WORST Installs yall have had to fix???(installers)

[hybrid90accord]

well ive had my share of clean up jobs but was wondering if any of you guys have any pics of the bad install clean up job yall have had to fix. i had a civic come to me a few days ago complaining of engine noise and number of other problems from his Pioneer in dash mobile video screen installed at another shop(not naming any names)well this is what i got after i slide out the radio and took out the passanger seat out. he ended up just getting a new radio cause the pioneer was toast. The door triggers were hooked up to the acc on the radio, why i dont know

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/PictureorVideo004-1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/PictureorVideo005.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/PictureorVideo003-1.jpg

after

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/PictureorVideo009.jpg

[osiriskidd]

my friend bough an old infiniti. i went over to connect a new HU for him and connected all the wires correctly...but nothing would turn on. after a few hours we took it to a pro, and all he wires were seperated deep inside the dash.

[SRCRX]

Wow that is some job to clean up!!

Looks like the Brain got wet??

That Panasonic looks good!!

I've had a few to clean up, But no pics.!!

[fire7882]

I don't work at a shop but a friend had a short in one of his speakers so I removed his door pannel to have a look. All his speakers were installed with sheetrock screws instead of sheet metal screws and the wires were pulled so tight that they came loose and shorted out. I don't understand how some businesses are still opperating.

[RBS]

looks like a bigOle mess of wires, just like my friends newly bought LS swapped EF that i will need to redo lol

[SixSquared]

I pulled the factory radio out of my del Sol to install a Pioneer P8 a few years ago, and my first hint at badness was that the factory radio was held in with zip ties looped through the screw holes. Cut the zipties and pulled out a WAD of wires, car alarm brain, more wires, random splices, and duct tape. Literally a softball size mass.

I had to replace the entire dash wiring harness... the ****tard had given the ignition wiring a similiar treatment... apparently he was trying to install his own car alarm.

Called previous owner, pitched a ROYAL ***** fit, and he cut me a check for $1000 back off the price of the car for all the crap I had to do.

Bought the P8MP AND subs. :D

[Dracc]

did my boys system.. he attempted to install him self.. had wires taped everywhere with duct tape power to the battery terminal.. but it was on the negative side.. and still got power... dry walled the ground to the back seat.. worst job i ever had to clean up lol

[Grnblur]

anyone ever get a radio thats been connected using those screw on caps for home electrical use I lol every time. and the guy that came in with his sub just sitting in a plastic washtub wired straight to the headunit w/ no amp.

[bware113]

Best buy istaller installed an Alpine deck in my buddies car, but when he rewired the amp instead of installing through the head unit... he was powering it directly through the battery what a f**king idiot!

[drmcivicsi]

dont amps hve to hook up start to the battery for power? ^^^^

[Wurm]

Best buy istaller installed an Alpine deck in my buddies car, but when he rewired the amp instead of installing through the head unit... he was powering it directly through the battery what a f**king idiot!

so he did it the right way

[Dracc]

looks like the best buy installer did what he was trained to do .. reps for him

[SixSquared]

Best buy istaller installed an Alpine deck in my buddies car, but when he rewired the amp instead of installing through the head unit... he was powering it directly through the battery what a f**king idiot!

hahahaha.... you're the idiot. What else is an amp supposed to get power from? The flux capacitor?

[hybrid90accord]

Best buy istaller installed an Alpine deck in my buddies car, but when he rewired the amp instead of installing through the head unit... he was powering it directly through the battery what a f**king idiot!

:blah: :blah: :blah: :blah: :blah: :screwy:

[drpepper14]

ive had to clean up way too many messes to count...i need to start bringin a camera to work!

Actually had to clean up an amp bypass and radio install in a Lexus GS300 the other day. Guy picked it up wholesale from Carmax and I was installing a JLw7 and 1000/1. Everything was great until I took the radio out and saw that the entire radio harness and eventually the amp bypass had been poorly stripped and twisted together. Most of the connections were bare and a few of them had duct tape on them. Needless to say I had an explanation for the customer as to why he kept blowing fuses and his a/c, radio, dash lights, etc...hadn't been working

[David88vert]

I've had worse - many times over 7 yrs installation on Buford Hwy. Working in Decatur for 3 years was much better.

A friend of mine even had a 78 Camaro that had 3 amps in the trunk - positioned so that the water that leaked through the massive hoes in the trunk would flow around the amps and not get them wet. Scraps of would to keep them in place, bungie cords to hold the boxes in the trunk, and the speakers where put in not with screws - but nails. Plus the biggest mass of spaghetti.....

[secondgencamaro]

I've had worse - many times over 7 yrs installation on Buford Hwy. Working in Decatur for 3 years was much better.

A friend of mine even had a 78 Camaro that had 3 amps in the trunk - positioned so that the water that leaked through the massive hoes in the trunk would flow around the amps and not get them wet. Scraps of would to keep them in place, bungie cords to hold the boxes in the trunk, and the speakers where put in not with screws - but nails. Plus the biggest mass of spaghetti.....

Wow, I thought where I had my **** mounted was ghetto.

[bware113]

so he did it the right way
Well apparently not because we had to re-wire so that it wouldn't drain the battery while the car was off...basically he wired so that it was ALWAYS on not when the radio and accessory came on.

[5thgcelica]

Well apparently not because we had to re-wire so that it wouldn't drain the battery while the car was off...basically he wired so that it was ALWAYS on not when the radio and accessory came on.



so i think what you're saying is he got power to the battery, but then also ran the remote power on wire to the battery as well.

[bware113]

Oh...well yes:headslap:

[tmzoz]

Best buy istaller installed an Alpine deck in my buddies car, but when he rewired the amp instead of installing through the head unit... he was powering it directly through the battery what a f**king idiot!

WTF!!! :lmfao:


are you kidding?

[TyroneBiggum]

I just installed a panasonic in dash TV. The alpine that I took out was completely installed by twisting the wires and electrical taping them!:no:

'sall clean now

[hybrid90accord]

Well I had another one today at work, this customer came i saying that after he plays his radio past 25 the volume cuts off and the radio cuts off and then comes on again. he said he had a 45x4 amp pushing the speakers well after about 20 mins of inspections i find 10 speakers in the guys car, 4 6x9" speakers in the rear deck 4 3.5" speakers in the front doors(2 in each door), and here is the kicker he has 2 horn tweeters in the grill. So i ask the guy where is the amp pushing the speakers he states " The pioneer radio has a built in 45x4 watts amp" i was like WTF. when you have 10 spekers running off a radio that does 13 watts at 4ohm x4 i could just imagine the ohm load that radio was seeing and im suprised it even came on period and played up to 25 for that matter. Sorry no pics

[Turbo04]

Best one I've seen was when I was installing an older accord came in, had 6x9's in the rear deck with a styrofoam encloser ziptied to one, and a taped cardboard encloser zip tied to the other. I just took pics on my phone and shut the trunk laughing. Good ****. He only came in for a radio install and we were trying to figure out why the rears were not playing....guess we found out some info..:)

[Z32redondo]

so i think what you're saying is he got power to the battery, but then also ran the remote power on wire to the battery as well.

Ive only heard of that kind of **** when you hook an amp up in your house.

Its funny to see what people do sometimes.

[sonic30101]

i work in circuit city's install bay and i had a customer come up with a jensen indash screen that wouldn't turn on even before he bought the car. so i pull the radio out and whoever installed it didnt use the right dash kit. there was a 2X4 and a rag wedged in the dash to keep the radio from falling into the dash. i replaced some fuses and pressed the power button and the radio turned on, but the starter engaged too. somehow factory illumination with the way they wired it tried to turn the car on when the radio was turned on. so i had to go to the underdash for power and i ran speaker wire to each speaker because i didnt trust any of the wiring in the car after that.

[Z32redondo]

i work in circuit city's install bay and i had a customer come up with a jensen indash screen that wouldn't turn on even before he bought the car. so i pull the radio out and whoever installed it didnt use the right dash kit. there was a 2X4 and a rag wedged in the dash to keep the radio from falling into the dash. i replaced some fuses and pressed the power button and the radio turned on, but the starter engaged too. somehow factory illumination with the way they wired it tried to turn the car on when the radio was turned on. so i had to go to the underdash for power and i ran speaker wire to each speaker because i didnt trust any of the wiring in the car after that.

LOL

[eghonda88]

How about we picked up my g/f's pathfinder from circuit city and the dudes wired her amp up wrong! it sounded like crap because they have the +'s -'s switched on the terminals!!!

[savincent]

^Damn, Circuit City doesn't seem like a good place to go for quality installations. I've never been there before though.

Since we're on the topic though. Heres my story.. I was installing a system in my friend's SRT-4, he just took everything out of his old car and brought it to me. After examining some of the things, just minor things I noticed, but its common laziness to cut back on some coin and effort. Things like not soldering the speaker wires to make a better bond, and such.

Until, I came across one thing. The ground wire. Basically, they had two separate wires, one coming from the amp, and another from the cap. Well they were connected in the middle by stacking them on top of one another, then using three 2" DRYWALL screws to go through both the wires and the frame of the car.

I fixed it up as best as I could since we did it at his house, then I had him come over to my house the following week, so I could redo the whole ground completely.

He paid the "pros" something like $150 to do the install with his provided set up in his Pontiac GTP.

He paid me a $5 burrito from some really good taco stand in the back of a Mexican supermarket to do the install in his SRT-4 with the same provided set up.

The set up in the GTP was causing problems. The set up in the SRT-4 hasn't had a single problem yet for a little over 2 months now.

Me - 1
Pros - 0

[patrick4588]

i work at circuit city in warner robins. you wont have any issues if you bring it there.

[renfrat]

heres a good one for you circuit city hahahahaha hooked up a friends amp worked fine for about 6 months untill i was going to mount it on a piece of carpeted wood that i built for him in a spot on the side of his trunk well removing the amp consisted of the idiot running the power wire under the car ziptied to the bottom or the car i asked him and he said the guy had to read in a book how to run the wires and also the power wire got caught on something after hookup and was loose hanging a few inches from the underneath of the car he asked the guy and he told him that it was in the best spot to run the wire my friend believed him hes an idiot too hahahahaha stupid ppl

[fire7882]

heres a good one for you circuit city hahahahaha hooked up a friends amp worked fine for about 6 months untill i was going to mount it on a piece of carpeted wood that i built for him in a spot on the side of his trunk well removing the amp consisted of the idiot running the power wire under the car ziptied to the bottom or the car i asked him and he said the guy had to read in a book how to run the wires and also the power wire got caught on something after hookup and was loose hanging a few inches from the underneath of the car he asked the guy and he told him that it was in the best spot to run the wire my friend believed him hes an idiot too hahahahaha stupid ppl

There is nothing wrong with running the power wire under the car if it is done properly. Your gas line and break lines are under there and they are slightly more important than a power wire for an amp.

[patrick4588]

omg thats terrible. just a couple weeks ago, a customer brought their car because of problems with their head unit and xm. well the plug in for the xm into the cigarrette lighter wasnt plugged in. they spliced into the radio harness and stuck the positive wire into the tip of the plug and wrapped the ground around the center of it. i took a few pics. it was ridiculous that a business would do this. oh and the whole thing was wrapped into a huge ball of tape. you couldnt even tell what it was until you unwrapped it

[drpepper14]

yeah let's try not to dog on CC in here...i can promise you there are quite of few badass CC install bays in the Atlanta area

Warner Robbins
Town Center
Acworth

and ****...I can't think of anymore haha

I think all the CC employees that posted in here work in the shops in those 3 locations and you can trust we don't **** around (just make sure you ask for an experienced installer to do your ****, cuz we've all got a couple noobs on staff due to the holiday rush)

[Grnblur]

when we hard wire the power for the satelite radios we have to break open the cig plug that comes with it and solder wire onto the circuit board and run that to a power and ground usually behind the radio is easiest because your usually back there already. That is if your not lucky enough to get someone with the sense to spend the extra $30 for the fm direct adapter that comes with a plug so all you have to do is plug the cig lighter plug into it an wire it up, no breaking and soldering to the circuit board and all. It used to be so much easier when all those devices ran on 12v instead of 5 or 6.

[patrick4588]

yeah let's try not to dog on CC in here...i can promise you there are quite of few badass CC install bays in the Atlanta area

Warner Robbins
Town Center
Acworth

and ****...I can't think of anymore haha

I think all the CC employees that posted in here work in the shops in those 3 locations and you can trust we don't **** around (just make sure you ask for an experienced installer to do your ****, cuz we've all got a couple noobs on staff due to the holiday rush)

hey pepper hit me up next time you are down this way.

[drpepper14]

definately man, I normally end up stoppin by that CC when im down that way anyway

[myyellowspec]

yeah let's try not to dog on CC in here...i can promise you there are quite of few badass CC install bays in the Atlanta area

Warner Robbins
Town Center
Acworth

and ****...I can't think of anymore haha

I think all the CC employees that posted in here work in the shops in those 3 locations and you can trust we don't **** around (just make sure you ask for an experienced installer to do your ****, cuz we've all got a couple noobs on staff due to the holiday rush)

Word dude (even if I have fixed a thing or two of yours lolol) I got a job at BB in hiram haha. I'll drop by sometime.

[SOHC MONSTER]

Well damn! I should have taken pics of my car as of today. I decided to wire my 93 civic coupe for some amps for my components and as I am pulling the rear panels, I find phone cable through out the car, 5 different ground wires cut short but still screwed in, and 2 power wires (10 gauge) that were still live but somehow never shorted out. I thought I got a car that was hardly molested but I was sadly mistaken. I pulled out 3 civic lengths of phone cable along with tons of loose connectors and screws. I think anyone who works in the car audio and security field NEEDS TO BE CERTIFIED. Even though it wouldn't help have the dumb ****s who install, at least they would learn what not to do. Its called common sense.

[NewGen33]

There was street glow on the car I bought. I ripped it off.

[Ruststang]

ive had to clean up way too many messes to count...i need to start bringin a camera to work!

Actually had to clean up an amp bypass and radio install in a Lexus GS300 the other day. Guy picked it up wholesale from Carmax and I was installing a JLw7 and 1000/1. Everything was great until I took the radio out and saw that the entire radio harness and eventually the amp bypass had been poorly stripped and twisted together. Most of the connections were bare and a few of them had duct tape on them. Needless to say I had an explanation for the customer as to why he kept blowing fuses and his a/c, radio, dash lights, etc...hadn't been working
Correction its a jlaudio w6 and a 500/1 amp and its also my lexus but thanks for not bad mouthing me... Small world huh?

[patrick4588]

lol.

[Ruststang]

bump waiting for response lol

[drpepper14]

lol yeah that was a fun radio to deal with. No bad mouthing here! Didn't quite remember what JL products they were, just remember it sounded great...and that the other installer who grounded your amp was a jackass because I think we had to move that later on too because it kept coming undone.

Hope it's still working out for you man

[Ruststang]

everything is working out well and for the nay sayers you guys have installed two amp/sub setups for me now one in my black 01 tahoe and now the lexus. Both have worked perfectly with no problems due to installer error just idiot previous owners lol.

[drpepper14]

thanks bud, we know how to install but our reps are tarnished because we work for circuit sh.itty

[myyellowspec]

This isn't really a fix but it's pretty messed up. One of the installers at my shop (best buy of undisclosed location lolol) was puting a radio and XM in an FD RX-7. He worked on it for like an hour then pulled it out and went to lunch. The customer went out to his car and I heard him yelling. He comes back in red faced screaming at me about how "that ni@@er" totaled his car. I go out and look at the car and just about every interior panel was broken and his windshield had a nice crack down it. The claim was 7500 (He grounded out the dash harness and burned it up too). Then the dude never came back to work, his box is still there and everything.

[hybrid90accord]

This isn't really a fix but it's pretty messed up. One of the installers at my shop (best buy of undisclosed location lolol) was puting a radio and XM in an FD RX-7. He worked on it for like an hour then pulled it out and went to lunch. The customer went out to his car and I heard him yelling. He comes back in red faced screaming at me about how "that ni@@er" totaled his car. I go out and look at the car and just about every interior panel was broken and his windshield had a nice crack down it. The claim was 7500 (He grounded out the dash harness and burned it up too). Then the dude never came back to work, his box is still there and everything.

How did a sat.radio install do all that damage??? sounds like he must have been a real ****ty installer to break door panels on a sat radio install

[drpepper14]

This isn't really a fix but it's pretty messed up. One of the installers at my shop (best buy of undisclosed location lolol) was puting a radio and XM in an FD RX-7. He worked on it for like an hour then pulled it out and went to lunch. The customer went out to his car and I heard him yelling. He comes back in red faced screaming at me about how "that ni@@er" totaled his car. I go out and look at the car and just about every interior panel was broken and his windshield had a nice crack down it. The claim was 7500 (He grounded out the dash harness and burned it up too). Then the dude never came back to work, his box is still there and everything.

haha I guess i'll never go to the CC or BB in Hiram lol oops you kept that a secret

Don't go to best buy in hiram unless you get some douche that goes by the names of chris, tom, or chris-tom to do your install haha :gay:

[LSTurboHatch]

i work at the new CC in cleveland tn. we've only been open for a about a month now, but i've already had to fix about 12 wiring problems. luckily nothing as bad as the OP

[myyellowspec]

haha I guess i'll never go to the CC or BB in Hiram lol oops you kept that a secret

Don't go to best buy in hiram unless you get some douche that goes by the names of chris, tom, or chris-tom to do your install haha :gay:

Aww thats dirty slackleford. You know I am a way better installer + just got my MECP Basic lolol.

[drpepper14]

lol i'll give it to ya man ur a little badass

you should ask dan for ur job back haha then you could join the even more badass crew @ circuit chitty

[myyellowspec]

I did, but he is a small di*ked retard. B money is trying to recruit me to the hiram cc lol.

[sikfricks]

cc of rome is aight if kellet is there but while i worked there it was a lot of fixing and what sucked is fixing what other people that you worked with did

[Ol' Gregg]

kinda different but the same. did a xm install on a old jetta. pulled the radio to install wired fm mod. tapped power and ing under dash by started. plugged radio back in (keep in mind radio worked before didnt blow any fuses!!) and radio didnt turn back on. hummmmmmm never did find the prob lol. at the time my the other installer i worked with was billy brown and he couldnt figure it out either. for people who dont know who he is.... hes the main man for TWEETER

[mouzzer]

workin down in Henry county, we get lots of crazy kids comin into the shop asking us to fix there wiring jobs. I feel your pain. I'll try to get some pics up

[patrick4588]

not to be racist, but i get a ton of mexicans in vans that have rigged up factory radios from other cars and trucks into them multiple times. i hate messing with wiring that has been cut and spliced like 5 times. ftl

[okra1981]

In my hometown, a shop used to pop a hole in the floor board under the dash and run all of the wires under the car and pop another hole in the trunk to get them back in. They usually didn't use zip ties or anything, I figured this out after seeing a customers pickup with wires hanging down, he was wondering why his cd changer didn't work after four wheeling all weekend in the woods.

The worst I've worked on was when I fought with a driver's door speaker that wouldn't work, then I noticed welding on the hinge, yeah, the door had fallen off before. Of course this trucks radio had a rat's nest because they had cut every wire imaginable.

[CousticKingz]

i had a 1995 Toyta Avalon, when i opened the dash
the radio was being held by wire!
the wires were stripped and were shorting out
the alarm was wired up to on the radio,
all speakers were different and were blown
and on top of that the owner said that he got the "professional equipment"
at a garage sale
had to redo everything! but got paid good money though!=)

[sonic30101]

i had a lady that just bought a 1997 crv and wanted to install a radio because the previous owner told her the factory radio was broken and it didnt turn on. so i take the radio out and she is talking on the phone in the shop so she sees my pull the radio out of the dash along with a towel and a 2X4 wrapped in duct tape that were shoved into the dash to keep the radio from falling into the dash. no factory brackets and the harness looked like a 5 year old slashed it up and no plug on the harness (i guess that is what the previous owner was talking about that the radio wouldnt turn on) her rwaction was worth the pain in the @$$ that the car became though

[okra1981]

Found this on ephatch forum, the guy was somewhat proud of it because it was a cheap ported box, it's cheap alright. http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s143/thunderinokra/messyinstall.jpg

[JTImport]

I hate to say it but just about ALL the motor swaps that have came into my shop that I didn't do! I've had to rewire the entire harnesses on almost all of them! It seems there are allot of shops around that either don't know how to use a soldering gun or are just too lazy too!

This has got to be one of the biggest pet peeves of mine.


The reason you should solder? Let’s say you have a 4 cylinder engine. It’s running at say, 6000rmps. At that speed the injectors have 20 milliseconds to fire. Now this is at 100% duty cycle. (Most anyone who knows will tell you not to run 100%.) So your ecu has a very small amount of time to figure out where the crankshaft and camshafts are and to send a signal back out the injectors. If you put a crimp in the wires coming from the crank/cam angle sensors or going back out to the injectors you are essentially putting resistance in the wire which will slow the signal from the ecu down. I know it might not be much but any latency at this small amount of times will cause problems especially when you are running a forced induction car! This is just a quick overview of the operation of one aspect of how wiring can affect your cars performance. It gets FAR deeper then this! This is not even mentioning the fact that most crimped wires will work their way loose especially in a car that is tracked!

I can't tell you how many problems I've had with swaps that have been done by so called "experts" that have had problems that have led back to the wiring!



Incase anyone here is about to do a swap themselves, SOLDER, SOLDER, SOLDER, SOLDER! DO NOT CRIMP!



I’m off my soap box now! LOL!!!

[hybrid90accord]

well i got a sc400 intoday. the guy tried to install a double din screen in himself and well it was a total mess of wires. to top it off he has a prefab 2 15' box that somehow got into teh trunk and he wanted to change the amp out but i couldnt even get the sub box out here r a few pics

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/001-3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/002-2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/004-2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/008.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/014-1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/017.jpg

[hybrid90accord]

another guy complained that when he faded to the front the front speakers would cut off. he tried installing the radio himself first, i guess matching colors is harder then i though, he had white going to purples and grays to green lol

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/009.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/010-1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/011.jpg

[Ruststang]

Is there any issue with crimping radio wires like shown above^^^. Thats how i have installed just cd players in previous cars and ive never had any trouble. However as stated on page 1 my radio is jacked up in the lexus and ive since had to remove it completely and clip some wires to fix the short so my car would go into park lol.

[alpine_aw11]

Is there any issue with crimping radio wires like shown above^^^. Thats how i have installed just cd players in previous cars and ive never had any trouble. However as stated on page 1 my radio is jacked up in the lexus and ive since had to remove it completely and clip some wires to fix the short so my car would go into park lol.

I'm going to say no, hell I've taped wires up temporarily for a week or so and it worked fine. Of course taping is a no for permanent solutions, but using connectors on a head unit install shouldn't give you any problems whatsoever unless you **** it up yourself.

[patrick4588]

i prefer to solder and heat shrink anything i can, but crimping isnt necessarily bad if done properly. i wouldnt suggest it if you have access to a soldering gun; but as an only resort it will work

[T.C.]

I was working at BB and the new guy said that he checked the 89 civic in and he lied. When I pulled the civic in and got out the step panel caught on my foot and ripped off to reveal the top of an ant bed, eggs and all. So before I called the guy to tell him I wasnt working on it I decided to take a peak at the "equipment" in the trunk. His "equipment" was a ford cd player, a realistic house speaker box that had a 12" in it with a boss amp attached to the back of it and all this stuff was sitting in an inch of water. I wished I had a camera that day so bad.

BTW the story about the block of wood and the rag is some funny sh!t.

[Ruststang]

I just tried to fix mine and i can't figure out what is going on for the life of me. With my multi meter i have Constant 12v i have switched 12v and using the resistance alarm and touching a door bolt i have a good ground... So in theory shouldn't the radio at least power on?

[b@d @pple]

if the radio isnt bad then yes it should turn on

[patrick4588]

so um mazda millenia's suck. i had to do one today with a bose system in it. there is no amp bypass or integration harness for it. you have to use part of the mazda 70-7901 harness and part of a hyundai harness (cant remember pn) and then test the wires to match the speakers. the one i did today ended up having red to white and yellow to green and stuff. it was hella gay; and the car was completely stock. millenia's = supreme fail

[drpepper14]

welcome to the step-child bastard otherwise known as the mazda millenia....

[flak_monkey]

I thought my install was "bad" until I looked at this. Oh well. At least I know how to solder, and know better than to purchase cheap ****.

[hybrid90accord]

so um mazda millenia's suck. i had to do one today with a bose system in it. there is no amp bypass or integration harness for it. you have to use part of the mazda 70-7901 harness and part of a hyundai harness (cant remember pn) and then test the wires to match the speakers. the one i did today ended up having red to white and yellow to green and stuff. it was hella gay; and the car was completely stock. millenia's = supreme fail


i did one that had 12+, switch, ground, remote turn on and illumination in the harness and a data wire going to the bose amp and thats it. I just opened up that data wire that comes out of the factory radio which looks like a cd changer plug that goes to the factory bose amp their 4 sets of wires inside of that wire. i just hooked up fl, fr, rr, rl and then at the bose amp did the bypass and connected all the wires to the data wire, saves time and required no extra wires to the amp and looks alot cleaner.

[hybrid90accord]

Well i had another one come threw 2000 chevy impala. complained of engine noise and wanted bore bass and a better box, the previous was a pre-fab(i think). So i fold down the seats and to my un-suprises this is what i found. So i took everything out and built him a single port dual 12' sub box.

the previous installers install(i dont see how any installer could let a customer leave with it looking lik ethis)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/truntitled.jpg

pre-fab box( i think)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/untitedeled.jpg

all finished
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/item.jpg

[K24cb7coupe]

wow, you love for installing stereo has taken the fire to finish your car? hasnt it? lowers head and slowly walks away....

[hybrid90accord]

wow, you love for installing stereo has taken the fire to finish your car? hasnt it? lowers head and slowly walks away....


ive made alot of process but you have been ghost and wouldnt know, lol

[patrick4588]

Well i had another one come threw 2000 chevy impala. complained of engine noise and wanted bore bass and a better box, the previous was a pre-fab(i think). So i fold down the seats and to my un-suprises this is what i found. So i took everything out and built him a single port dual 12' sub box.

the previous installers install(i dont see how any installer could let a customer leave with it looking lik ethis)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/truntitled.jpg

pre-fab box( i think)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/untitedeled.jpg

all finished
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/item.jpg

if a circuit city or best buy did that job, i wouldnt be surprised at all. the installers get paid less than like 10-11 dollars an hour and a basic install is all customers will pay for. therefore they dont care about the job and do stuff like that. it looks like the power wires, rca's, and everything are all just bundled there together. :screwy: good job redoing it properly; the new box looks great

[hybrid90accord]

All i will say is that the customer said he took it to a car audio shop in conyers GA. I was suprised when he told me the shop that he took it too, cause they have a great reputation but i guess you cant judge a shop by one bad installer but......well i guess you can

[twincannon26]

i installed for best buy several years ago and saw some pretty crazy stuff, but the best has to be an "install" done by my best friend years before. he had a profile amp powering a boston sub and the power wire, remote wire, and rca's were all run nicely under the carpet and the amp was secured to the back of the seat. however, when he needed to find a good ground, instead of using a terminal connector, he used metal flasking tape and taped the ground wire to an exposed bolt.

i do his installs now.

[sonic30101]

i have seen people twist the ground wire to the metal loop in the floor of SUV's where the back door latches to keep it closed. the customer did their own install, big surprise. and i told them it was a bad ground that they had. and he tried to argue that since when he scrapped the ground wire on the metal part it sparked so it had to be a good ground. hahaha it was pretty awesome

[Ruststang]

Yeah so when anyone has some free time don't hesitate to pm me and help me fix my radio... I'm getting pretty tired of listening to the wind and i would be more than happy to remove scratches/key marks/overspray/paint trash/I.F./rail dust out/off of your car for exchange of services.

[stephanie]

i installed my own radio in my integra...that is the worst install ever.

[Dozier]

if a circuit city or best buy did that job, i wouldnt be surprised at all. the installers get paid less than like 10-11 dollars an hour and a basic install is all customers will pay for. therefore they dont care about the job and do stuff like that. it looks like the power wires, rca's, and everything are all just bundled there together. :screwy: good job redoing it properly; the new box looks great

I get paid more than that at my Best Buy to install, and I can vouch for at least three installers in my area at other stores getting paid 16+ and hour working full time as an installer at Best Buys. These guys know their ****.

I want to see a pic of the finished wiring on that setup 90accord fixed. The trunk pic looks good with the new box.


Had a guy come in here one time complaining about the subwoofers not working in his 02 civic. So I go to checking and find two seperate brand/different wattage/different ohm stable amplifiers hooked up on two subs in the same box. He had a lightning audio 4 channel, and an alpine mono amp, hooked up on some MA audio 12's. The power wires were falling off one amp, which made them go out, because the power was daisy chained from one to the second...The ground was pulled from the ground side of the rca's with a tiny 18 ga. wire wrapped around the rca's, and not to mention the birds nest of wires. Oh and the sub on the alpine was blown anyways. It was only moving because the box was not chambered for each sub. It was completely open, so he thought they were both playing, when obviously they were moving oppositely. So I fixed that, and then was curious about his sattelite radio install, because supposedly it cuts out every time he hits a bump. I pull out the radio because the sattelite radio was hard wired. I find the cigarette lighter plug that comes with it with the ground wire wrapped around the ground prongs on the socket, and the power wire simply taped with electrical tape on the end of the plug. Unbelievable! Then the radio has something crazy....You are not going to believe this. The power antenna/remote/acc/sat radio power wires were all electrical taped together, and not even good because strands were exposed which could have shorted out something. Cleaned it all up and gave the customer back a nice setup with some new amps, and told him to get some new subs as well. He did. Satisfied customer.

Wish I had pictures.

[patrick4588]

that sounds like a full day job having to replace all that. having to fix someone elses fuckup is worse than anything

[Dozier]

When I get a nightmare here in the bay, I just tell the customer, everything needs to be taken out and reinstalled by us, to get it done right and avoid wasting time.

[drpepper14]

well I know a few of us in this thread will no longer be posting about weekly fixes @ work since our shops were shut down this week...

F*$K Circuit City

[hybrid90accord]

yeah im sorry to hear about you guys getting shut down, when is the official "last' day of business?

[drpepper14]

official "last" day is December 31st, but most stores won't be open that long due to inventory.

Our entire shop on barrett pkwy has already found another job where we can all stay together, and I have already left the company, with the other installers following suit shortly.

[Dozier]

Man that really sucks...Sorry to hear that...I am doing the interview screenings for my best buy here in Fultondale, Alabama, and there are two applicants from Circuit Shity, I mean Circuit City, that are looking to install for Best Buy. I will hit them up first.

[drpepper14]

yeah the company sucks, but there were quite a few overly qualified installers that were employed by stores that shut down.

[hybrid90accord]

Had Another one come see me today. This one was done by a "BIG" local car audio shop, im not name dropping. The customer had a deck installing in there 2004 Toyota Solara with the Factory 7 speaker JBL system. Easy install if you just use the Correctly JBL Toyota integration harness right? WRONG. The cut up the harness and ran speaker wire to the 6 speakers in the car all being 2ohm speakers and connected them directly to the Sony deck 4 speakers on the front channels and 2 off the rear channels. The customer wondered why the radio kept cutting off and they would smell something burning... So i had to rewire the fact take the Sony out and re-install the factory deck, FUN FUN FUN.....




http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0027-3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0029.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0027-3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0024-3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0025-2.jpg

The broke the factory cap so they got another one and used butt connector to try to fix it
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0033-1.jpg

After i fixed and soldered a new cap on to the factory harness
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0034.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0032-2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0026-2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0022-3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0038-1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/IMG_0040.jpg

[b@d @pple]

heres one i fixed from cc.
sorry dr.p

BEFORE
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00314.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00307.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00308.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00317.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00309.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00310.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00311.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00313.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00315.jpg

AFTER
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00326.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00325.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00321.jpg

[audiowiz]

heres one i fixed from cc.
sorry dr.p

BEFORE
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00314.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00307.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00308.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00317.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00309.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00310.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00311.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00313.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00315.jpg

AFTER
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00326.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00325.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/jdmsnatchback/2003%20LR3/DSC00321.jpg

Dont you love it when you pull a panel and the "wiring" falls out behind it. Always a sign of quality

[JDMGRNAV6]

good shitt guys damn i couldnt deal with other ppls mess

[T.C.]

The pics of the solara are truly epic, especially the butt connected cap. I seriously busted out laughing in the middle of the computer lab.

[F8d2Blk]

When I bought my car it was an utter mess that I just completely removed the sub system and all the wires to it and sold it. But the funniest thing about the install, which was a backyard job.... was it had 2 subs and 2 amps in the trunk, the wire running to the battery was the nice fat red wire up until about 4 inches before it connected to the battery it dropped all the ways down to a 14 ga wire. Anytime you would turn up the volume it would become distorted. The worst part about it was that the battery was in the trunk. :lmfao:

Butt connectors aren't as bad as you make them. Just make sure you use the correct size, non-insulated from Radio Shack and use real heat shrink, not that plastic stuff already attached to the butts. This way it makes for a much nicer, cleaner install.

[drpepper14]

haha I remember that range rover being in the shop b@d @pple! We actually talked about that one didn't we?

I won't drop any names, but the installer responsible for that wiring has posted on this page of the thread lol

[hybrid90accord]

I won't drop any names, but the installer responsible for that wiring has posted on this page of the thread lol

Wow!! LMAO

[b@d @pple]

haha I remember that range rover being in the shop b@d @pple! We actually talked about that one didn't we?

I won't drop any names, but the installer responsible for that wiring has posted on this page of the thread lol


el oh el

[Kasper]

I really wish i had pictures of it... there was a guy that came in the other day and said his amp kept shutting off and everytime he turned his car on it sounded like something would spark. (he claims he's been installing them for all his homeboys for years) plus it smelled like gas! I was like oh great this should be funny. i opened the trunk and dude had wire strung out EVERYWHERE! there was probably 50' or better of just power wire! Best part! he had 8ga power wire comeing from his battery to his cap,(which by the way did not run threw his firewall... installers can you guess how it was run!?) and 4 ga comeing from his cap to his AMPS! yes he had 4 amps and he was running 15's in the back! i was like uh dude.. well theres your problem! he backwards the wireing on the cap and it kept popping everytime he started it! then to top it off i traced the ground wire to a splitter where he decided to ground it twice which i dunno why. but the best part was he drilled holes into his gas tank! lemme tell ya how that shit worked out! we didnt touch it.. cause it looked like it was such an insurance liability mess.. the power wire was already somewhat melted to the carpet! this is the shit ya gotta put up with in daytona!

[hybrid90accord]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/021-2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/013.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/023-1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/020-1.jpg


VW harness fixed and factory amp bypassed since the Previous installer burned it up.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/027.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/022-2.jpg

All finished with the new Pioneer headunit installed
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/031.jpg

All the crap and bad wires that was stuffed into the saab turbo
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/029.jpg

[hybrid90accord]

here is another one from another "major" shop

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow.jpg

????? i was asking myself the same question
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow5.jpg

Grounding your 12+ and wondering why the unit doesnt come on is always funny to me
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow3.jpg

They broke the customers AC vents to run the wires to the unit SMDH..why???
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow1.jpg

After im finished
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/Untitled.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/hybrid90accord/wow6.jpg

[Austin?]

damn

[wwli]

When I got my hatch from my friend, the radio was installed at Best Buy in Adventura, FL and they passed the speaker wires and door lock wires thru the door panels.
They ran it under the dash and just passed it across the door just under the door panel...so when you open the door you see wires hanging.

I think that is just ghetto because I don't ever remember doing that when i was working at BB or at CC.

I personally use alot of solder and heat shrink to keep things clean.

[Me86Rob]

I dont install for living, but I refuse to let other people mess with my stereo's. Worst Ive delt with by far is the set up in my 86. My dad took a stab at it several years ago and it took me a good 6 hours to undo his BS and set it up the right way. Ill post a pic of the sub that was in it tomorrow. :lmao: