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Standard Radio keeps asking for code :( HELP



  BG Clio 182
Just took a shitty aftermarket radio out of my car and reinstalled the standard unit. All works fine. Asked for my code, which i gladly entered from an original bill of sale. Took it and everything works as it should. I turn the car off and on and it wants the code everytime. HELP!

Car is a 182 55 plate. Has 2 black connectors on the back and one yellow type one. plugged the aerial in. Finds stations fine.

Mods - sorry if this is in the wrong seciton, i didnt know where best to put it :(
 

Ol’ Tarby

ClioSport Moderator
  Clio 220 Trophy
Just took a shitty aftermarket radio out of my car and reinstalled the standard unit. All works fine. Asked for my code, which i gladly entered from an original bill of sale. Took it and everything works as it should. I turn the car off and on and it wants the code everytime. HELP!

Car is a 182 55 plate. Has 2 black connectors on the back and one yellow type one. plugged the aerial in. Finds stations fine.

Mods - sorry if this is in the wrong seciton, i didnt know where best to put it 😧
Sounds like it doest have a permenant live? Does it only come on with the ignition?
 
  BG Clio 182
Sounds like it doest have a permenant live? Does it only come on with the ignition?

The radio works when the car is running, or when the key is turned. If i dont lock the car but take the key out im pretty sure it will not ask for the code. Once i lock up and unlock and retry (as if going to the car again) it asks for the code!
 

Sam

North East
ClioSport Area Rep
The radio works when the car is running, or when the key is turned. If i dont lock the car but take the key out im pretty sure it will not ask for the code. Once i lock up and unlock and retry (as if going to the car again) it asks for the code!
James is right. By the sound of it your radio doesnt have the permanent live coming from the battery.

If you unlock the car and turn the radio on without putting the key in does it work ?

Sam!
 
  BG Clio 182
James is right. By the sound of it your radio doesnt have the permanent live coming from the battery.

If you unlock the car and turn the radio on without putting the key in does it work ?

Sam!

No mate, if i unlock the car, keys in my hand not in the barrel, nothing happens when i press the on button.
 

BoatNonce

ClioSport Club Member
It sounds more like the permanent and switched lives have been swapped around, which is not uncommon.

Sam, I think it needs both feeds to turn on, so if you don't have the switched live on it may still not work on the perma live alone.

Multimeter the connections and see what you get.
 
  BG Clio 182
It sounds more like the permanent and switched lives have been swapped around, which is not uncommon.
Help, what do i do? this just needs sorting. As absolutely basically as you can explain it. I'm not electrically or mechanically proficient but will work off detailed insturctions because im usless lol.
 
  BG Clio 182
It sounds more like the permanent and switched lives have been swapped around, which is not uncommon.

Sam, I think it needs both feeds to turn on, so if you don't have the switched live on it may still not work on the perma live alone.

Multimeter the connections and see what you get.

Sorry the rest of your reply hadn't come up. What should i do then? If i unplug the radio theres like two things that go into a like unit that i had to swap from a different adpator when using the aftermarket unit. This allows connection into my standard radio. What do i swap or measure etc? Also just got like a yellow little bundle into the radio aswell and the aerial obviously.
 

BoatNonce

ClioSport Club Member
Okay, where is this fuse then? under the bonnet or at the passenger side and what does it look like?

On a hunt to find an answer on here i kept seeing a lot of 'swap the red and yellow wire'. What does that mean?

It'll be in the fuse box on the passenger end of the dash.

Are you any good at defusing bombs? (Joking aside, look at the wires you connected the stereo into and there'll be a yellow and a red wire amongst them. You can pop them out of the connector and swap them around, as some aftermarket stereos are wired up that way round.)
 
  BG Clio 182
It'll be in the fuse box on the passenger end of the dash.

Are you any good at defusing bombs? (Joking aside, look at the wires you connected the stereo into and there'll be a yellow and a red wire amongst them. You can pop them out of the connector and swap them around, as some aftermarket stereos are wired up that way round.)

I am genuinely not taking the piss so don't be annoyed lol, i just plugged two big ends full of wires into two big connectors. They went into the radio :/ WHere are these wires. If theyre in the big bunches how the hell do they come out of the big connector?
 

BoatNonce

ClioSport Club Member
That's alright, I'm not annoyed :)

Out of those two big ends full of wires, there will be one with less wires connected to it. That is the power connector, which is what will have the red and yellow wires connected to it. If it wasn't such a complete ballache to remove my stereo I'd show you which one. Likewise I can't remember offhand how the wires come out of the connector - they might be on little tabs that need prying out with a screwdriver to release them, but I'd need to see the connectors first to confirm that.

I'd check that fuse first though.
 
  BG Clio 182
That's alright, I'm not annoyed :smile:

Out of those two big ends full of wires, there will be one with less wires connected to it. That is the power connector, which is what will have the red and yellow wires connected to it. If it wasn't such a complete ballache to remove my stereo I'd show you which one. Likewise I can't remember offhand how the wires come out of the connector - they might be on little tabs that need prying out with a screwdriver to release them, but I'd need to see the connectors first to confirm that.

I'd check that fuse first though.

Sorry. Right iv'e looked in the fuse box and i have f**k all clue what i'm looking at. On the back of the plate i cant see the symbol he's even on about, but all fuses look present. As well, the car radio was working perfectly fine before on the aftermarket so i presume the fuse is okay? Is the fuse the one with like a radio symbol with music coming out?

As well. Right, these red and yellow wires, do i change them on the adaptor piece that goes from the car to the stereo, or on the main bundles that actually come from the car to the adpator?

Genuinly i am so f**king sorry. I'm not trolling lol.
 

BoatNonce

ClioSport Club Member
Genuinly i am so f**king sorry. I'm not trolling lol.
Seriously don't be. You aren't annoying anyone or upsetting anyone by asking genuine questions!

The fuse with the radio symbol is for the ignition live as far as I know, the main power for the stereo runs through that whereas the permanent live is only a trickle of power to keep the clock going.

I would have thought they'd be changed over at the connector, or the bundles as you say.
 
  BG Clio 182
Seriously don't be. You aren't annoying anyone or upsetting anyone by asking genuine questions!

The fuse with the radio symbol is for the ignition live as far as I know, the main power for the stereo runs through that whereas the permanent live is only a trickle of power to keep the clock going.

I would have thought they'd be changed over at the connector, or the bundles as you say.

So to recap (I'll do this tomorrow when i can see)

I should open the fuse panel - passenger side
look for ? (what symbol should i look for then? if the radio symbol isnt actually the radio permanent live thing lol)
When i locate the fuse what should i do? What amp will the fuse be?

If this doesnt fix it i should take radio out. Swap red and yellow wires. these are the wires going directly into the radio, not the wires coming from the actual car itself.

Should one of these things fix it then?

Sorry. It's just when you know something and someone is clueless it can be annoying, lol. I'm much the same with a few things i'm particulalrly knowledgable on lol, just don't want to piss you off because you clearly know what you're on about and i'm sure you can help lol!
 
  BG Clio 182
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@McGherkin these are pictures of the aftermarket connectors for the aftermarket head unit. The way the wires go into the bundles are the same though so will this help you tell me how to get the wires out? And confirm the adaptor similar to this, plugged in right now is the thing I should be swapping the wires on and not the main thick lead thing that is actually physically wired from the car?
 

BoatNonce

ClioSport Club Member
The first pic shows the two connectors, the same as what you've got in the car, right? On the lower of the two connectors are the red and yellow wires which may need to be swapped on the car end. You could swap them on the stereo side if it's easier, it doesn't matter. Have a look at the wires on both sides of the connection though and see if it's red -> red and yellow -> yellow (correct), rather than red -> yellow and vice versa (incorrect).
 
  BG Clio 182
The first pic shows the two connectors, the same as what you've got in the car, right? On the lower of the two connectors are the red and yellow wires which may need to be swapped on the car end. You could swap them on the stereo side if it's easier, it doesn't matter. Have a look at the wires on both sides of the connection though and see if it's red -> red and yellow -> yellow (correct), rather than red -> yellow and vice versa (incorrect).

Ah. So, if the car has a red wire coming out of the main loom, the corresponding end of the connector plugged into that main loom must also be red, i.e red to red?

RED from car to RED connector?

I just genuinely have never done anything to do with electrics before!

Why the hell would they have been swapped in the first place? and how do i get the bloddy wires out of the big connectors?
 

Sam

North East
ClioSport Area Rep
Ah. So, if the car has a red wire coming out of the main loom, the corresponding end of the connector plugged into that main loom must also be red, i.e red to red?

RED from car to RED connector?

I just genuinely have never done anything to do with electrics before!

Why the hell would they have been swapped in the first place? and how do i get the bloddy wires out of the big connectors?
I think sometimes they need to be swapped for when people have after market head units.

Off the top of my head, i think the pins just pull out of that big connector. Try giving them a little tug.
 
  BG Clio 182
I think sometimes they need to be swapped for when people have after market head units.

Off the top of my head, i think the pins just pull out of that big connector. Try giving them a little tug.

Because I have the aftermarket connector here, I've tried tugging them and the wires wont come out lol. How the f**k do you get them out :(.

I'm such a failure.
 

BoatNonce

ClioSport Club Member
Yeah pretty much.

The wires look they might just pull out (bringing the metal pin with it), but check the long sides of the connector for tabs. The aftermarket connectors may not be the same as the ones in the car.

Some cars are wired with the permanent live and switched live the other way around (so you can have the stereo on without the keys in it), so aftermarket stereos also sometimes come wired that way around too. It's common advice for stereo manuals to advise swapping them over although most people do it on the stereo side rather than the car side!
 
  BG Clio 182
Yeah pretty much.

The wires look they might just pull out (bringing the metal pin with it), but check the long sides of the connector for tabs. The aftermarket connectors may not be the same as the ones in the car.

Some cars are wired with the permanent live and switched live the other way around (so you can have the stereo on without the keys in it), so aftermarket stereos also sometimes come wired that way around too. It's common advice for stereo manuals to advise swapping them over although most people do it on the stereo side rather than the car side!

I'm pretty sure i get it. Am i right in thinking that the cars main ouptut wires are pretty much fixed. But, even if someone had gone to the effort of swapping the cars red and yellow wires, that if i mimic this on the stereo side, it wont matter becasue im still going red to red yellow to yellow?

Oh and iv'e just really yanked them and can confirm they do indeed come out, bringing pin with it. Feels a bit brutish like but they do come out so i shall try this tomorrow :)

Don't think it'll be the fuse then by the sounds :)
 


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