I have some doubts about

Aug 21, 2008

- The illumination wire is usually orange and it should be connected to whatever wire in your factory car harness is used for that same purpose. You need to know which wire on your car factory harness is for that purpose. If your car does not have one, leave it dis-connected. The remote/power antenna wire is for turning on an external amplifier or for turning on a power antenna. If you are not using it for that reason, leave it dis-connected as well.

Since it is blowing a fuse when you connect the illumination wire, you must have it connected to the wrong wire. I do not know what wire in your car would be used for this reason, you never said what type of car you have.

You should be using a universal wiring harness for connecting to the factory harness in your car, then it is a matter of matching colors. You can get them at car stereo installation retailers, they connect to the factory harness and then you connect that to the radio's harness.

If you have problems still, you should consider having the radio installed by a professional. You may have an issue that would be difficult to resolve in a forum since your car is not available to check by anybody but you.

Aug 21, 2008

- Did your cars factory radio have an illumination adjustment on it? If not, you do not need to connect the illumination wire to anything. You will just have full illumination on your new stereo with no way to adjust it (that's how I like it). The illumination wire is not a required connection. Many radio's are like this when you put in an aftermarket radio and the original factory radio did not have an illumination adjustment. Sometimes the illumination wire for the factory radio is the wrong type for the aftermarket radio and it can not be used. It is OK to leave it dis-connected, just put some tape on the end so it doesn't short out against anything in the dash.

Do you have a power antenna (one that raises and lowers when the radio turns on), or an external amplifier for a sub woofer or extra speakers? If not, you don't need to connect the blue wire to anything as well. You do not want to connect those wires to any of the 3 wires you identified as ground. The blue wire for the remote/antenna wire will blow a fuse if connected to ground, it is a turn on for external reasons as mentioned (amp or power antenna) and it puts out 12 volts when the radio is turned on.

You have done a good job of identifying the wires correctly, don't let the fact that you have 3 ground wires make you think that something is wrong. Not all car stereos will be able to use every wire that the harness has. If you are certain that those 3 wires are all connected to ground, then you have your choice of what wire to use for your new stereo to use as ground. I would pick the wire that is the thickest. The ground wire should be about as thick as the yellow wire for proper installation.

I think that if your radio is working, you get sound frm all the speakers and it turns on and off properly and keeps the memory when it is turned off, then you have done everything you need to do and have done it properly. So, good job!!!