Car stereo stopped working, original tape deck still ok??!!

[DougWomble]

Quick Sunday afteroon query to make you think.

When I got my MkII three years ago it had a JVC cd player in, which was ok for a couple of years, but then intermittently would fail to switch on. It got more and more unreliable until about 2 months ago when it died completely.

I put the original tape deck in, and that worked fine.

I got a new cd player last week, plugged it in, and it doesn't work. Dead as a dodo.

And just to check, I plugged in the original tape deck again, and that works totally fine again.

Any thoughts, anyone? I'm not electronically minded, so havent gone round checking fuses /connections etc, but surely if the tape deck works fine, then all the connections are ok....?

TIA.

[bengould]

first thing I would check is power. Most modern head units need two power feeds, one constant to keep the memory, and one switched with the ignition. If they are not both present (your old cassette deck may not need two) it won't switch on. Check the cables coming out of the head unit and there will be a red and a yellow one, these both need power, red switched & yellow constant I think.

[bengould]

Or fuses.

[DougWomble]

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the reply. Of course, you were right about the two power feeds - the previous cd player had been wired up to take account of this, but is, as I say, dead as a dodo.

Anyway, cut a long story short, I got some advice from maplins, got some advice over the phone from www.fitaudio.com, got some advice and a cable from a knowledgeable young man in Halfords (!!!!), then set about the new unit with my tape and pliers etc., plugged it all in, and it now works a treat! I'm a very happy man, especially as the new unit has USB and mini-SD inputs on the front! Sweet.

All in all a very simple process, but seeing as I have little or no skills with electrics, I overcomplicated it to begin with.
Cheers again!