Help! Installing new radio problems

Marky P · Post by **Marky P** » 28 Dec 2008, 19:56

I've been attempting to install an aftermarket radio in my brothers C5 today, but I've come across a problem. The car will no longer start. It appears that the car no longer recognises the key. Does this need Citroen to re-set it? Also it appears that installing a new radio isn't as straight forward as I thought. There seemed to be several 12V supplies, and some lower voltage supplies too. Anyone know what each wire is for? I've been told that there is no 12v ignition supply and one needs adding for the radio to work correctly.

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 28 Dec 2008, 20:48

An aftermarket radio shouldn't prevent the car starting unless you've chopped through a wire you shouldn't have.

Safest place to get a 12V switched feed from is to run a fused spur from the fag lighter supply.

Marky P · Post by **Marky P** » 28 Dec 2008, 21:41

Could I have possibly blown a fuse? I cut the original connector off & crimped 'bullet' connectors to them to connect to the cable that came with the radio. I noticed that two earths went to one terminal. These were cut then re-connected. Just wondering if the brief disconnection of these earths caused a problem.

wheeler · Post by **wheeler** » 29 Dec 2008, 20:30

There is a permanant live , an earth, a VAN+ feed (12v live when the network is awake) & the 2 low voltage wires are Data & Data/.
There is no ignition live, you need to take the ignition live from the fag lighter or glovebox light etc. Only 3 wires (excluding speakers) from the citroen loom should connect to the aftermarket radio. Perm live, earth & ignition live.

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 29 Dec 2008, 21:09

Did you disconnect the battery? If I disconnect the battery on our one it won't start until I cycle the central locking.

Post by **CitroJim** » 29 Dec 2008, 21:30

reblack68 wrote:it won't start until I cycle the central locking.

Bizarre

Maybe to reset the immobiliser by going through an alarm set and deset cycle maybe.

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 29 Dec 2008, 21:49

Yes, the remote central locking also operates the "alarm" (the alarm on the LX is silent and all the better for it) so presumably it operated the immobiliser too.

Marky P · Post by **Marky P** » 29 Dec 2008, 23:41

The key no longer locks/unlocks the car remotely.

Marky P · Post by **Marky P** » 29 Dec 2008, 23:50

wheeler wrote:There is a permanant live , an earth, a VAN+ feed (12v live when the network is awake) & the 2 low voltage wires are Data & Data/.
There is no ignition live, you need to take the ignition live from the fag lighter or glovebox light etc. Only 3 wires (excluding speakers) from the citroen loom should connect to the aftermarket radio. Perm live, earth & ignition live.

When I checked the wires with a multimeter, I found one of them did switch on & off with the ignition (12v). Is that the VAN+ feed? Also, what I thought was the per 12V (white) it dropped to 4v when the ignition was on. At this point, the 'economy mode' had engaged, so that may have caused the drop in voltage. And as I can't start the car, I can't get out of economy mode.

KevMayer · Post by **KevMayer** » 30 Dec 2008, 00:22

On the C5, once you re-connect the battery the immobiliser should reset itself after 30 seconds.

I can't remember where I read this, but, I've tried it with my C5 and it works.

If you try to start before the 30 seconds then you have to cycle the central locking etc.

Usually, If you Just try waiting 30 seconds before doing anything it will probably start ok.

However, in this case it sounds like something else has been upset. The radio is part of the 'VAN Confort' but I think it's teed off rather than in series. So, disconnecting the radio from the VAN shouldn't brake the VAN loop. Although the BSI won't see the radio and all of the networks meet at the BSI. Maybe the BSI is upset because the 'VAN Confort' isn't complete.

You may need a Citroen Dealer to change the programming of the (I'm not exactly sure what ??) to tell the system that there's no more need to expect to see a radio.

I'm currently struggling with a problem on my own C5 which has meant that I've been looking into how the various VANs and CANs are connected.

Try putting your old radio back in (at least connect it) to prove that everything still works.

wheeler · Post by **wheeler** » 30 Dec 2008, 09:38

I agree with most of the above. even shorthing the 2 data wires together or to earth should not prevent the car starting. The 3 VAN's are all connected in parralell so disconecting any of the components on it should not prevent starting. All of the components on the CAN are in series, disconecting any of these components will stop the car starting.
Have you been messing about with any wiring under the bonnet ?
I presume you have checked all of the fuses by now ?
The only thing i can think that you have done when you were butchering the wiring is popped a fuse for the VAN+ feed to the Com2000, this could cause a non start situation due to it not being able to read the key.
There is no need to have the radio de programed from the BSI, as long as it was switched off with the button on the unit & the ignition switched off before it was unplugged the system will not look for it.

Marky P · Post by **Marky P** » 30 Dec 2008, 22:47

wheeler wrote:I agree with most of the above. even shorthing the 2 data wires together or to earth should not prevent the car starting. The 3 VAN's are all connected in parralell so disconecting any of the components on it should not prevent starting. All of the components on the CAN are in series, disconecting any of these components will stop the car starting.
Have you been messing about with any wiring under the bonnet ?
I presume you have checked all of the fuses by now ?
The only thing i can think that you have done when you were butchering the wiring is popped a fuse for the VAN+ feed to the Com2000, this could cause a non start situation due to it not being able to read the key.
There is no need to have the radio de programed from the BSI, as long as it was switched off with the button on the unit & the ignition switched off before it was unplugged the system will not look for it.

Yes, butchering is the right word.

The only fuse that blew was the audio feed one, which I replaced. Is this one also the VAN+ feed? I touched nothing under the bonnet. Car is now at Citroens for them to sort out. And as I messed the whole thing up, I'm paying for it.

KevMayer · Post by **KevMayer** » 31 Dec 2008, 13:17

The feed to the radio is separate to the VAN +ve feed to the radio.

It looks like each device that's connected to the VAN has a separately fused feed to the device (eg. SAT NAV, Climate Control, Instrument panel etc.) for it to work as normal and then the VAN has a separate fused feed to the same device just for the VAN function.

The VAN fuses are found in the BSI which is accessed from the glove box.
My copy of Review Technique for the C5 shows fuse F12 feeds the radio and fuse F20 feeds the VAN for the radio.

Hope it doesn't cost too much.

Happy New Year.