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In another thread, I mentioned my center console wasn't working and after changing a fuse, it started to work again. However, none of the speakers in my car are working. So, I ended up digging around in my trunk and noticed some suspicious wiring once again. Here are some pictures I took. Someone please explain to me what is going on and whether I should attempt to repair the wiring, get a new harness, or just get an aftermarket sub and amp and get it wired to the suspicious wire setup that is already present in the trunk.
Cut aftermarket sub wiring
Cut wire and disconnected connection on the Bose speaker
Close up of the cut wire
Little white wire connected to the stock amplifier is cut and weird red plastic thing
I don't think you will get any much help over the internet on this...
Once someone has cut/hacked the factory wiring, there is A LOT that needs to be checked to figure out what was done, so it can be properly undone.
If you want to help yourself, you might want to download the factory shop manual from nicoclub.com and start to dig into the AV.pdf section.
The other option is to take it to a stereo shop and get a quote.
Good luck!
Hey Gilian, wasn't aware your also from Sacramento! You going to Sierra College? Over the past three years I've hired a bunch of people from their Mechatronics program. To echo what SonicVQ said, this is going to require chasing wires and signals from the head unit to the Bose amps. What is likely the culprit is the previous owner had an aftermarket Sub installed:
In this pic I've circled in white what looks like a severed signal wire. Infiniti uses balanced signals from the head unit to the amps. There is both a positive and a negative signal wire wrapped in a copper braid and plastic insulation. When the previous owner sold the car, He/She probably just cut the wires with knife or wire cutter. (I'll refrain from making judgements on the previous owner's skillset). The two red things circled in blue are wire taps. Using the service manual mentioned by SonicVQ above, you're going to have to trace out the signals those taps and cut wire coorespond to, then figure out What cut wire from the harness goes to which signal
This second pic isn't of high enough resolution to be sure but it appears the wires marked with the white arrows are signal wires. I think there might be a black and white wire wrapped in a copper braid but can't be sure. The orange and black wires are likely power and ground to the sub amp. Again, your going to have to chase down what signal is associated with each wire then figure out what pin in the connector they should be mated with.
Not too sure how helpful this will be but with the FSM'S from NICOClub being gone (again), here are the pinouts for the two amp connectors:
The main thing that sticks out to me is pin 20 (blue arrow). This white wire is the signal wire from the headunit to turn the AMP ON. I would reconnect this wire first and see what happens. For reference, with the headunit ON, the white wire should read 10V+.
Hey Gilian, wasn't aware your also from Sacramento! You going to Sierra College? Over the past three years I've hired a bunch of people from their Mechatronics program. To echo what SonicVQ said, this is going to require chasing wires and signals from the head unit to the Bose amps. What is likely the culprit is the previous owner had an aftermarket Sub installed:
In this pic I've circled in white what looks like a severed signal wire. Infiniti uses balanced signals from the head unit to the amps. There is both a positive and a negative signal wire wrapped in a copper braid and plastic insulation. When the previous owner sold the car, He/She probably just cut the wires with knife or wire cutter. (I'll refrain from making judgements on the previous owner's skillset). The two red things circled in blue are wire taps. Using the service manual mentioned by SonicVQ above, you're going to have to trace out the signals those taps and cut wire coorespond to, then figure out What cut wire from the harness goes to which signal
This second pic isn't of high enough resolution to be sure but it appears the wires marked with the white arrows are signal wires. I think there might be a black and white wire wrapped in a copper braid but can't be sure. The orange and black wires are likely power and ground to the sub amp. Again, your going to have to chase down what signal is associated with each wire then figure out what pin in the connector they should be mated with.
Sorry, not much else I can do to help
Hey there, thanks for the educated response! I actually go to the American River College in Mather for the auto collision technology course.
It sounds to me like I will have to accept the silent commute to college and back. I need to either get a master's degree in electrical engineering in order to understand any of the things you said in your comment, or trade my life savings for a professional audio technician to do some magic and fix the wires for me :/
All jokes aside, I really do appreciate you taking the time out of your day to respond to a random guy's cry for help on a random internet forum. At least now I know that all hope isn't lost and there is definitely something that could be done to get my audio to work again. I'll just have to invest some time and put in some effort, maybe even learn how to work with these types of wires and figure out how to repair them myself. Or I can just replace the entire harness and call it a day (or month). Who knows
Easier to cut and splice. Replacing the harness is too expensive (if even available it would cost more than the car is worth) and highly labor intensive. Start with the simple things first. As I noted before, the AMP ON signal wire is cut. This means that the amp does not know to turn on.
Look for this wire and go from there.
Last edited by ILM-NC G37S; Feb 28, 2022 at 03:46 PM.
Reason: Removed erroneous image
Easier to cut and splice. Replacing the harness is too expensive (if even available it would cost more than the car is worth) and highly labor intensive. Start with the simple things first. As I noted before, the AMP ON signal wire is cut. This means that the amp does not know to turn on.
Check this wire and go from there.
As uneducated as I am, that kind of does make sense to me. However, there is one thing that nobody here mentioned. And that would be the main Bose speaker that is apparently disconnected. The wires in this picture were very close to the disconnected Bose speaker, I had to reach my hand in there and pull it out to take a clear picture of it.
Never say that of yourself. You are learning. We have ALL been there. Even smart așșeș had to learn somewhere.
Look for the white wire that is cut. The speaker that is disconnected (woofer?) is only 1 of what, 10 speakers? If we can get the amp to turn on, the other speakers should work just fine...
That said, here is the connection for the woofer amp. That gray wire is what turns the woofer amp on, NOT the Bose (main) amp. So, disregard my previous advice
Focus on the other WHITE wire that turns the Bose (main) amp on. Find that, reconnect, and you should have some sound.
Last edited by ILM-NC G37S; Feb 28, 2022 at 03:53 PM.
All jokes aside, I really do appreciate you taking the time out of your day to respond to a random guy's cry for help on a random internet forum. At least now I know that all hope isn't lost and there is definitely something that could be done to get my audio to work again. I'll just have to invest some time and put in some effort, maybe even learn how to work with these types of wires and figure out how to repair them myself. Or I can just replace the entire harness and call it a day (or month). Who knows
No worries. As others have already pointed out we all started somewhere, and we all have our own unique skills. Trust me, if you've got the patience and skills to do auto body, you are more than qualified to chase and repair wiring.
As uneducated as I am, that kind of does make sense to me. However, there is one thing that nobody here mentioned. And that would be the main Bose speaker that is apparently disconnected. The wires in this picture were very close to the disconnected Bose speaker, I had to reach my hand in there and pull it out to take a clear picture of it.
Some good info from ILM-NC G37S. One thing to keep in mind if the amp-on signal is actually controlled by the body harness and powers up when the car goes from "OFF" to "ACC" or "ON" position. Since the amps are used to for the voice prompts in the car, they are not controlled by the head unit near the dash; so, look for voltage on this wire controlled by the key and not the head unit
The headunit supplies a 10V+ AMP ON signal via headunit pin #1 to Bose Amp pin #20:
I still say find this wire, reconnect it to the the cut wire at Bose amp pin #20, and go from there.
Last edited by ILM-NC G37S; Mar 1, 2022 at 05:29 PM.
Thanks for the correction, ILM-NC G37S. My G has navigation, not sure what the OP has but my amps turn on when the car is turned on. This allows the nav to "speak" even when the audio is turned off. Either way, the signal needs to be present (and connected to the amp) for things to happen
Suspicious Audio Wiring
