Possible to test a car stereo?

[bdcardinal]

My Silverado came with a Pioneer DEH-X3910BT from the previous owner. It won't turn on with the vehicle on. Is there a way to bench test one of these to see if it is the radio or the vehicle? I could always just get a new head unit but I don't want to spend the money on a new one if it is a vehicle side issue.

 

[ctechbob]

Sure, you can always power it up outside the car, but you'll need to pull its harness out with it. You could do it as easily as hooking the yellow/red to power and black to ground.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Pull it out and check if its getting power. Its likely a fuse, inline fuse, or someone spliced a connection that has now become un-spliced.

But yes, if you prefer to bench test, there is nothing magic about it being in the car. Just add power and ground.

 

[meep]

I’d pull it out but test the harness in the car,

Probably test black for ground
Then red and yellow should carry power … one constant power and the other comes on with the ign. You need all three for it to light up.

If those work and you end up replacing it, you might be able to buy same brand and the same connector work,

I did a lot of stereo installs for myself, my kids and a few friends back in the 2000-teens. I bought a *nice* pioneer that quit in 3 years. Of the 6 alpines I installed, 3 lost Bluetooth. I installed 2 kenwood and they stayed good. Alpine, I thought, had a more natural and seamless sound, the pioneer didn’t sound as good as older pioneers - but if I were doing it today kenwood would get a good hard look because (a) the last one I did sounded on par with the alpine (b) I don’t want to do it twice.