Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[Spyke]

Sorry I am late on this. Just to confirm, I only had one main ground and that was solid brown. All my speakers had (+) and (-) leads, which were kept individual all the way through the e36 adapter end and the Metra harness.

NOWHERE did I say to join or splice multiple wires together, as Luke mentioned it's a big no-no. Every wire front & rear has it's match. If you're doing it my way, do it just as stated or shown in photos, and you'll be happy. Do not confuse front speaker wires with rear speaker wires.

And test lights people, test lights.

[StereoInstaller1]

Yes, I highly encourage using a test light and confirming your work

[ajune]

Fixed the power on issues apparently for my specific car the Gre/red is ignition, the red green is illum, and the gray/white is the 12v C

[ajune]

I have a 1987 325is with premium sound. The problem I have isusing the following diagram my stereo only gets power when I turn on the parking/headlights.

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)

[StereoInstaller1]

Wait...is this suggesting to use the same ground for front and rear?

It says specifically in your owners manual NOT to do that!

Expect your deck to run really hot and blow up soon, it is not OK to combine grounds in any way.

Luke

[Pantless Spency]

Bam, the deed is done using the example above. Couldn't be more satisfied.

Thanks.


If anyone has a 6 wire fader in your eta use the example above.

If you need any further help or any other questions feel free to pm me, I'm a changed man with knowledge know :)

[Pantless Spency]

1987 325e (10-1986 build date)

-NO tweeters
-NO amp in the trunk
-Fader switch in the dash***

***Fader does NOT have twisted pairs along the wiring path AT ALL. Fader wires DO NOT change colors, there are NO additional wires in the bundle. I followed them all the way behind the speedo to make sure. There's only the 4 striped and 2 solid wires going to the fader switch.

Photos of my head unit, fader switch and wiring to the head unit:


IMG_20130210_103441 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


IMG_20130210_092643 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


IMG_20130210_092814 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


IMG_20130210_092929 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


Got all my new radio wiring done, this might help Early model guys. I was super confused at how the OEM wiring was done, but once I had it all out the rewiring made perfect sense. I re-purposed all the OEM wire as it's in good shape, retained the previous wiring colors as to not confuse anyone else who MIGHT get the car after me and as mentioned in here very good quality high copper content.

I now have a permanent e36 female plug so that wiring will never have to be messed with again in the future, easy upgrades. This is for my 87 ETA, fader in dash, no amp in trunk, standard speakers. Wiring colors followed a fairly consistent pattern to my surprise. Here's what I did:

e30 ETA OEM wiring <> e36 female radio plug <> Metra 70-8590 plug

12v ignition/acc
Violet/Grey <> Violet/(White) <> Red
12v batt/constant
Red/Green <> Red/(White) <> Yellow
Ground
Brown <> Brown <> Black
Power antenna
(White) <> (White) <> Blue
Illumination
Red/Grey <> Red/Grey <> Orange

Right Front +
Blue/Red <> Blue/Red <> Grey
Right Front -
Blue/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> Grey/Black
Left Front +
Yellow/Red <> Yellow/Red <> (White)
Left Front -
Yellow/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> (White)/Black

Right Rear +
Blue/Black <> Blue/Black <> Violet
Right Rear -
Blue/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> Violet/Black
Left Rear +
Yellow/Black <> Yellow/Black <> Green
Left Rear -
Yellow/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> Green/Black

***The e36 female plug will have the speaker + and - as a twisted pair. I highly recommend connecting only ONE pair at a time to keep from getting confused, since all speaker negatives on the e36 plug have the same color wire.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favor and double-check the power/acc/illumination wire colors with a TEST LIGHT BEFORE making final connections. It's the only way to know for sure. Speaker wires are straight forward, but you're a moron if you don't test the important wires before starting.

This is basically what I'm dealing with.


So blue brown, and yellow brown, both need to be spliced for negatives for both front and rear?

[Pantless Spency]

So I need to unbundle the wires from the fader?

[Thizzelle]

grey red is illumination but your plug to head unit doesn't have a wire for it.

[Pantless Spency]

Trying to do this myself...

I have an 86 325e.

No amp from what I know, fader is 6 wires total, and there are a total of 9 wires leading to the deck not including the antenna wire.


Any idea where I should start?

Fader:



These are labeled L and R not sure if there front or rear though:


This plug is labeled +12v


And these are not labeled:

so i figured out a few new things.

brown wire is labeled grd for ground, the one next to it (violet/grey) is labeled ign for ignition 12v.

the green red violet red pair is labeled battery on the stock head unit, so i would assume green/red wire is constant 12v, but i have no idea what the other one is.

the white wire with two spade connectors is labeled pwr ant for the power antenna.


and i now know that 4 of the fader wires are each positive wires to speakers, and the L R pairs of wires on the head unit are negative wires for the speakers.

i just cant figure out which negatives go where.

[Pantless Spency]

And the harness for the head unit.


8 speaker wires total (4 speakers pos/neg for each)

And 4 other wires that include remote.
Yellow is constant 12v

Red is ignition 12v

Black is chassis ground.

Blue is remote.

[Pantless Spency]

Trying to do this myself...

I have an 86 325e.

No amp from what I know, fader is 6 wires total, and there are a total of 9 wires leading to the deck not including the antenna wire.


Any idea where I should start?

Fader:



These are labeled L and R not sure if there front or rear though:


This plug is labeled +12v


And these are not labeled:

[StereoInstaller1]

Anybody have a write-up on the wiring for a non-premium stereo? I've got a '86 325e with the original stereo wiring all intact and the wire colors in the OP write-up don't match. Mainly having trouble with the power connections.

Did you get it figured out yet?

[E30 Wagen]

Anybody have a write-up on the wiring for a non-premium stereo? I've got a '86 325e with the original stereo wiring all intact and the wire colors in the OP write-up don't match. Mainly having trouble with the power connections.

[StereoInstaller1]

No,still no rears, have to get back in the trunk in depth.. Thinking I'll hook up the front grounds to the rear grounds'.....

No, you can't. No combining positives or negatives, it will overheat if not smoke your deck.

You have correct color codes all the way through? Did you test the speakers themselves? Have you pulled the rear seat and inspected the wiring? Let me know if I can help.

Luke