Thread: Aftermarket Radio

Does anyone have any knowledge on installing an aftermarket radio in an 04 and up Grand Prix. I’ve read that you have to tap into the ignition wire or some kind of accessory wire for the radio to turn off properly and not drain the battery. I tried looking on YouTube but there is no step by step videos. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

I know this is an old thread but since I just went through this on my '06 I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

I was not very enthused about cutting a hole in the dash to smash my knuckles trying to tap into the ignition...so the simple solution seemed to be to just by an add-a-fuse and tap into the fuse panel on the right side of the dash. I simply ran a wire from the aftermarket deck harness under the glove box and into the add-a-fuse pigtail. I chose to piggy back the add-a-fuse onto the airbag circuit so the radio will turn on/off with the ignition (since the radio circuit runs constant for memory it was leaving the stereo on with ignition off and key out). Very clean and simple solution.

Originally Posted by BadDecisions

I know this is an old thread but since I just went through this on my '06 I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

I was not very enthused about cutting a hole in the dash to smash my knuckles trying to tap into the ignition...so the simple solution seemed to be to just by an add-a-fuse and tap into the fuse panel on the right side of the dash. I simply ran a wire from the aftermarket deck harness under the glove box and into the add-a-fuse pigtail. I chose to piggy back the add-a-fuse onto the airbag circuit so the radio will turn on/off with the ignition (since the radio circuit runs constant for memory it was leaving the stereo on with ignition off and key out). Very clean and simple solution.

Also worth noting that unfortunately this way will erase memory from the head unit every key cycle. Personally doesn't bother me a great deal but worth a mention

Originally Posted by Bronco Boy

Radio's want a constant 12v and an ignition 12v. Did you not hook up the constant 12v? That keeps the radio memory.

You're right on that. Unfortunately, wiring isn't my strong suite. I was headed out on a road trip and didn't want to mess with an FM transmitter to play my music. That being said, any time I had things wired up I wasn't able to get the radio to turn on only with ignition. Everything would run on constant rather than only keeping memory. I'm sure its something simple that I have overlooked but haven't had the time to get back at it.

The answer to the post was more of a "in a pinch" type of answer.

Any more info on this? I tried installing an aftermarket deck in my son's 05 this weekend and could not find a place to tap the red wire....Any pics or guidance that would be helpful?