Use this article if…
Use this if the factory radio is out, you've got the PVS harness in your hand, and neither plug will connect to anything behind the dash.
Quick answer
Nothing's missing from your kit. Our harness ends in the factory headunit plugs for your vehicle, so if nothing mates, an earlier aftermarket stereo install has removed or cut out your factory plugs. Either unplug that old loom to get back to them, or have an auto electrician reinstate the factory plugs.
Problem
- Your PVS harness won't connect to anything in the dash opening.
Symptoms
- You can't get either main plug to mate with anything in the dash.
- The plugs look a similar size but won't latch.
- You've already removed some connectors and it still doesn't fit.
- You can see taped joins or extra bundled wiring in front of the dash opening.
Cause
- Your vehicle's had an aftermarket stereo fitted at some point. That installer either left an aftermarket loom sitting in line with the plugs you're after, or cut the factory plugs off the loom completely.
Fix Step-by-step
- Look at what's actually plugged into the dash. If you can see taped joins, extra bundled wiring or connector blocks that don't look factory, that's an aftermarket loom from a previous stereo.
- If that aftermarket loom unplugs: pull it out completely, then go back to the plugs behind it. Our harness plugs straight in, nothing cut and no adapters.
- If the factory plugs have been cut off or soldered rather than plugged in: your vehicle no longer has them. You'll need an auto electrician to reinstate the factory headunit plugs before any plug and play harness will fit, ours or anyone else's.
- Once you've got the factory plugs back on the loom, our harness connects normally.
Notes
- Nothing's missing from your kit. Every PVS headunit harness ends in the factory plugs for your vehicle, so there's no adapter we've left out of the box.
- This is common on a vehicle you bought second hand. The work was usually done years earlier by someone else, and you've got no way of knowing until the radio comes out.
- If you'd rather have it done for you, we refer installers. We've used Second Stage Auto (Unit 3/17 Templar Pl, Bennetts Green NSW 2290) and Mackielec in Victoria over the last ten years, and they're who we recommend.
- Reinstating factory plugs is ordinary work for an auto electrician. It's not a big job.
Still stuck? Send us these photos
- Vehicle: model, series and year.
- Photos, wide and close: the dash opening with everything visible, and a close shot of the plugs you're left with, square on and close enough to count the pins. Shade rather than direct sun, and a torch held off to one side beats the flash.
- Tell us whether the old loom unplugged, or whether you found the wiring cut and soldered.