Hi all! I recently purchased a Vibe radio to go into my '86 GT w/ factory sub. What I'm having trouble with is the Fiero wiring. The old radio was gone when I got the car so I have no idea how it hooked up and I cant seem to find any loose wires when I fish around in the radio bay for them. I see the block of wires that would plug into the radio but it has a large black plug already in it which seems to run under the console skeleton. I assume the second plug is for the factory sub? So... are the radio wires at the end of that harness or do I need to dig around some more?

Ok, I should be more specific. I have the Performance sound and the plug normally used for the radio has a black plug in it for the performance sound option. I've traced all the wires I could find and there don't seem to be any extras as one goes to the amp, one goes to a orange/black plug for power, and one leads toward the instrument cluster and then (I assume) it leads to the switch mounted to the lights on the roof.

But I can't seem to find any more plugs to go to the back of the radio. I know I'll need an adapter harness to plug into those plugs as I don't want to hack them up. So am I blind or do I need to be looking for the radio plugs elsewhere?

Edit: Here is what the harness looks like. I can't seem to find the large gray plug? I'm going crazy digging around for the silly thing.

[This message has been edited by Alibi (edited 09-01-2009).]

I am at work now, but this afternoon I can give you links to others Vibe radio installs.I dont have access to them here. I have one to put into my 88, but just havent messed with it yet as I am goinna have to route some new wires for a converting to an automatic for my 4.9 swap.

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 09-02-2009).]

I found this thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/094799.html

It covers pretty much everything I need for the install, I was just having trouble figuring out how the Performance Sound harness hooked into the radio when there was no obvious harness (which turned out to be cut off).

I think I'll just ignore the Performance Sound option for now till I can locate a new radio plug and amp. Thats not really priority since not all of my speakers work at the moment anyway.

I guess the only questions I have right now:

1. Do I have to have the "dimmer" wire hooked to anything?
2. My display looks like its missing two bulbs on either side... am I going to need to pop the radio apart and solder in some new bulbs? Or is there just one light that diffuses quickly enough that either side of the display is darker than the center?

quote Originally posted by Alibi: I guess the only questions I have right now: 1. Do I have to have the "dimmer" wire hooked to anything? 2. My display looks like its missing two bulbs on either side... am I going to need to pop the radio apart and solder in some new bulbs? Or is there just one light that diffuses quickly enough that either side of the display is darker than the center?

Check out this thread for wiring:
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/095495.html

If your lcd is dimmer to either side of the center, it sounds like you may need to replace some bulbs. The procedure is documented on the Genvibe forum.

Good luck.

I found a thread on the GenVibe forum about the display lighting: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=31538

Apparently there are 3 bulbs (Not LEDs) behind the display that like to randomly burn out. Apparently my left and right bulbs are dead and my center is working for now. Looks like they're soldered to the board too so I guess I get to pull the cover of the radio off (gotta trim it down anyway) and figure out what bulbs I need to get.

On the dimmer wire, it looks like its supposed to tie into something but If the radio display is on full power then meh, I'll leave it alone as I always keep my gauge lighting at full anyway.

quote Originally posted by Alibi: I found a thread on the GenVibe forum about the display lighting: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=31538 Apparently there are 3 bulbs (Not LEDs) behind the display that like to randomly burn out. Apparently my left and right bulbs are dead and my center is working for now. Looks like they're soldered to the board too so I guess I get to pull the cover of the radio off (gotta trim it down anyway) and figure out what bulbs I need to get. On the dimmer wire, it looks like its supposed to tie into something but If the radio display is on full power then meh, I'll leave it alone as I always keep my gauge lighting at full anyway.

I think the dimmer being off also controls making the LCD display brighter when when your headlights are off... You may not be happy with the results if you don't connect it.

Try this one for the bulb replacement:
http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=33363

Yeah, I just plugged it in and I can't see the display. I'll look into getting it hooked up...

I've been trimming and so far its starting to fit right. I need to trim some more off the top and bottom of the radio, wire in the dimmer wire, and then see if it fits yet.

For the lights, I think I'll just ignore it for a couple weeks till I get some more of the more important things done...

alibi,
i did the same install with the help of the two previously mentioned threads and help from the members (all wiring info is in the post). i made my own harmess with plugs purchased on ebay. as for the metal support in the back i just broke it off as it was faster. then i made my own radio mounts with metal i bought from home depot. probably the best way to remove the rear support bracket is to remove the guage / climate control surround and drill out the rivets (if you are good with a dremmel tool you can probably grind off the rivets and remove the brackey). it was just too time consuming for me and i don't plan on returning it to stock.
as for the performance sound option i installed a 30amp relay wired directly from the fuse block and used the power antenna output from the radio to trigger it.
al

Thats good info, I was thinking of removing the whole skeleton but just removing the upper brackets would be much easier. I have a dremel but the PO bent the bracket over the rivets so I can't get at it. I may try to break it off first though and see if I can get it.

I got a Vibe harness from Ebay and the GM harness from WalMart and wired them together.

quote Originally posted by Alibi: Thats good info, I was thinking of removing the whole skeleton but just removing the upper brackets would be much easier. I have a dremel but the PO bent the bracket over the rivets so I can't get at it. I may try to break it off first though and see if I can get it.

Don't remove the skeleton. Using a hammer, drive your biggest screw driver under the bracket until the tip of the screw driver hits the rivet. Then twist the screw driver to pop the rivet out. Repeat for the second rivet. I broke a small chip out of the skeleton doing this, but it didn't effect it structurally.

The screwdriver trick worked great! That sucker is held in with some pretty massive rivets!

I got the radio trimmed down enough to just fit into the opening. Everything works, but the display won't come on now. Looks like I need to pull the radio apart and check the bulbs but I think I'll ignore it for a bit while I get caught up on more pressing issues.

Ok, none of the buttons work on display either. So no lights or anything. I can put a tape in and it plays it just fine, then I can eject it and the radio comes on but I can't adjust anything.

Did I knock some wires loose or something? I hope I didn't fry it or anything...

alibi,
check this post it has all the wiring info you need. if you read down you will see i had the same problem. there is a ground missing from the new plug.
it is all there. if you need help i have to take my radio out this weekend (maybe monday) i'll check which wire i used i think it is the b-5 port.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/F...HTML/095495.html#p25

Still not working. This is really annoying... I think I must have fried something because it all worked before I started trimming the radio down! I plugged it in and everything lit and and I could control the volume and tuning. Now, nothing lights up and the volume and tuning knobs don't do anything.

Foooook....

alibi,
check the wires in the plug that goes to the back of the radio. i know i had a couple were loose and i lost two speakers. how would you have fried something if it worked before you trimed it? unless you moved wires around. i guess i should re read the posts.

Yeah, I dont' know whats going on either. It was working with the exception of a couple bulbs acting like they were out on the display but now nothing lights up and I can't tune or change volume.

BTW, I checked the wiring and I have nothing in the B5 port but it worked earlier. I'm totally confused...

Edit: Just got to thinking... I did pull the faceplate off to see how hard it would be to get at the backlights. I bet I knocked some wires loose when I did that... hmmm...

Edit 2: Ok, I pulled the radio apart and found that a small harness did come unclipped. I clipped it back together and tossed the radio back in the car and now I have control of all the buttons on the faceplate!

Looks like I'm back to figuring out why my faceplate won't light up like it did before. I didn't notice any more harnesses undone while I had the radio apart but if it means taking it apart again I'll do it.

So... if I'm missing a wire, how do I add one to the harness?

[This message has been edited by Alibi (edited 09-05-2009).]

quote Originally posted by ace5514: alibi, check this post it has all the wiring info you need. if you read down you will see i had the same problem. there is a ground missing from the new plug. it is all there. if you need help i have to take my radio out this weekend (maybe monday) i'll check which wire i used i think it is the b-5 port. https://www.fiero.nl/forum/F...HTML/095495.html#p25

These are the same instructions I used on my 88. All went well.

alibi,
you will have to add a plug to the b-5 port on the plug that goes into the vibe radio. i happened to have one of those universal harnesses for an aftermarket radio and the little metal plug was the same. i just took the connector and a piece of the wire connected to it out of the aftermarket plug, took apart the vibe plug, incerted it and put the retainer back in the vibe plug. then just splice it the the ground wire port L on the fiero harness. after i did that the lights worked....BAM
look at the diagram on the previously mentioned post.
al

[This message has been edited by ace5514 (edited 09-05-2009).]

Ok, so I added a wire to the B5 port. I didn't have a proper harness pin, so for now I just stripped a wire and shoved it down into in the hole and connected the other end to a ground on the harness.

Where do I hook the dimmer wire to?

I touched the wire to the 12v cig lighter wire and most of the buttons lit up, but the display is still out. I think that I only had one bulb working anyway and that it may have burned out as I don't think there are more than one source of power for the backlighting, unless I knocked another harness loose internally.

Edit: Ok, figured out a couple things.

1. I can hook the dimmer to the red 12v ignition wire and the backlighting comes on when the key is in the "on" position and then goes off when I turn the key to off. This, I think, is the desired effect.

2. I checked the volts across each dead display bulb and I get about 11.15 V. Granted this is my cheap $3 multimeter from Harbor Freight, but at least I know the bulbs are getting power but aren't lighting. This tells me the bulbs are indeed dead.

Which means my one bulb that was working when I first plugged my radio in has died. Oh well... according to the GenVibe forum, an automotive #74 bulb will work for the display so now its just a matter of getting the bulbs and soldering them in place. I'm not great at soldering but I think I'll be OK. If not, then theres always the electronic students on campus

[This message has been edited by Alibi (edited 09-09-2009).]