Ford Ka Mk2 radio change problem

[OldSkoolRS]

I've just spent a frustrating afternoon trying to swap over a radio in my 2009 Ford Ka. I didn't want anything fancy, just to allow me to use handsfree phone (for the rare time someone calls me when driving) and to allow me to play music from a micro SD card, rather than a single CD/FM radio.

I bought a facia adaptor which came with an ISO breakout connector. I wasn't lucky enough for it to work straight out of the box, so I did swap some wires around to follow the wiring diagram on the case of the new radio. In particular the 'switched live' and the 'power for memory' (ie permanent live).

However, the best I've managed is to get the radio working but only with the ignition off. As soon as I turn the ignition on the radio turns off!

Logically you'd think I'd just mixed up the switched and permanent live wires, but I've tried both ways (and an extra wire which has something to do with the aerial, I guess if it had a powered aerial). No dice.

There is a wire from the car's loom that is permanently live and another that measured 12 volts with the ignition off but then drops to around 4.5 volts with the ignition on. The original radio works correctly once I connected it back up, but I'm stumped with this new one.

I will take a picture of the wiring diagram on the case of the radio later, but for now the model is as below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ieGeek-Bluetooth-Handsfre...

I'm thinking I might need to find another switched live somewhere to connect to the Red wire on this radio (the yellow wire being the 'memory'/permanent live), but it seems crazy that the original radio turns on and off properly with the ignition.

I daren't wire it so that it's always on regardless of the ignition because I know I'd forget to turn it off at some point and flatten the battery, plus my wife sometimes uses the car and can't help but put the radio on for the shortest of journeys, so that would almost certainly mean it gets left on...

[Squishey]

Do you have a voltmeter? Is there a wire in the harness that only gives 12v when the ignition is on? Do you have a wiring diagram for both the car and the headunit?

[OldSkoolRS]

Squishey said:

Do you have a voltmeter? Is there a wire in the harness that only gives 12v when the ignition is on? Do you have a wiring diagram for both the car and the headunit?

Thanks Squishey, yes I have a voltmeter and the Haynes manual gives me the wiring diagram. The head unit has it on the top of the case.

There are three wires to choose from: One is a permanent 12 volt, another does measure 12 volts with the ignition OFF, but then drops to about 5 volts with the ignition ON. The third doesn't have any power on it, but may be something to do with other models that have an auxiliary input/phone connection that mine doesn't.

I suspect that if I take a switched 12 volt feed from the cigarette lighter socket below the radio, then this might work in combination with using the permanent 12 volt wire mentioned above. I'll have to pull some of the lower dash out to get to it, so will see if I get chance this week.

I'll post back in case it helps anyone else searching and finds this thread.

[ZX10R NIN]

Run both lives off of the permanent live, if the radio stays on with the ignition on then all you need to find is a new ignition live.

[OldSkoolRS]

ZX10R NIN said:

Run both lives off of the permanent live, if the radio stays on with the ignition on then all you need to find is a new ignition live.

I'm pretty certain it will, but will be easy enough to check next time I take the original radio out. I can solder a jump lead onto the facia kit wiring adaptor to confirm.

I'm tempted just to wire it like that, but I just know that I'll leave it on and flatten the battery or my wife will as she can't drive the car without putting the radio on, even on the shortest of journeys...

[OldSkoolRS]

Just to come back to this thread:

My solution was to use the centre wire from the cigarette lighter socket as this is a switched 12 volt supply. I used the red/white wire from the original radio loom for the permanent live to keep the radio settings/clock memory when the ignition is switched off. A bit of a pain to get a wire down to the lighter socket (the connector just unplugs and you need to remove the trim panel next to the clutch pedal to allow the lower console trim to be pulled away enough to get to the plug.

I bought a cheap eBay facia kit for £16.99 which includes an ISO adaptor and some radio removal tools. The later had to be bent straight to get them into the holes on the original Ford radio.

Pleased with the final result. It was only a £26 radio from Amazon, but the sound is better than the original radio and it plays my USB stick/Micro SD card and the Bluetooth to the phone seemed to work well when I made a test phone call.

eBay facia kit:



Amazon radio:



Installed and working:



I hope that's useful to anyone else that might come across this thread. I'd have thought there might be a few first car owners who might want to upgrade the stereo (even if something a bit flashier than my iGeek ).