New head unit, audio cuts out when moving

I recently got a Pioneer DMH-W2770NEX head unit so that I could have wireless CarPlay in my 2017 SR. Wired it with the Crux harness and installed it. Audio sounds fine while I’m parked, but once I start driving, it starts cutting out every few seconds. I took it to a car AV shop and they said all the connections were good, so the unit itself was probably defective.
I returned the unit and swapped it with a new one, and it’s doing the same exact thing. The audio cuts out on all audio sources (CarPlay, regular Bluetooth, and radio), but everything else works perfectly. Does anyone know a possible fix, or should I return the unit and get a different model/brand?

 

Did you have any speakers replaced, or have they ever been replaced previously? It sounds like one of the speaker wires is shorting. Could be at the speaker or happening inside the harness itself. When this happens, it shuts off the internal amplifier to prevent damage

 

Never had the speakers replaced, but I just remembered that I used an add a fuse somewhere on the internal fuse box to hook up a dash cam a while back, I forget which fuse I tapped but I’ll check later. Although it never caused any issues with the stock radio I’ll see if I tapped into the radio fuse and possibly did a crappy wiring job that didn’t show up until now

 

That shouldn’t affect it, at least not only while driving.

follow up question, does it literally just randomly cut out? On smooth straight pavement? Or does it cut out when you hit bumps, make turns, etc

 

It cuts out randomly, although I noticed that at stoplights it sometimes comes back and doesn’t cut out until I start moving again

 

Does it seem like there is a specific length of time it’s on or off? Like it cuts out for exactly 5 seconds every time?

 

It’s random. I also checked for any exposed wires (I was sloppy with the heat gun when I shrink wrapped the connections and melted the insulation in a couple parts) and after wrapping them in electrical tape and factory resetting, the problem persists

 

Have you tried contacting Crux support? To me is sounds like program clash or something may not be up to date and it’s a firmware issue.

 

If the radio itself is staying on, it’s not likely to be software related. The speaker portion of the wiring typically doesn’t even touch the module.

Another thought I had was if the Cruz module is sending a mute signal to the radio via the steering wheel controls. I’m pretty sure on pioneers, it displays “mute” on the screen so I’m doubtful that’s it, but you could unplug the SWC connector on the back for a day just to rule it out.

my money is still on a speaker wire getting grounded somewhere, or the unit itself is defective. Being defective doesn’t make sense if it works perfectly when sitting still, and an issue that only happens when in motion is pretty hard to troubleshoot

 

Having a grounding speaker wire would cause some static in the speaker, but it's possible to still get sound from it. Even if one wire out of 8 was having issues, he would still have sound from 3 other speakers. Having all speakers stop working is more than a grounding speaker wire. Also, if it was truly grounding, then the issue would occur even at a stop. Most wires don't move at all in a vehicle unless they're dangling somewhere. It sounds like it's an issue with the HU not providing audio while moving.

If the 3g is anything like the 2g, there's a speed wire. I would see if that is connected correctly to the corresponding wire for the crux. Since it's happening with a second HU, IMO, I would look at the crux and its wiring being the culprit. More people use the Maestro RR/RR2 and I think it's a superior product to the crux.

 

The speed wire was my next thought. It didn’t look like there was anywhere on the crux harness to connect a speed wire, but the head unit had a wire for the speed. Considering the problem only occurs when it’s in motion, I’m thinking that’s where the problem might be, I’ll have to contact crux in the morning about that

 

I’ll give the SWC a shot. I didn’t find any shorts on the harness, and don’t think there’d be one in the factory wiring since the stock unit works fine. As for defective unit, this is the second unit I’m on since I thought the first one was defective and returned it. So I’m thinking the problem is somewhere in the new wiring, specifically the speed sensor

 

If the HU had a speed wire, did you connect it? I'm not familiar with the crux harness. Did it not have a speedwire in it? If not, you could just use a wire tap. Cut back a small section of the tape for the truck-side harness and tap the speed wire.

 

The HU has a speed wire but no spot on the crux harness. Any idea where the speed wire is/what color on the 3g? I’ve tried finding it on wiring diagrams and think it’s violet but wanna be sure

 

Are you running the speakers direct off the headunit or are they going thru an amp or anything else first?

If it were just BT or CP/AA I would lean towards a phone issue seeing as how you already swapped decks, but seems like a harness issue if the speakers are direct to HU. If the issue was not present before you changed something, then something that was added is the problem.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-stereo-wiring-diagram.429679/

According to the wire codes, the speed sensor might actually be part of the CAN wire. I don't see any mention of a separate speed wire. You can download the idatalink Maestro pdf for the tacoma and check on there. It does make sense that it would be part of the CAN system. I'm pretty sure the Maestro RR interfaces with the CAN system.

 

Update: I got on the phone with Crutchfield tech support, they don’t think the speed wire not being connected would cause audio to cut out, and figured the harness must be defective. Luckily, Crutchfield has a great warranty so the guy started the return process and is issuing a refund. I asked him about the Maestro setup, and he thought that’d be overkill for what I’m doing. I didn’t want another Crux, so he recommended a PAC RP4.2-TY11, which is more robust and has an OBD2 connector if I end up needing it.

I’ll post an update if that fixes it. Thanks everyone for the help! Electrical isn’t my strong suit

 

Best of luck. I still don't see how the wiring harness would be defective if the audio works if you're not moving, unless they mean that the crux unit is defective.

 

I only joined this forum to post on this thread for you, I don't even drive a Tacoma, I have a2017 Tiguan. Anyway, this thread came up in a google search while I as trying to find solutions for the same issue. Hopefully it will help. I figured it out. Not sure if my solution will work for you, but there is a pink/peach colored line coming from the Pioneer that is a mute line. However, on my car, that pink line connects to the tachometer. So any time the car would move, the tachometer would send pulse to the mute line of the pioneer. I snipped the pink coming from the pioneer and problem is solved. You can try it, but make sure you cut it in a way that it can be spliced back together if needed.