Radio Troubles
 

So i have a 2011 HHR and installed an aftermarket Kenwood Radio and some upgraded door speakers months ago. Everything worked just fine, So I decided to add an amplifier to the door speakers and worked with Crutchfield through the install. Again, everything worked fine, i just started to not like the Kenwood radio. So I removed the Kenwood radio and reinstalled the original factory radio. I then added an amplified Bazooka Base tube. Sounded good worked great. Decided to wire in the amp again with the factory radio installed. Once wired up the same as before with the Kenwood radio, when I reconnected the battery, i heard a loud beeping noise and all went blank. I removed the power, checked all the connections, fuses, wiring. No issues. I then disconnected the amp that i had just hooked up, When i connected the battery again, the radio now says NO VIN/LOCKED. So i disconnected both Negative and positive cables from the battery and let it sit disconnected for 20 mins or so. Reconnected battery and now the radio display shows the stations and stuff, but no volume at all at any speakers and the radio itself get HOT HOT HOT within 3-5 mins. Any thoughts? All was good until the point that i connected the battery and heard that loud beeping noise, since then, been acting crazy!!! And help appreciated.

Craig

Somewhere somehow , the radio was shorted out , possibly when you connected the sub. Anyone with a tech II scanner and knows how to use it might be able to reload the information into the OEM radio, but then again you could reinstall the aftermarket radio.

You probably thought that the "on" signal wire is power not digital. If the radio is getting hot you have let all the magic smoke out of it. It is now a boat anchor.

Hey I just had a similar issue I think it may be the same thing and mines solved. I installed a 7" flip out dvd player and replaced all door speakers with 6.5" 3 way components ( originally base stereo). My head unit is made for 4ohm speakers and the 6.5" components I used are 4 ohm. Unfortunately I left the factory tweeter installed & connected without thinking about the impedance difference they would make. Its wired in parallel with the door speaker and its 3-4 ohms so that comes to 2ohms or less final load. I noticed before mine got bad luckily but for a few days after 10 minutes or so of playing at moderate volume I would notice a drop in volume and bass would fade out. It was causing the whole signal to drop in power because my subwoofer lost volume as well. Since the tweeters are wired parallel you can simply unplug them and the door speakers will still work. As soon as I unplugged mine it was a night and day difference in volume level and dynamics. The front speakers were much less harsh and had much better sound quality. I also had no drop in volume or signal to sub after it warmed up. My front and rears are running on the same wattage now that just the fronts was with the factory tweeters connected.

Did you use 4 ohm or 8 ohm speakers? If you used 4ohm door speakers and have the factory tweeter connected it'd be a much lower load to the factory radio than it should be which would explain the overheating. The factory door speaker is 7-8ohms and with the tweeter 3-4ohm so its like a 6ohm load stock. I did my measurements with a multimeter so may not be the exact specs listed through GM.