Electrical problems?! crazy radio.

[Scimitar]

Hi all,

I recently purchased an Ibiza 1.6 Sport. Having spent a few weeks getting to know it, I've found some electrical butchery has taken place. When looking in the fuse area under the steering wheel there was a mess of spliced cables etc. I got a friend of mine who is an automotive electrician for Suzuki to take a look and he put it all back to how it should be. It turns out a previous owner had installed a new alarm and we guess lost the fob for it so just disabled it.

There are now a couple of problems, and as this is the only example I have seen, I don't know what is normal and what is not; so I was hoping someone could help. As it stands the factory alarm doesn't work. I'm assuming there should be a flashing LED on the drivers door lock button, but there isn't however there is a loose blanking plate (loose compared to the passengers side). Should there be an LED here? If so I guess they may have removed it when installing the new alarm (Which I have now removed).

The second problem relates to the radio. I took the panel off and had a look at the wiring and it pretty much looks untouched, however there does appear to be a problem. Each time the ignition is turned off the radio loses its time and date. This isn't too much of a problem as it picks up the signal pretty quickly and fixes its self, but I'm pretty sure this shouldn't happen. Also the radio will not turn on if the ignition is not on, I'm pretty sure this is wrong but can someone please confirm? Here is the weird part: There is no fuse in place for the radio, but it seems to work as described above. Upon adding a fuse I discovered that the radio back light etc does not turn off even when the car is turned off and locked! Very strange!!! Also the outside air temperature usually reads somewhere between minus 40 and minus 20, though occasionally seems to be OK. Not sure if this is a related problem or a dodgy sensor but if anyone could shed some light that would be really good

The final problem (or not, I just don't know) is the back lights. On every previous car I've used the back lighting for the instrument panel only comes on when the headlights are turned on. On this Ibiza, they are constantly on, along with the radio/computer back light. Is this how it's supposed to be or is this another problem?

I think that's about it and if anyone can shed any light on any of this that would be great.

Many thanks

Scim

 

[markmeus]

The final problem (or not, I just don't know) is the back lights. On every previous car I've used the back lighting for the instrument panel only comes on when the headlights are turned on. On this Ibiza, they are constantly on, along with the radio/computer back light. Is this how it's supposed to be or is this another problem?
Scim

Thats the way its supposed to be, dashboard backlighting is permanently on.

Can't help with the rest unfortunetly

 

[Razor]

Thats the way its supposed to be, dashboard backlighting is permanently on.

Can't help with the rest unfortunetly

Mine isnt
Mine only go on when the headlights are on and you can adjuct the brightness of the red centre screen beside the light swtch if u want..

it may be different but as its a 1.6s
you's have a diff ecu ( right indicator stick )

 

[Scimitar]

Yea I have the adjuster too, but they're always on :S Can you confirm there is supposed to be an alarm LED on the drivers door? Also clarify how the radio is supposed to work?

 

[Daymo]

on my 1.6 the alarm has a little red L.E.D that flashes when the car is locked

the dashboard lights are on all the time, when the keys are placed in the ignition and the car is running, so dont worry about that,

as for the temperature, thats probably just a dodgy sensor but i'd get the wiring looked at for the actual HU first, (i.e. the screen not going off with the fuse in) because this may have something to do with the temperature sensor showing a dodgy reading. as for the rest i honestly couldnt help you, i'd say the best thing to do is take it to an autotechnician's or see if your friend could help you again.

oh and the radio, should come on when the car is turned on, but will still come on if there are no keys in the ignition, by pushing the volume adjuster in.

 

[Scimitar]

Is the LED on the door or in the central console? Also I'm guessing your radio doesn't lose its memory. I'm wondering if the back light circuit and the memory circuit have been muddled up!

 

[DPJ]

Is it an aftermarket radio?

 

[Scimitar]

No its the standard massive all in one radio/computer/climate control etc unit.

 

[DPJ]

Is there a possibility it's had an aftermarket radio - and then someone's put a std one back in?

 

[Scimitar]

Being as I don't know its total history, I suppose so yes! looking at the wiring on the back it doesn't look like its been messed with but then again its a possibility. You can see where screwdrivers have been used to have the panels off before and there is a broken catch so people have been in there!

 

[markmeus]

It sounds to my some ones messed up the rem wire to the headunit or whatever its called.

Also just noticed what you said about the temperature, as said before you need a new sensor. Try seremotors on the forum, they're selling them for £18 here

 

[DPJ]

Red and yellow wires have maybe been swapped over to suit an aftermarket radio, then not swapped back....

 

[jonesya3]

Red and yellow wires have maybe been swapped over to suit an aftermarket radio, then not swapped back....

was just going to say that as above the ignition and permanet feeds sound like they have been swapped over, just swap them back on the main block in the back of the radio

 

[Scimitar]

So I need to swap the wires on one of the connector blocks at the back then? Is this straight forward or is there solder etc involved? This would make sense! Thanks for all the help so far. Also where does the temp sensor go? I wouldn't know where to find it.

 

[markmeus]

Temp sensor is in the passenger wing mirror.

Some more info about where it goes and how to fit it here

 

[jonesya3]

if you unplug the power plug and get a really small flat head screw driver and look at the end you plug into your radio you will see a raised pin on the power connection, flatten this and the power cable will pull out and bend the raised pin back up so it clips back in when you insert the power cable in its new location

 

[sparkie1984]

the backlights are on all the time mate, the led is in the plastic bit surrounding the door pin.

 

[Scimitar]

Hmmm, OK it looks like the old alarm has been disabled/removed. Will I have to go to a stealer to determine that and possibly fix it?

 

[Scimitar]

Ok, the site wont let me paste urls at the moment so add "http colon //" to the following to see the pic.

i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/ski_tzo/DSC00319-1.jpg

With the wiring on the radio, is it that top plug in the guys hand that needs attention? and if so is it literally the red and yellow wire that need swapping? Also should I disconnect the battery before doing this?

 

[Scimitar]

also found this:

seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=108396&highlight=radio

Maybe the modification to the radio listed here is the problem?