What Brian said, plus a couple of addition thoughts. If you don't have a
wiring diagram I'd suggest getting one. It's impossible to figure out the
circuit paths, especially on newer vehicles, without one. That said, I've
never seen a car or truck that had the radio display in series with the
rest of the dash lighting. Those have always been a parallel circuit in my
experience. And I doubt the system is configured so that the radio has to
be plugged in for the other lights to work. But without a wiring diagram
it's impossible to be sure.
I'd pull the new radio and harness adapter and see if that "fixes" the
issues. You may have made a mistake when you mated the Metra adapter
harness to the Pioneer radio harness. Those adapters often have wires that
aren't used, plus some color coding may not match. If you pull the new
radio and harness you stand a good chance of things working as they should.
I'd also take a good look to see if a wire in either the radio or factory
dash harness got cut or pinched.
I've bought most of my aftermarket car audio from Crutchfield for a long
time for several reasons. While they're not the cheapest, they usually are
very competitive, and their customer service and tech support are
absolutely the best. The radios usually include both mounting harness
adapters, for free, and their installation instructions are the best. Last
spring I bought an Alpine to replace the OE radio in the '98 F-150 we
bought around Easter. The guy I talked to suggested I use Posi-Twist
(*http://tinyurl.com/nonf7qg
<http://tinyurl.com/nonf7qg>*) connectors to connect the Alpine harness to
the Metra adapter. I definitely suggest these or something similar. So much
easier than soldering and heat shrink, much more reliable than crimp-ons,
which I've grown to hate. Using these a connection can be changed easily.
They are availble from other sources in a variety of sizes and
configurations.
My one Crutchfield disappointment is the Metra dash kit I bought several
years ago for our '05 Accord sedan. And my problem is with the Metra kit,
not Crutchfield. The kit replaces most of the center stack in the dash
including the HVAC controls. These controls never worked consistantly so I
restalled the OE Honda radio with a Spec USA iPod adapter. It looks like
Metra has a new version of this kit out which is getting better reviews so
I may give it a try. I really like to use Bluetooth to connect our phones
to the Accord radio. I can already do that in our Suburban and the F-150
P/U.
Anyway, did I mention get a wiring diagram?
HTH,
Ron
On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 8:59 AM, <eric@megageek.com> wrote:
> Scott,
>
> I'm not sure what it would entail (or even if it's possible) but can you
> put the stock radio back in for a test?
>
> Some of these CAN systems get crazy when everything isn't 100% like it
> wants. Especially if there are 'tie-ins' from other systems (I think you
> said the radio dims with the headlights).
>
> If it's a matter of removing some dash and changing out a harness, it
> might be worth trying. If you had to cut and splice wires to do the
> install, it may not be worth it.
>
> Just a suggestion.
>
> Eric P
> "Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational
> being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory." Ralph
> Waldo Emerson
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