an hour or so I started to smell the ever bad "burning electronics"...immediatly I pulled in to a parking lot (still had tools in my car) and started to disassemble everything. I checked every splice, connector, etc..., and made sure that there weren't any exposed wires. I even started the "sniff" test to see where it was coming from and couldn't find anything. I put the car back together and had no more burning smell...HOWEVER, I lost the backlighting on the Digital A/C knobs.

Here is where is wierd...

I leave my headlight switch on AUTO...even turning the switch ON, Parking lights only...the back lighting doesn't work. If you look close you can still see the numbers. If I change the headlight switch to OFF, the A/C knobs light up as normal.

Also, I noticed the lighting on the Auto Trans gear position is not lighting as well.

I've used the search here (which I hate), scoured many different posts, searched the FSM (saw some wiring diagrams on illumination) but could really see anything that made sense.

It is just wierd that if the if the Headlights are on it doesn't work, but if you turn it off they do????

I also scrapped the original harness and line convertor and went with the "premium" harness from Metra (70-7553 for use with the Bose system?) which was much easier to just plug the RCA's into the headunit directly. Sounds just as good to me....

Anyways, Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, I tried looking for popped fuses, but didn't see any that jumped out as for illumination related. The manual also mentions "fusible links" being burnt, but doesn't give much information on them and I don't even know where or what to look for.

Mark-

[coupecrazy1232]

hmm that is very very strange i would agree becuz i have the exact same headunit, which i love!!! and the same harness and everything is just perfect...only thing is maybe a wire is crossed up and is drawing more power to the headunit then what it should be...

[vkyolv]

Still working on this...just been busy, O/T at work and all...

So here is some more information...

Leaving the headlight switch on auto - If it is Sunny the Daylight sensor kicks in and the digital A/C controls light up as normal. The problem seems to be maybe the relay after the Daylight sensor detects that it is night time????

I don't even know where to begin for those...

Also, I mentioned my issue to a guy at CarToys, and he said he had a similar issue that turned out to be the BCM...

Anyone???

[AppleBonker]

Strange. Definitely seems to be something with the illumination/dimming feature of the lights. Do any other lights (back light for speedometer for example) dim too much?

[vkyolv]

when it happens the dash gauges dim...also i have no lighting on the transmission gears.

[zilla19]

Peeps,

I finished my install yesterday on my Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD. The unit is awesome, but I ended up having some wierd issues initially.

On my first install attempt, I had the standard wiring harness and the line convertor. The convertor that was actually used was a PAC SOEM-4 (Crutchfield recommened the PAC OEM-2), I bought it off of eBay (oem-2) and was sent the SOEM-4. So I confirmed with PAC that the SOEM-4 is actually replacing the OEM-2. In any case, aside from the bulk of the convertor, everything was properly soldered and terminated. I followed the guides here on the forum to make sure everything was right. I went to install the radio and everything worked fine and sounded great.

Here is where the issues began...

After driving the car for about an hour or so I started to smell the ever bad "burning electronics"...immediatly I pulled in to a parking lot (still had tools in my car) and started to disassemble everything. I checked every splice, connector, etc..., and made sure that there weren't any exposed wires. I even started the "sniff" test to see where it was coming from and couldn't find anything. I put the car back together and had no more burning smell...HOWEVER, I lost the backlighting on the Digital A/C knobs.

Here is where is wierd...

I leave my headlight switch on AUTO...even turning the switch ON, Parking lights only...the back lighting doesn't work. If you look close you can still see the numbers. If I change the headlight switch to OFF, the A/C knobs light up as normal.

Also, I noticed the lighting on the Auto Trans gear position is not lighting as well.

I've used the search here (which I hate), scoured many different posts, searched the FSM (saw some wiring diagrams on illumination) but could really see anything that made sense.

It is just wierd that if the if the Headlights are on it doesn't work, but if you turn it off they do????

I also scrapped the original harness and line convertor and went with the "premium" harness from Metra (70-7553 for use with the Bose system?) which was much easier to just plug the RCA's into the headunit directly. Sounds just as good to me....

Anyways, Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, I tried looking for popped fuses, but didn't see any that jumped out as for illumination related. The manual also mentions "fusible links" being burnt, but doesn't give much information on them and I don't even know where or what to look for.

Mark-

Same exact problem after I installed my Z110BT. I also smelled "burning" the first time I started the car but it went away after that. I've also been too lazy to take everything out to check.

[AppleBonker]

Man, this is a weird issue. Some headunits have a dimmer wire so they can lower the brightness when the headlights are on. I'm wondering if you have this wire. And, if you do, is it connected correctly? Or could it be grounding out or somehow picking up power somewhere?

[vkyolv]

Man, this is a weird issue. Some headunits have a dimmer wire so they can lower the brightness when the headlights are on. I'm wondering if you have this wire. And, if you do, is it connected correctly? Or could it be grounding out or somehow picking up power somewhere?

It does have a dimmer wire if you are talking about the Orange Illumination wire. What is even better is I completely unplugged everything except the A/C harness and the issue still existed. I did not, however, reinstall the factory radio to see if it still existed after that. Either way I don't understand how it could be affected since the harness for the A/C is seperate from the radio...

I need to open the dash again and take a look at the installation one more time.

[vkyolv]

Forgot to mention the radio illumination does work as intended.

[AppleBonker]

Forgot to mention the radio illumination does work as intended.

Yeah, I'm definitely at a loss. I wish I could be more help. In this case, I'd start doing what you are doing and unplugging/reverting back to stock to see at what point the issue goes away.

[vkyolv]

Sorry for bringing old stuff up, but I am still trying to sort this one out...the end of my factory warranty is quickly approaching.

Would having too many things trying to ground to the same source possibly cause this? I've never had problems in the past installing my own systems, but this car seems to be way more advanced electronically, if that makes sense.

[AppleBonker]

Sorry for bringing old stuff up, but I am still trying to sort this one out...the end of my factory warranty is quickly approaching.

Would having too many things trying to ground to the same source possibly cause this? I've never had problems in the past installing my own systems, but this car seems to be way more advanced electronically, if that makes sense.

Nope, technically everything ends up grounding to the same place anyway. When you pulled the stereo out, did you remove the aftermarket wiring harness?

[vkyolv]

After doing some searches I came across this post on the Rogue forum here...zer...30230

Weird thing was the dash gauges did dim when this first happened, however turning the dimmer adjusted the brightness accordingly.
Modified by vkyolv at 1:52 PM 4/2/2010

[AppleBonker]

Interesting. Now that I think about it, I didn't connect any dimmer wire. My head unit didn't come with one. It has a light sensor near the IR receiver that dims the unit based on ambient conditions, not the headlight switch position. But, what you found should be corrected when you remove the head unit, and you said you tried this.

[vkyolv]

Removed the headunit yes, but there were also the power and grounds for the Pioneer BT and HD Radio adapter that were still connected.

What about the possibility of a "bad" fusible link? I've noticed that the BCM link looks darker inside than the others do. I also have noticed that my parking brake light comes on itermittently...even though I haven't pulled on the brake.

This is definitely the winner of the biggest pain in my @$$ award!