The Electrical Gremlins have Made their Appearance *solved*

[Lachrymologist]

So I'm doing starting a sound system install in my 99 30th Anniversary BD.

Disconnect negative battery cables, pull out the old head unit. Grab the new one's harness, a factory reverse harness, splice, solder, and heat shrink wrap all the proper connections. Double, triple check, everything is in place.

Plug the new head unit in, connect the battery, and turn the ignition to ON. Unit seems to work great, radio comes on, all speakers sound fine, and my power antenna actually works (it didn't with the old unit).

Well then I decide to turn my JDM projector headlights on. I had just rewired them that morning so that they would fit the factory 9007 harness. The male 9007 plugs I bought didn't quite make the connection so I cut off the factory 9007 female plug and put the new female 9007 (that came with the new male ones) in its place.

I ended up just cutting and taping off the low beam ground wire since I wouldn't be completing its circuit anyways. Anyways that was this morning and everything worked fine.

Then with the new head unit it, key at ON, and projectors on I hear a clicking buzzing noise coming from the engine bay, practically right at the firewall and directly in front of where the head unit sits.

It sounds almost like some kind of small motor trying to work.

So I pull everything out, check all connections thoroughly. Put it all back together. Key turned to ACC, everything's fine. Key turned to ON, still fine, then I turn on the lights and the noise starts again, turn them off and it stops, leave car at ON, then out of nowhere the sound starts again. Turn to ACC and it stops.

Anyways I checked with the old head unit, and no unit at all and the buzzing is still there, except now it comes on as soon as the ignition is turned to ON regardless of lights, etc.

What could I have pulled loose in that wire loom or any other ideas of what may be causing this? I've never heard this noise coming from my car before. Also there is a weird male connector with a white/green and yellow/blue wire going into it that comes from the same loom as the factory radio harness, but it doesn't appear like it was plugged in.

Lastly it appears like the radio was hardwired at some point in the past as the wires are connected to the harness with crimp connectors.

*edited by chuckthefuk for clarity! USE THE ENTER KEY!*

[r3v_v3ng3]

it has to be a electrical static noise from some kind of a ground wire. i would try ground the headlight wires that you taped off since its suppose to be grounded.

[harrymaneuvers]

grounding the low beam wire that you cut will allow the low beams to remain on when the high beams are activated...

[anothernord]

grounding the low beam wire that you cut will allow the low beams to remain on when the high beams are activated...

Exactly what I was thinking.

[Lachrymologist]

Sorry about the paragraphs Chuck.

I was under the impression that grounding the low beam wire coming out of the headlight assembly, not coming from the car's wiring was the key to low beam/high beam functionality with the JDM lights. I thought the wire coming from the car's harness could just go into outer space with no issues....

Anyways, I have a hard time believing that's the problem. The headlights are wired in the same way as they have been for two months with no problems. I just replaced the way in which they were connected to each other. The low beam ground coming from the car's harness has never been connected to anything except for the factory female harness since I installed my JDM lights, at the time it went into the female harness but was not connected to anything from there, now it is cut off just before the harness. I don't see how that would change things. The low beam wires coming from the headlight assembly are grounded to the chassis.

I have double, triple, and quadruple checked the wiring and the grounds of the lights and the buzzing clicking still occurs when they are completely off!

I have somewhat pinpointed the noise and it actually seems to be coming from near two wire looms directly behind the transmission drain pan (auto) underneath the car. One other thing I've kind of messed with while installing the radio was force shifting the car while it was turned off to make more room to get the head unit in. So I have mashed (gently) the shifter from park to 1st and back quite a few times while the car is off and battery disconnected. Could that have messed with some solenoid or trigger??

[slaytalera]

If the low-beam is NOT going to be connected to the harness, like in your example, the wire coming from the harness MUST be grounded for the low-beam to actually come on. Subaru uses a ground switching system, so you have 1 common power wire to each headlight, and the 2 grounds, one for low, and one for hi-beam, so when you (normally) switch from low to high, it just switches what ground is being used.

[Lachrymologist]

Ok so the headlights are not the issue. I reconnected the low beam wire coming from the car to the female plug harness even though I know that wouldn't do anything. The lights work like they are supposed to. The low beam wire from the headlight assembly is grounded.

I have a feeling it has to do with the transmission. I turned the car to ON and shifted through the gears and the noise changed quite a bit each shift.

Here is a picture of the random electrical connector I found next to the head unit harness.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/connect-1.jpg

And here is where the sound is coming from, note right next to the transmission drain pan...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/tran-1.jpg

[Lachrymologist]

Solved. Absolutely nothing was wrong with my headlight or stereo wiring.

So here's what happened. I had left my trunk and doors open for a few hours with the battery connected not thinking about it. Interior lights drained the battery and my forced shifting with the car turned off must have gotten some transmission relay, solenoid, or other component out of sync. The underpowered battery then didn't have enough juice to get the transmission component back in sync so it sat there clicking and buzzing away.

I discovered this when I went to actually start the car (can't believe I didn't try that earlier) and it barely started, then wouldn't start a second time.

So my first suggestion to anybody having electrical problems is A) get a multimeter and learn to use it, and B) make sure your battery is adequately charged and grounds are clean/sufficient.