Car Stereos: aftermarket Cd player instalation, infinity gold, chrysler vehicle

Question
I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota that had the factory infinity gold system installed. I recently replaced the speakers and i am trying to put a Dual head unity in. I can get it in and make it play but my dash gauges stop working and i get a "no bus" message. I took out the dual head unit and my gauges started working with no problems again. Any ideas of why this happened or how to wire the new head unit so that this will stop happening?


Answer
Hi Adam,

I haven't run into this particular problem in a Chrysler vehicle around your truck's model year.  It sounds as though you have something connected to a data bus wire in the factory radio harness.  In a typical 2001 Chrysler vehicle, there are two 7-pin plugs--one black, one gray.  There shouldn't be anything in either of these plugs that can affect the gauges or data bus.  However, there might be a third 2-pin plug present.  If so, make sure nothing is connected to either of the wires in the 2-pin plug, and make sure they're not pinched or shorted. Unfortunately, I don't recall the colors of the wires in the 2-pin plug; they're never used in an after-market head unit installation.

Hope this helps!

Brian