Parts Accidentally put 12v positive to ground. Now when wired correctly unit is dead. Is it worth repairing?

Hi Marc,
What you have is a "common ground" car stereo which means all speaker negatives will be chassis (earth) ground. The following is a common wiring diagram for vintage aftermarket car stereo.
Constant 12V / Memory Keep Alive - yellow

Accessory - red

Ground - black

Right front speaker(+) - green

Left front speaker(+) - white

Even though I am 99.9% positive this is correct, please use at your own risk as I cannot be responsible if you fry your unit.

Good Luck!

~Rich G.

Check the relays. The check for 12V at the wiper connector. Also check for a good ground between the wiper body and any metal surface. If they check out OK, but unit still wont run. Identify the 12V input to the motor. Connect it directly to the battery positive post. Unit runs problem is with the BCM. Unit does not run unit is bad or internal electronic controls is bad. Chrysler loves to run everything through the BCM (totally unnecessary) but it makes them a pile of money since many small things lights, etc run through the BCM and when they go bad the BCM needs replacing at $600 a crack! Nice scam huh?

try grounding to the body of vehicle

hi brian, the remedy to your problem is simple. your power wiring from the unit has been incorrectly connected to the vehicle. from the unit connect the yellow wire "directly" to the battery +12v positive line, and the red wire to a "swiched" +12v positive position on the ignition barrel, OR the yellow and red wires can be joined together directly on the battery +12v positive line. also make sure that the ground connection is 100% secure. cheers.

Hi. The red wire is your real positive wire and goes to your fuse box on a fuse with 12V only when ignition is turned on.

The orange one needs to get steady 12V. Plug it on an always alive 12V fuse.

The black wire is the ground. Put it on a screw attached to the frame, you can find one inside your fuse box.

If your are not familiar with all of these just twist your red and orange wires together (positive) and plug it to your battery positive + pole. Put the black one on the negative pole - of your battery. This is the easiest way to go if you have enough wire length.

Hope it helps!

Here is the breakdown of what wire does what:
+Red..............12v ignition
+Yellow...........12v battery
-Black............Ground
+Blue.............Power antenna
+Blue/white.......Remote turn on
Orange...........Dashlight/dimmer
Orange/white.....Dashlight/dimmer
Orange/black.....Dashlight/dimmer
+White............Front left positive
-White/black......Front left negative
+Grey.............Front right positive
-Grey/black.......Front right negative
+Green............Rear left positive
-Green/black......Rear left negative
+Purple...........Rear right positive
-Purple/black.....Rear right negative

Well, your initial problem sounds like a bad starter motor and now somehow there is another problem.
First, make sure the battery shows 12v with a volt meter. If its ok thenit may be that you accidentally hooked the battery up backwards...even for a second, it would have blown out a main fuse. Notice any sparks when you installed the battery? Or, did you try to jump it with another car and put the cables on wrong? If no too all this the check the smaller wires on the positive battery end to make sure none broke.
The main fuses are located in the relay/fuse box near the battery.
Hope this helps.

Positive Constant 12V = Yellow
Positive Switched 12V = Red
Ground = Black

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check where your power and ground is coming from. for best results i would stay away from factory power and ground, i would run the power (+12v NOT the switched 12v) straight to the battery and ground the unit to a known good solid ground. what your hearing might be interference from lack of solid connections. if your running amplifiers make sure the power and ground are properly connected and grounded as well. you can also try ground loop isolators on the amplifiers white and red wires.

If the unit is turning off when you turn the headlights on, check that you haven't used the illumination wire as ground.

The illumination wire will normally measure as 0V compared to chassis ground. When you turn the headlights on it will go to 12V compared to ground. With the headligts off, if you measure your constant power and switched power (aka 'Accessories') lines against the illumination wire you'll measure 12V and everything will seem alright. However, if you turn the headlights on and then measure again (now that the illumination wire has gone from 0V to 12V) you'll measure 0V, since the voltage difference between the 12V constant/switched power and the 12V illumination wire is zero - they are both now at the same voltage and no current will flow.

Once you find (or install) the correct ground wire and you should be right.