I have a 1992 Toyota Camry, and the car was my mother's before it was mine. About ... 2-3 years ago the radio went out one day will she was driving. Anyway, last year I bought the car from me her, and have been using portable radios for my music and news needs. But, a friend recommended that I check the fuses just in case one of them is out, so I do. I checked all of them that had to do with the radio, and non were blown, so I changed them anyway (all of them, just so I know when the last time fuses were put in). And now the radio still does not work. The fuses I changed are the ones under the hood, and the ones on the driver side, but to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated.
The fuse for the radio is on the driver's side up under the dash. If you changed that one, you may have a bad radio. Is the cigarette lighter working? I believe it's on the same circuit. It's possible the radio is a goner. Manual here...
Yes, the cigarette lighter is working. I got a cellphone battery charger and used it to charge my cellphone, so that component works. I noticed that on the layout for the fusebox beneath the dashboard, so I changed that fuse anyhow, too--still nothing. Nicky, do you know if there is an online diagram on how to remove the radio?
I am pretty sure that the radio and the cigarette lighter are on separate fuses.
The first thing to do if nothing on the radio works, including lights, display, AM, FM, CD player, etc., is to check for power to the radio. If there is power to the radio, the problem is with the radio.
On line instructions to remove the radio are at the site Nicky provided and a simpler version is at
Pop the radio out of the dash and make sure it's actually getting power and ground at all the right pins on the radio connector - it might be a bad wire or loose connection somewhere. Rick or someone around here has the "universal color codes" for the wiring harness, and will chime in...
You have two power leads feeding into the radio from two separate fuse sources - there is a low amperage draw 'constant' 24/7 circuit solely for the clock and memory, it draws only a few micro-amps usually from the dome light circuit. There is a second high-power switched circuit from the Accessory relay that runs the main radio circuitry.
There is at least one chassis ground pin and wire that leads to the main interior body ground bolt on the cowl, and from there back to the battery. If the ground is open the radio won't work, the radio does not get chassis ground through the antenna ground or the mounting hardware to the dashboard.
There is the lighting circuit, two wires to the bulb(s), totally separate from everything else. Most Toyotas put switched +12V from the tail-light relay on one lead, and the ground circuit for the lamp goes through the dash light rheostat - if you see full +12V power on both leads, the grounding side is open somewhere.
This should get you to stumble across the problem - if not, and the radio is still stone-cold dead when you know it has power and ground, chances are it's got internal problems and you need a new radio. Unless you want to open the radio up and start tracing it out - if it isn't a bad power switch or something in the power supply noise filters you'll be doing board level diagnostics, and most people get lost real fast.
On a 15 year old radio it does NOT pay to have it fixed by a pro, even if you only pay bench labor and you do the Remove and Replace.
Oh, dear...the 'universal color codes' change every few years, and also can be different between models!
Best thin is to go to a Toy dealer and ask them for a print of the harness to the radio. It will give the colors used for the model and year in question.
And don't let them tell you they can't! They CAN. If they don't, or suggest letting one of their techs taking a look at it, go to another dealer or contact Toyota Customer Care!
Any dealer that risks your potential future business (selling you a new car) to extort anything more than a token payment (IMHO $5 would be reasonable) for something as simple as a wiring diagram print-out deserves scorn and ridicule.
The $10 a day plan at
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is a bit much forextremely simple things like that diagram, but isn't a bad deal formore complex subjects.
Ooh - Bookmarked! Even though I don't have one.
Got a scanner, a place to borrow the books, and some free time?
I would voice copyright concerns, but for all practical purposes the FSM books start getting hard to get after about 10 years, and impossible after 20 - unless a Car Club association goes through all the expense and trouble of licensing for making reprints.
Information doesn't necessarily "deserve to be free" but it DOES deserve to be available, accurate and complete, and at a reasonable cost. We can argue over what constitutes "reasonable" later.
If this stuff is backed up on the Web in multiple places, the odds of it disappearing is nonexistent. If you wait for the copyrights to expire (up to 75 years, if they don't get them extended again*), much of it will already be lost.
The law is very murky - Even though the Copyright laws were meant to protect the Intellectual Property Rights of an individual author of the work, corporate entities now own the works and corporations never "die" - but they operate under the mistaken impression that as long as they're in business they own that copyright in perpetuity.
Every time the early Mickey Mouse works (et al.) are about to term out and go Public Domain, the Big US Media Corporations get together and go to Congress, the lobbyists spread around some serious lucre, and they get the copyright terms extended yet again.
The US Supreme Court should address this, but first someone would have to send a test case through - and have more money than the corporate copyright attorneys who would be sent up against them.
Gee, I went off on a tangent again... Oh well. At least I hope you learned something from it. ;-)
I have the TSRM for a '90 on CD, and my thumb drive...if I can remember what the hell I *DID* with them!!!
Even the dealer I worked at didn't have to book for an '88 Supra! Oldest was '91.
I think as long as the Disney Corp is in existance, THEY should have the rights to Mickey Mouse. Walt created it and it was his, and Disney is the company he started! Same for anything.
What you have here is an Old Style connector in the car, and a New Style connector on the radio...
Where are you? Are you in the US? If so, you can go to Wal*mart and get a Scosche connector for Toyota, which will plug into your car harness, but has the same exact connector as on your radio. Then, follow the wires from the connector on the radio to the harness in the car. THEN look at the colors, and the chart that comes with the harness from Wal*Mart. The colors listed on the chart are the standard colors used by most radio manufacturers now, ie, purple for left rear, grey for right rear, etc.
Look here, this is for a Chrysler:
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but the colors are all the same (EIA Standard)
This is 1987+ Toyota:
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This is interesting, because the one at Wal*MArt has BOTH connectors on one harness. I have one in my Supra, but I'm not ripping the radio out too soon, and I think I sold the other one with my Tercel...
This lists all of Scosche's harnesses. Look at TA01B, TA02RB. These two connectors plug into the radio. But neither one of these looks like the plug on your radio, and I can't find the connector they sell at Wal*Mart!
Then (and I didn't tell you this) save ll the wiring, packaging, and papers, bring it back and tell them it didn't work (it WON'T!) but, you'll know which wires go where.
Good luck. There may be another solution, perhaps from Metra. If Wal*mart still has this connector, that's the place to start...
Oh, shoot, man! I thought you were installing another Toyota Radio!
I have one of those sitting on a shelf in my garage. I had it in my Chrysler LHS, but I'll be dammed if I was letting it go with a car they gave me $600 for at the Scion dealer. So, I yanked it and put it in my van (also a Chrysler, and I already had the harness attached, so it took all of 15 minutes.) I was going to put it in my Mazda I bought after I killed the van, but opted for an Aiwa I had hanging around because the Aiwa has a direct input (AUX) that I attached my XM to.
The only drawback with the JVCs is that it costs $50!!!!! for the connector to connect an XM to it!
I also have a JVC Aresenal in my Supra. Slightly better, a bit more wattage, and it plays WMAs as well.
Shoot, if you told me what it was, I could have given you exact directions! But, I trust it wasn't too hard, esp if you bought one of those adapters. It's really simple.
NOW, let's get you a 100W/Channel amp, some MB Quarts, and a Subwoofer at
300W (That's what I have in my Supra...)
I am thinking of installing 'your' radio into my Scion (that's why I bought the harness!) but I'm trepdating...the Scion/Pioneer unit actually sounds pretty good, and I've already upgraded the speakers to MB Quarts all the way around!
How much did you pay for it (You'll probably get mad if I tell you what I paid for mine on e-Bay...) ;)
Do you have a power seat? I put stuff like that under the seat, as long as it clears when my 'gotchung' (Chinese for tukas...) is in the seat!. Or, under the passenger's seat. These locations make it accessible. Or, if it's small enough, in the glove or the console. You give up some space, but it's slick!
$80? Not a bad deal! I paid $80 for the KD-6400 and the Arsenal together.
I think I will put it under the passenger seat. It will be tough, but it is the most accessible and a fairly good hiding spot. It is too big for the glove compartment.
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