Dirtysanchez 0 Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Difficulty Level: EasyTools needed: Flatblade screwdriver or similar for use as a lever, phillips screwdriver, wire cutters/strippers, soldering iron, solder, heatshrink tubing. (You could also use insulated crimp connectors, you'd need yellow and blue ones).Time required: 10-20 minutes depending on how familiar you are with removing the heater controls.Remember, disconnect the battery before attempting anything with the electrics!Thought I'd post this up as I've not seen it mentioned on here yet and I know it's something that irritated me! It seems that if you fit an aftermarket headunit it won't switch off when you turn the ignition off (something to do with the Golf not actually having a switched live for the factory stereo - how true this is, I don't know, mine certainly didn't have anything there).I found a few guides on various sites suggesting that you'd need to run a new wire to the ignition barrel to make your own switched live, however I decided against this for 2 reasons:1. I couldn't be bothered to remove all the trims panels etc.2. I don't trust myself to not cock up the ignition.So, I found a MUCH easier way of doing it (This guide is assuming that you've already removied your stereo). First you'll need to remove the heater controls:1. Remove the ashtray to reveal two screws, remove these too.2. Remove the control knobs (they just clip on, you can probably pull them off with your fingers)3. Remove the heater control front panel (again, it clips in but you might need a flatblade screwdriver to lever it out). Once the panel is off, you'll see 4 more screws, remove them too.You should now be able to move the heater controls around a little. Push the controls into the dash until they are clear of the screw tabs, then push the whole lot down and out of the dash (I've not explained that very well, but you'll know what I mean when you come to do it).Now, you should be able to see the plug that powers the heater controls, it's a big white one on the left of the panel as you're looking at it. Unplug it.The top wire in the plug is a thick red/black wire, this will be your new switched live! Simply splice a wire into this and run it up the dash to the stereo plug, where you'll need to splice into what would normally be the switched live wire (I can't remember which one it is off the top of my head).There you go! You can now switch off the ignition without having to remove your stereo facia every single time!Refitting is the reverse of removal, the whole thing took me about 10 minutes.Apologies for the lack of pics, I did this today completely spontaneously so didn't take any, but I'm taking the whole lot apart tomorrow anyway, so I'll get some then. Link to post Share on other sites
spadam 7 Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Never heard of this soloution. Easiest way is to swap the red and yellow wires over on the harness between headunit and car loom. Did this all the time when i used to fit audio for a living. Link to post Share on other sites
Dirtysanchez 0 Posted June 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Yeah, normally I would've done that, but in this case it doesn't work because there was no switched live on the car side of the loom. Link to post Share on other sites
spadam 7 Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Strange that well sonething new to learn and remember for future refrence. Link to post Share on other sites
craggsy 91 Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 In my old VR my stereo would switch of when i removed the key. But still worked with the key in the ignition after id switched off Link to post Share on other sites
Dirtysanchez 0 Posted June 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Hmm, interesting! Mine doesn't have anything where the switched live would normally be, and some googling has suggested this is normal.Having said that, I've discovered that this car is a bit of an electrical nightmare, which I'm slowly trying to sort out. It might just be that a previous owner has removed the switched live for some reason. Probably the same reason they decided to cut all the wires on the MAF (which I also fixed permanently today). Tomorrow I'm going to try and make sense of the wiring under the bonnet, there's about 20 different wires around the headlight area (aftermarket headlights, and not nice ones either). Link to post Share on other sites
Lukey. 381 Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Mine didn't have an ignition live and I ran my own from the fusebox Link to post Share on other sites
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