My '02 monte has been an awesome first car and my dad and I decided I should get a new stereo for my own needs. Well I went to work and installed it, even checked to make sure it turned on before putting the dash back together. Well, I never checked the sound and it appears that I do not have ANY sound at all. The shop mechanic I bought some tools from said to take the red wire on my harness and put it over to my fuse box. Is it that wire that is messing my system up? Or did I connect another wire wrong? Or is it something else? I'm new to this stuff but am eager to learn, thanks!

 

I can surely help you with this.. Need a little more info first tho.. Did you splice wires yourself or use a "custom" harness? I know the power wire is not red for one, its blue.. White is your remote wire and black is ground.. There are two each for the power and ground.. One for the stereo and one each for the amp.. That is IF you have the amp in your car.. Im under the assumption that all 00-05 come with the amp.. It will be in the trunk ceiling.

Did you bypass the amp or are you keeping it functional?

I just spent about 6 hours yesterday rewiring my stereo and hooking up a new amp, I know how much a btch this can be..

 

Thank you. These threads make me feel good when I'm otherwise having a crappy day.

 

Thank you for the advice! I kept at it and ended up finding that my blue/white wire was not correctly connected and that seems to have solved the problem. I do however wonder if there is something still wrong. I I'd two separate harnesses that came out of my car and went on to the stock stereo. But I only connected one of them, the larger one, to my new stereo. Is the other one connection of some sort to my amp? I do have an amp in my trunk. And music isn't quite as powerful as it was before, like the bass does not boom and I turn it up a little more than I used to have to.

 

Yea, most likely the smaller harness is what actually powers the amp and I think it makes the chime and onstar sound thru the speakers.. Im not 100% sure about that tho. It should still work without it although its quieter as you said..

Like i said, im just yesterday getting back into this after being out of it since 2010.. Im a liiittle rusty still.

What stereo did you put in im curious.. And stock speakers correct?

 

Yes stock speakers and I bought a JVC KD-SR82BT

 

No the only wires are the ones that are connected. Like you said the Blue/white or blue wire was missing form the system to the amp. (White Wire on car) This is Amp turn on. If the amp wasn't on then your car has no sound...

Issue with sound could be a couple things really and at times the high power of aftermarket deck is to much for the input of the amp so sound quality isn't the same

So you can use the line level of a deck and connect to amp and would make it sound better or if you wanted you can get a amp bypass or even make one for your car. Buying one is easier much easier really. For little money you pay it will be better then one that is made unless you have made a few before.

 

Sorry I had a ( ) moment. The 02 is a Build Bypass only car. Or use the amp. Metra or others didn't for what ever reason make a bypass for 02 up it is 00-01 that is around already made...

To Make a bypass it is kind of a PITA. because of the little space to work with in the trunk. if that is the route you pick I can give you the pin outs for doing so.

 

I think I made leave it as is. It still sounds great and I'm fine with it, sounds like too much trouble to bother with it. But I may buy a new amp. Would that even fix it without breaking the bank to do so? Or is it even worth getting one?

 

Yea, if its just for speakers you can usually get by with a cheap amp.. Im using an old dual amp connected to a couple rockfords and it sound just fine..

Also, look at the tuning of the new stereo..