RE: K-wire & indash stereo not a problem on *all* 98s - evidently

[Brian Wanamaker <bwanamaker@sofsol.com>]

I look at this list almost every day but I guess I still must have
missed something. WHAT? is the "Infamous K-wire problem?"

B. Wanamaker
98 GLX

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Matt Cleland [SMTP:cleland@stlnet.com]
> Sent:	Monday, August 31, 1998 10:53 AM
> To:	JettaGLX List; GTI-VR6 List; Uwe.Ross@pobox.com
> Subject:	K-wire & indash stereo not a problem on *all* 98s -
> evidently
> 
> This weekend I went out and pulled my indash CD receiver to check for
> the
> infamous K-wire problem on 98's.  It turns out that my car (built
> 10/97)
> has the same radio connections as documented in the Bentley, section
> 91-4.
> This is different than the connections posted by Uwe for "late" 98s.
> Mine
> has 3 connectors, black,brown & pink, with similar pin counts.  The
> picture
> Uwe posted has the same black & brown, and then a higher density
> connector
> with many more pins.
> 
> Anyway, I did have the infamous Metra harness with pins 3 & 5 looped
> together,
> with a blue wire attached to pin 3 ( on the black connector).  The
> Bentley
> showed that pin 3 was open, however there was a connection on my
> factory
> harness.  It was a black wire which actually came from the speaker
> harness
> and crossed over to the black connector, pin 3.
> 
> I now believe that pin 3 on *my* car is the turn-on lead for the Bose
> amplifier.  When I disconnected it from +12V, I got no sound.  The
> key to this discovery was a decal on the factory Bose head unit, which
> showed pin 3 to have a little speaker symbol and a "+" sign.
> 
> I was kind of aggrivated after all this, so I just slapped the factory
> head unit back in.  Back to the sub-par, no-CD, muddy tone I once
> knew.
> I do have to say that I like the fit/finish of the factory unit much
> better than the one I had in there. I may go with Zeek's suggestion of
> a Blaupunkt unit, next time I get a few spare $$.
> 
> BTW, I re-measured voltage at the data-link connector after I replaced
> the
> factory headunit.  Again, no +12V on the K-wire with ignition off, and
> +12V
> on the K-wire with ignition on.  Somebody on the list this weekend
> suggested
> that there should be +5V on the K-wire, but I get +12V.  As far as I
> know,
> no scanning of my car has taken place.  Maybe one of you adventurous
> types
> could go measure your K-wire voltage and report back.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> Matt Cleland					cleland@stlnet.com
> 98 Jetta GLX
> Black/Biber
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Matt Cleland [mailto:cleland@stlnet.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 10:54 PM
> > To: Uwe.Ross@pobox.com
> > Cc: gti-vr6@dev.tivoli.com
> > Subject: RE: [gti-vr6] WARNING: Carcomp Users and 1998 owners
> >
> >
> > According to the sticker in the driver's door jamb, my car was
> > "Hecho'ed in
> > Mexico" in 10/97.  I had the Bose system, evidently by Panasonic.
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> > Matt Cleland
> cleland@stlnet.com
> > 98 Jetta GLX
> > Black/Biber
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Uwe Ross [mailto:Uwe.Ross@pobox.com]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 10:03 PM
> >
> > >
> > > What's the build date on your car?  Did it have the new "late 98"
> > > radio?  If not, you may not even have a k=wire in the radio
> harness and
> > > have nothing to worry about.
> > >
> > > -Uwe-
> > >