94 camry audio problem

[misterlv]

i installed a aftermarket radio on a 94 camry because the previous owner cut the oem harness off. i got the diagram from here and installed the aftermarket. everything works fine until night time comes and i have to turn on the headlights. the music coming from the speakers distorts really bad. can anyone help?

[whip_cracker]

I'm guessing you've checked the obvious of "Bass Boost" or the Bass turned right up for no apparent reason?

Man that's weird... you got the polarity of the speakers correct? Shouldn't make much of a difference like that though.

[misterlv]

i dont know how to fix it. ive gone over the wiring so many times and still i dont know what the problem is. no the bass is not turned up. the music is very distorted when headlights turned on.

[MichWolverine]

The ends were cut off but i beleave there is two bunch of wires coming to the radio , one for power and one for speakers. First thing i would do is add a ground strap to the radio chassis . THEN its a prosses of elimenation , unhook all speakers try differant ones, then maybe unhook all but the needed power leads. There should be two one for memory ,, one for thats switches on with the key , take off the memory one ,,, just to see if it helps. Is there a lead for the dash lights , so when you turn up the brightness on the dash the stock radio would get brighter allso ,, maybe thats hooked in some how. As a last resort try a dif radio, seems weird it works ok untill the lights are put on ,,,, will it work ok with the parking lights on ? Can you post your wireing diagram or say what you think each is?

[96paseo]

Aftermarket harnesses usually have a wire marked "dimmer". Its either orange or blue, I think. To narrow it down, keep the power and speaker wires connected. Remove your power antenna wire, dimmer wire and antenna plug. Run teh radio with a CD and turn on the headlights. If your problem goes away, re-connect one wire at a time until you find the wire causing the trouble. I'm thinking you have the dimmer mis-wired with one of the speaker ground wires. Do all your speakers work and sound normal without the headlights on?