Hey guys, I bought a jeep wrangler and the previous owner added in a new HU but decided to be cheap and hack the wires together rather than buy a harness. Every time I shut the jeep off, the radio shuts off, then deletes all the pre sets. I bought a new HU, hooked the wires up, and the same thing happens. Shut off the jeep, bam the HU resets and goes through the initial set stage. What is causing this? Bad ground? I'm stumped.

Its not hooked up to 12V memory/constant. There are two power sources. 12v ignition and 12v memory. Do you have any pictures to show how it looks?

What year wrangler?

Most all HU's have a standard wire color code.  Typically the RED wire on the HU harness is the key switched/accessory 12v power wire, the YELLOW wire is the constant/battery 12v wire.  The Yellow wire is the main power wire for the HU and must be connected to a wire that provides 12v at all times to prevent the HU from losing settings.  Think of it like an amplifier, the BLACK and YELLOW wires are the negative and positive power terminals and the RED wire is the remote turn on wire.  Make sure your wires are connected to the vehicle wiring accordingly and you should be golden.

 

 

I hate it when people cut those factory harness connectors off.  Dumb bastards.

helpful link:

 

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/vehiclewiring/1/yeard/Jeep.html

Can I post pictures from my phone? I took a pic of the wires... I'm not sure what would be the cause the yellow and. The red are connected with a good connection... It's only when I shut off the jeep that everything deletes... Turn the jeep back on it cycles through the radios set up function like it's new out of the box. Arrgggg!!!!

You have to post in image format. Use the photobucket mobile app

Its not hooked up to 12V memory/constant. There are two power sources. 12v ignition and 12v memory. Do you have any pictures to show how it looks?

+1

I can text the pics to anyone... Or email. I can't post pics here from my phine

Get a test light or multi meter or wiggy etc.turn key off fin.d the wire that still has power.hook the yellow there.now you need to find the wire that has power only with key on.red goes there

Ok so it's not necessarily the yellow to yellow red to red... Hmm

I could punch the guy that wired the first radio

I could punch the guy that wired the first radio

me too!lol very picky on that

I could punch the guy that wired the first radio

Might want to consider going to a junk yard and trying to get as much of an end as you can then wire that together, then you can just use a harness to attach your radio and you'll be sure everything is connected correctly. 

That's a good idea, although junk yard jeeps are very are in the north east, specifically NH.

I could punch the guy that wired the first radio

Might want to consider going to a junk yard and trying to get as much of an end as you can then wire that together, then you can just use a harness to attach your radio and you'll be sure everything is connected correctly. 

+1 Or this

That's a good idea, although junk yard jeeps are very are in the north east, specifically NH.

I know a lot of Dodges share the same harness as Jeeps too, depending on what year you have PT Cruisers too.

Nice, didn't think of that. If any of you audio gurus can spot a Miss connected wire from a mile away I'll be happy to text you a pic of my wires? Any takers?

Nice, didn't think of that. If any of you audio gurus can spot a Miss connected wire from a mile away I'll be happy to text you a pic of my wires? Any takers?

if you have a smartphone just upload it to Photobucket then post the link here

Ok let my try that

I will be heading home soon so if you can't upload the pics email them to me.

My email is my forum name @ hotmail

Does this link work...

http://s335.photobucket.com/user/millar1982/library/Mobile%20Uploads

I can't figure out how to make it not private...WTF not a fan of photobucket

Ok try this link..

http://s335.photobucket.com/user/millar1982/library/Mobile%20Uploads