New Head unit has power but doesn't work

[prender]

Hi,

I bought a new head unit to replace the stock unit in an S-reg Ford Escort Finesse. I bought an ISO loom (universal for escorts) and connected everything up and the power button on the unit lights up - so I know it's getting power - but the fascia won't turn on and the unit won't accept/reject CDs.

The fuse is intact - plus cig lighter/interior light etc all work fine.

I think I might have discovered what the problem is - I just don't know the solution. There are six wires on the block coming out of the car that connects to the ISO loom:

Right to left:

thick orange/thin black = Perm live;
thick black/thin green = earth;
thick yellow/thin green = ??switched??;
thick orange/thin black = illumination;
thick black/thin orange = ??alarm??;
thick black/thin green = earth

I tested them with a multimeter and think I've worked out which are which but there is no reading coming from the thick yellow/thin green wire which seems like it should be the switched-live. I found this a little confusing as the stock radio worked fine - presumably it doesn't need the switched-live to work.

I'm a bit stumped as to what the problem could be. I thought it might have something to do with the main fusebox next to the battery, but surely if one of those fuses had gone it would have greater consequences than just the switched-live on the audio? Does anyone know what the problem could be - or how to test for it?

Any advice appreciated

[I Am An Idiot]

Plug the OEM radio back in, does it work?

[mike49504]

Did you remove the shipping screw from the new cd player?

Also there should be a reset button on the cd player either on the face plate or behind it. Try pushing it in for a few secs and try resetting the cd player.

Also if that doesnt work try unplugging the new cd player then plugging it back in push the rest button again then try powering it up

[ZippyTs]

Did you try and eliminate the radio as the problem by hooking the yellow and red wire to battery positive, and the black wire to earth? does it fully function then, or do you still only get power button illumination?

[wakibaki]

As you say, some radios have the power connected permanently to maintain their memory and they switch on/off when you turn the keyswitch (start). You can still turn them on with the power button. Some are wired so that the radio is always off when the ignition is off. Maybe you're missing one of these connections or have them swapped?

Do you get power on the switched wire when you turn on the ignition?

w

[prender]

Hi, Thanks for the replies.

I've put the original radio back in and it's working fine. The shipping screws were removed and I tried pressing the reset button a few times - to no avail.

I also tried swapping the perm and switched wires over on the loom but that just resulted in there being no power.

There is no power to the switched with the key in any position - upto engine on.

[prender]

Hi, Thanks for the replies.

The stock radio is back in and working fine. The shipping pins were removed and I tried the reset button a few times - to no aavail.

I did try swapping over the perm and switched wires on the loom but that just resulted in there being no power to the unit.

[mike49504]

Did you blow the fuse for the radio? check the fuses would be my first guess

[prender]

OK, bit of an update,

Thanks to someone's very helpful suggestion, I hooked up both wires to the car's permanent live - hey presto, the stereo works! All fuses still intact.

The fault then is clearly the "car's" switched live. That's the easy bit out of the way - now, how to fix it.

Where is the other end of the switched live?

I'm hoping that this will be a relatively easy problem to fix. Presumably, the fault is either at the source end of the wire or it's the wire itself. If it's the wire I'm probably screwed because it doesn't look like it's the sort of thing I could replace myself and would be far too expensive to have done at a garage.

Also, does anyone know if the stock radio (3000) is supposed to use the switched live? I've not had any problems with the battery draining (I think) but perhaps I'm driving it regularly enough to keep recharging it.