I just bought a 2001 SS. While I love the car, I am having fits with the electrical system. This one is stumping me. The radio would turn on and there is no sound.

I read about a fix where you trace the orange and black wires alongside the passenger seat, but I can find nowhere that the orange lines converge 2 into 1.

I found 2 groupings of black wires connected together, one has 2 wires connected to one and the other I think 3 to 2.

No orange anywhere taped together. I traced the lines from about where the handle is to push the seat forward all the way back to the trunk, and nowhere do these orange lines converge in the way I've seen with the one wire being connected to 2 others.

It's 4 orange wires in an unbroken line from the front passenger seat all the way back! Has anyone ever found the connection closer to the front of the car?

I read some old posts in hopes of finding a similar problem so I would not be rehashing something, but nothing really fit my problem.

 

So you have looked in your trunk and you found that your car does have an AMP? From the Amp you tested the Orange Power wires for your amp at the Amp and there is no power there?

Normally after removing the Rear seat, You trace the wires from where it goes under the back of the seat towards the front of the car and it would be between the back of the door to the back seat area on the floor. Problem is in most cases water or for what ever reason the wires break where the Single wire from the front meet the pair of wires that ends up going the rest of the way to the AMP.

There is also a pair of Black wires in that same area and when I am there, A problem or not I will always repair both to be safe.

Take picture of what your talking about seeing and that maybe more helpful

James

 

https://ibb.co/ctDPFa
https://ibb.co/j4TPFa
https://ibb.co/inhjFa

I am not used to this picture hosting stuff. I am used to just dropping it from the computer, lol.

If you can see these, you can see the only orange wires are 4 that run like that straight back to the trunk no connections to be found. First pic is the 3 into 2 black wire cluster, and the second is the 2 into 1 cluster that I need to reattach - it was all corroded.

And yes, has an amp.

 

I am wondering if perhaps the larger cluster of black wires might be an anomaly? I've never heard of anything besides 1 orange and 1 black connection in that area. Everything is as it came from the factory, so there's been no fiddling with wiring as far as I can tell.

 

OK, I guess that your car being an 01 has only 1 Orange Wire for power for your AMP. That line that you have going to the back would have a total of 2 wires however they would be different lines to the trunk same Circuit number for a AUX imput like a CD Changer. This changed in 2002 up where 2001 and lower have a different type AMP.

Sorry about the Bad answer as most cases I have delt with was 02 and over and there was always a bad spot where the splice was.

About the Ground it is hard to say. I know that your car does have a Ground Splice in that area. However in my view that I can see only 1 in 2 out and that is a split to the Amp and the Aux Input aka Cd changer area. Where the power is 2 lines back from the dash on the 01.

Sorry I couldn't be more Help. I would look behind your stereo. it could be that there was someone that installed a aftermarket radio and didn't put it all back together. Also not that I want to say it is a bad AMP however they do go bad.

So what would I do if this was me!?
Test power wire at the AMP and make sure it is plugged in
Look behind radio, make sure that the Connections are there.
Check over all speakers and make sure they are connected.
Test Speakers at Speakers to make sure they work
Take connection out of AMP make jumpers for testing speakers at AMP Connector
Take Radio out, Trick Amp to turn on, test wires from radio to amp. Could be bad radio
If all test out that the amp should send power to speakers and don't I would go and get AMP from wrecking yard or Auction site.

Sorry I couldn't be more help
James

 

Oh About the Ground Cluster, That sounds like that ones that would be used for the Seats sun roof door locks etc, and then the ones that go to the back would be for your lights. If they are damaged I would make sure they are well connected or your lights might not work right. May find that your Blinks flash your running lights or brake lights turn on your other lights and things like that if there is a bad ground. What would happen is that the Bulb will try and find Ground from any other area that might have common connection area.

James

 

I am happy with any answer. When people try to answer questions, no matter what it might be, there are things pointed out I may have overlooked such as a different wiring pattern.

There's no aftermarket anything in this car as far as I can tell. Radio, speakers, amp all factory gm parts. Wires were all wrapped in factory tape - nothing looks tampered with. I DO have wet carpet padding in the area of the 2 wire clusters that I did find. So next I will be sealing that windshield area thing that leaks.

I just cannot figure out where I might be losing power if there's no bad orange power wires. I gotta admit I am not sure what the black ones do, but they were pretty corroded. It's snowing right now, so I have not had a chance to check on anything today or do anything about it.

Since I got the car, what happens is the radio turns on, you can see the station number and what song is supposed to be playing - no sound. CD player, same - shows track, can hear disc spinning - no sound.

I already replaced a headlight switch and reconnected the hazard switch that had been pulled off did not think to yank the radio at that time.

I want to iron out every flaw I can before I put it on the road. The radio was a minor thing, but I hate when I cannot figure something out.

I've never had a car that blew all 4 speakers at once, but there's a first time for everything, lol. My sister has an '03 Impala parked in my mom's yard, I might be able to yank the amp and swap it for a quick test just to rule that out. I KNOW that one worked.

 

Sadly the 03 Impala is past the Date for swaps. If it was an 00 or 01 you would be in luck.

I can tell you for sure the 03 has a 2 Power Wire AMP in it with a set of Wires that will drive you nuts if you want to bypass the OEM AMP lol.

Here is something you could do. you can take a Pair of wires and make a Temp Bypass for one of the speakers at the amp. It isn't easy down there to be working in the tight area of the trunk. Anytime I had to do a Bypass on the 02 up. after the first 10 or so I always pawned it off on someone else.

Anyway If you don't want to buy a Bypass and only made for the 00-01 Impala and MC. you can always just make one. Now the Pins are really small so you could use maybe 20ga wire if you have a Solid wire that would be better. however may need to be bigger then 20 on the solid.

Please forgive me as I am trying to remember the right way lol... The larger plug on the AMP will have I think 20 or 24 wires. Don't worry about the Number it is just important to know the Larger of the 2 on the amp. Looking at the Plug with the outside area pointing up. (Mean there is flat side and a side that has 2 points on the other side at the right and left) Take a Wire on the top row first pin on the left to the 4th to last on top, Second one to the 3rd to the last, 3rd on to the 2nd to the last and 4th left top to the last one on the right top. Repeat the same for the Bottom pins. Not all pins on the connector is used so don't do more then the first and last 4 on the top and bottom... I will make something up and try and get it uploaded tonight as I am not sure I make much since lol. What this will do is test your Radio to your speakers. At times people would put in a aftermarket and want to take out the AMP so you could buy a Bypass or just make one.

Looked up a Bypass and it is 24 pin wire connector.
So on top
Pin 1 to Pin 9 Right Front -
Pin 2 to Pin 10 Right Front +
Pin 3 to Pin 11 Right Rear -
Pin 4 to Pin 12 Right Rear +
On Bottom
Pin 1 to Pin 9 Left Front -
Pin 2 to Pin 10 Left Front +
Pin 3 to Pin 11 Left Rear -
and Pin 4 to Pin 12 Left Rear +

If you need to have me draw it out I can however I think that explains better.

James

 

Oh...I can bypass the amp and have sound possibly? Any sound is good at this point.

I've been driving a crappy Civic with only cheap rear speakers for a couple of years now - lol. I haven't heard a decent sound system since I had to junk my Thunderbird so I don't think I would know the difference at this point.

I am going to try what you said. I am terrified of the wiring in this though, I gotta say. Seems like eveything makes a relay go crazy. When I installed the headlamp switch, it would not start and I was at my wit's end and come to find out I had a couple of wires that weren't seated real well, once that was fixed, I was okay.

Crawling in the trunk won't be a problem. I am 5 feet tall, lol. My oil change guys always laugh because my seat is pulled right up to the wheel.

 

I'm having the same issue with our 2000 SS, radio turns on, displays stations and the song playing but no sound. In this car there is not the 2 orange wires into one, nor 2 black wires into one in the harness behind the passenger seat. The orange power wire to the amp has 12 volts as I have back probed the connector with it plugged into the amp and there is no ground interruption as there is no resistance between the car body and the black ground wire when I back probed it also while plugged into the amp. The radio was working fine and started to go "in and "out" with sound and then finally no sound whatsoever. For "s&g" purposes, I checked every fuse in the car in all the boxes, inside and out, none are blown. The back carpet was damp but when I pulled the harness out, there is no corrosion anywhere. I did fix the water intrusion issue at the base of the windshield on the passenger side by resecuring the seal and replacing the cabin air filter. There has been no water leaking in the car since. I have yet to pull the radio to check power and signal at the connections in the back but the fact the amp is getting power and has a good ground indicates to me the amp has gone bad. So, there's a brain twister for the folks, lol.