E30 Stereo Wiring for Dummies

[MrDomino]

Hey at the bottom of the picture right next to the white connector with the red/green wire going to the yellow wire there's a connector that's encased in yellowish plastic with white wires going into it. Do you know what that does?

[6670charger]

I have a problem with my wiring project. I've copied and printed all of what I thought I needed to know from this thread. I've pulled the stock stereo, unplugged the factory fader, and followed that back to a "Y" in the harness where the wiring goes back into the car and some of the other bends around and goes from the fader to the stereo.

I have a 88 325i with what I was told is premium sound. So far, in the harness, I've identified the RED/GRN wire as constant power, the VIOLET/GRY as switched power to ignition, the thickest BRN/BLK wire as ground, the thinner white wire as power antenna, and the thicker white wire coming out of the radio opening separate from everything else as the amp. I've also identified the YEL/RED wire as LF speaker POS, the BLU/RED wire as RF speaker POS, the YEL/BLK wire as LR speaker POS, and the BLU/BLK wire as RR speaker POS.

I've followed the wiring harness beyond this junction by hand all the way up and behind the gauge cluster and have not found or felt any other point where the wiring might split off or other wires might come into play. I only seem to have the four speaker wires I mentioned above. There is only one other wire left, which is a BRN/BLK that goes from the stock head unit to the fader. The speaker wires are not in twisted pairs, so how do the speakers ground?

Thanks.

[TimWis]

Wow no one has a diagram instead of reading? Pretty sure men that takes on DIY stuff need pics to help us out.

[markseven]

plugs from deck

I need to splice these connectors to speaker wires already in the car - where can I get these plugs? Salvage yard?

Todd, I realize it's been months, if you still need it, I may have a deck that you can get a tape mechanism from.

[Todd Black 88]

It sounds waaayyyyyyyy better with the stock deck in it than the aftermarket deck did, and i mean waaaaaaayyyyy better.

Now i have to take it out again, because the tape deck doesn't work:(

[StereoInstaller1]

Figured it out.


But the cassette player just keeps flipping the tape.

FKKKKKKKK

damn. I kept trying to find time to answer, glad to hear you nailed it.

[bernzpeed]

Easiest and beat thing to do is scrap all of the original speaker wires, run new wires to the speakers and hook up power, ground, antenna, and ignition.

that's just stupid

[Todd Black 88]

Figured it out.


But the cassette player just keeps flipping the tape.

FKKKKKKKK

[Todd Black 88]

Mine request is a little different. I am tearing out the crappy cd deck that the PO put in to re-install the stock deck.
I think i have all the power/ground deck/amp wire figured out, but the speaker wires are busting my brain.

I have a 1992 e30 325 M-tech II appearance pack car. canadian model so no airbag.
car has door tweeters so i assume premium sound. Deck has four plugs for speakers in it so 8 wires at the deck.
The car loom has 4 wires coming from it(2 twisted pairs) as well as the harness where the fader would go in the early model has an adapter in it and two wires. All these 6 wires were used on the aftermarket deck, and the two extra ground wires from the aftermarket deck were grounded to the deck chassis.

What do i do?
Also is the adapter on the white wires part of the stock wiring, and where does the single white wire go?
Pics
stereo used


plugs from deck


speaker wires and long single white wire going?




do i ditch the adapter in the fader and run two channels? what about having no fader?
My only exposure to e30 radio wiring is 88 m3 with fader and its...........different.



Help please.

[StereoInstaller1]

2 things, Mr. Swiss:
First, please post year/model of your car as there were so many changes made over the years

Second, Please refer to the stickied thread for radio wiring and amp bypass. We are trying to keep all pertinent data there. You should be able to find the answers you need there.

Thanks,
Luke

[Mr.SWISS]

Ok so far I got this :
Car Deck
Red/Green (fuse 21) Yellow (constant power)
Violet/Grey (fuse 12) Red (switched power)
Brown or BR/BK Black (Ground)
Grey/Red (from light switch) Orange (dimmer)
White (yes there are 2)Blue (antenna remote)
White (still 2) Blue/white (amp remote)

and

You need to disconnect the fader and strip the harness back about a foot or so.

You will find twisted pairs: 2 blue sets, 2 yellow sets.

BLACK STRIPE IS POSITIVE!



But it seems there is an issue using the red/grn and people are opting for the grey/red? Thinking about letting deck power all 6 speakers and ditching factory amp and wiring.

[dirtywhiteboy]

I taped off/terminated the speaker grounds coming from the head unit. If you use the stock amp, they do not ground, and do not tie them together. Took me a minute to figure it out, even with stereoinstaller1's posts. I do get a crackle still from my speakers at louder volumes, but they are playing fairly decent. This is all based on a stock premium system set-up.

[graffeedy5]

I got past the fader and got all my speaker wires from the car. Only problem is that I've got 6 speaker wires from the car and 8 coming from the headunit. Also I've got 2 switched power wires coming from the car as well as two ground wires. Do I tape ground to ground and attach that to the headunit ground and likewise for the power?

[dirtywhiteboy]

green/red vs grey/red

My constant is grey/red and my headlights switch on my green/red... this was with stock unit installed...

Can I ground head unit and speakers to the same ground? I've never done it before, but it looks like that's how BMW did it...

[goml23]

Awesome, I'm about to tackle my first stereo (Alpine CDA-105) install ever on my '91 is tomorrow, your guide will be printed and next to me while I do it. Quick question though, what other terms are there for "switched power"? I don't remember reading that in the Alpine manual.