Hello!

My friend has an '09 Versa hatchback, maybe the S trim?, it's the base model with auto trans. It came with a double-din factory radio and he is trying to swap it for a cheap aftermarket unit. He only needs aux in, doesn't care about radio or CD. I used to install stereos but it's been quite a long time and this has me a little perplexed.

First he ordered the radio, wiring harness and dash kit on Amazon, but they sent the wrong harness. So, he cut the factory plug off and attempted to crimp the wires together. Nothing would work. Then he called me, I had him order a replacement factory plug and the correct harness, both were Metra. They arrived and I tried to splice the new connector onto the factory wiring and the harness to the radio's wiring. We got power to the unit, accessory position worked on the ignition - but no sound through speakers. No hum, no hiss, nothing. Aux in, radio, nope. So I double checked everything again, looked correct, baffled. On top of this, I plugged in the OEM radio and no power at all. So, the aftermarket radio would turn on, but no sound, OEM radio wouldn't function at all.

This evening we looked at it again, I noticed the harness had more wires and connections than the factory plug. So I decided to ditch the harness and just go factory wiring directly to the radio's wiring. Matched speaker connections and power connections, plug into new radio - nothing. No power, nothing at all. I used the wiring diagram for this vehicle on a website called modifiedlife. Right now everything seems to be matched up correctly, with one orange wire from the car that has nowhere to go with the new radio's wiring, I believe from the car it is labeled "illumination" in the diagram. I can take pictures, whatever I need to get this working for my friend. I'm just stumped as to what the issue would be. Some resources say the ground goes to the mounting brackets, but the radio and the factory wiring both have a ground, and they were connected to each other when the new radio was powering on.

Hoping not of course but with modern electronic equipment you may not get but one shot at the correct wiring, sending power into the wrong ports can easily frag a brand new radio to be junk instantly. You can't be 'close', it's 100% or nothing there.

Check your fuses of course, all that rewiring will not be kind to them either.

Thanks for the response!

Yes, I checked the fuse on the new head unit as well as the fuses for the car itself, all is well. It's just strange that when I wired it all to a Metro replacement plug for the factory wiring and used the aftermarket harness, it would at least turn on, just no output. Then I realized that the aftermarket harness had pins that were not matching up with the factory plug, that's when I decided to just wired straight from factory wires to the head unit's wires, and now it won't work at all. My friend had two different wiring diagrams for the car, the one from modifiedlife and one he found on a Versa/Nissan forum (maybe this one?):

modifiedlife diagram:
Car Radio Battery Constant 12v+ Wire: Brown
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12v+ Wire: Light Green
Car Radio Ground Wire: Chassis
Car Radio Illumination Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Dimmer Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Antenna Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Amp Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Amplifier Location: N/A
Car Audio Front Speakers Size: N/A
Car Audio Front Speakers Location: N/A
Left Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): White
Left Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown
Right Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): Green
Right Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Light Blue
Car Audio Rear Speakers Size: N/A
Car Audio Rear Speakers Location: N/A
Left Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Violet
Left Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Red
Right Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Light Green
Right Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray

alternate diagram:
Car Radio Battery Constant 12v+ Wire: Brown
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12v+ Wire: Cyan
Car Radio Ground Wire: Black
Car Radio Illumination Wire: Orange
Left Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): White
Left Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown
Right Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): Green
Right Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Red
Left Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Violet
Left Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Red
Right Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Teal
Right Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray

The modifiedlife diagram is what I used because everything matched up except "car radio illumination: orange," whereas the alternate diagram has two reds and indicates two different colors for two wires that are the same color for something else. Even trying to combine the two diagrams there is still an extra wire (the "illumination: orange" wire). Really unsure of what is going on with this head unit. It's really cheap, I think $25 on Amazon - perhaps it is just fried or something? But that wouldn't explain why the factory head unit wouldn't power on after attaching the Metro car plug to it after patching it onto the car's wiring.

Hello and welcome. It's really nice of you to be trying to help your friend here.

For the wiring diagrams, our site does host the factory service manuals which will tell you what the stock arrangement should be. Look for the link in my signature below.

Then, I'm just as baffled why the stock one won't work now. You can't smell any burnt electronics, can you?
With regards to the ground, every single aftermarket unit I ever wired in refused to work if I only relied on the factory factory harness for ground. I always had to get the ground wire from the aftermarket radio and get it to the metal in the car somehow.
Also, does the unit your friend bought require an antenna adapter wire? I can't remember quite right, but in testing the OEM radio, remember to plug the antenna in... just in case.

'...every single aftermarket unit I ever wired in refused to work if I only relied on the factory factory harness for ground. I always had to get the ground wire from the aftermarket radio and get it to the metal in the car somehow.'

X2 and one of the cases I referred to. I have seen some that specifically mention if you power up the unit without that case to car ground in place it immediately does radio damage. I too use two grounds and the constant 12V power has to be positively sorted out from 'key on only' power..........

Hey, OP.

Check out this thread: 2009-versa-stereo-questions-t617859.html
They seem to have done what you were trying to do with the direct wiring; but the member is trying to correct an issue. If you can, try to get in touch with that poster and get info. Guess what? Apparently their aftermarket system was working without the antenna being connected.