PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Hi,

Maybe someone can help me with my problem. I've got a '96 Olds LSS that I recently installed a Kenwood head unit into. This car has the steering wheel mounted radio and climate control buttons. Since I put in the new radio, these no longer function. I didn't expect the radio controls to work, since the new radio doesn't have that feature. But the fan and temp switches on the steering wheel don't work either. Also, the headlight dimmer switch no longer has an affect on the radio or climate control display - they are always full-bright.

I compared the aftermarket harness to the factory plug and there are an extra 4 wires that come into the factory plug that make no connection on the aftermarket harness. I assume that some of these are for the steering wheel radio controls. Anyhow, it appears like I have an open circuit somewhere. The extra wires on the factory side are as follows:
Pin 1 - Green
Pin 4 - Violet/White, Gray
Pin 5 - Light Green

Anyone else run into this problem? I don't have access to a wiring diagram for the car, but I'm hoping that I can jumper some of wires to regain the dimmer and climate control functions.

Thanks,
Jim

I know in the 92-93 bonnevilles, the Dimming function on the Climate control went through the radio, and if you swapped it, the dimming would not work unless you swapped to a 94 Climate control and changed a wire. The best bet is to get the wiring diagram for it, and see if you can bypass the radio dimming functionality.

the steering wheel controls might be a similar fix, you can maybe bypass the radio and hook it up to where the controls would go if they ran threw the radio

Anyone know if the wiring diagrams are posted on line anywhere? I guess I could open up the old radio and see if it's obvious which circuits the unused wires supported.

Thanks,
Jim

I posted previously on some problems I encountered when I installed an aftermarket radio. Specifically, I've lost the dimmer function on the HVAC display (96 Olds LSS). After some investigation, I've found that a violet/white wire controls the dimming of the HVAC display when the factory radio is connected. I'm guessing that there is a relay or diode on the OEM radio circuit card that enables the HVAC dimmer function. This violet/white wire does not make a connection with the aftermarket radio harness. Any suggestions on what to do to get my dimmer function back? I've talked to a couple of installers and they're stumped too.
Thanks,
Jim

I merged your topics, please don't start a new topic everytime you have a new question about the same problem.