Hi Richard; Randy here. I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much help, but I can offer a few ideas. As Ken mentioned, we don't have service information for your model. Suzuki left the U.S. Market around 2013. First, what year was your Swift? A lot of changes have been taking place in all car brands in relation to computer controls for everything that never needed them before. This especially includes radios. Most manufacturers kept the same connector style for many years, even multiple decades, when the radios could be interchanged between models and years. When a significant change occurred causing a radio to not work in another model, it got a different connector. That forced us to install a radio that was compatible with the vehicle, but that only applies to original equipment radios.
When you switch to any aftermarket model, sales would be way too low if they made a radio model for every different car model. Instead, they have to offer adapter harnesses or make some kind of modification available so their radio will work in many different car brands and models. One clinker you can run into is one car model and year can have two or three different radios available, each with different dash wiring that is used along with other options packages. For example, some use a touch screen that includes heater controls, while a different version has regular heater and AC knobs or controls that have nothing to do with the radio. Some radios need a separate module to communicate with steering wheel controls. While a different model radio might plug in, some functions won't be available if the vehicle doesn't have that module.
One of the more common headaches was GM started building their Body Computers into their radios on some 2002 trucks. If you removed the original radio, you'd lose the audible turn signal click, and other features wouldn't work. That typically included loss of heater controls and cruise control. The aftermarket industry countered that by making radio relocation kits. You mounted the original radio under the passenger seat with the provided harness, then cut the speaker wires and ran them to the new radio.
Now things have gotten even worse on many newer models. The radio has become the master computer. When you turn on the ignition switch, you're only turning on the radio. Once it powers up and verifies it has the right VIN, it tells all the other computers to turn on. When you have to replace that radio, it must be done by the dealer with the same model, and it's horribly expensive.
The next thing to consider is with the wiring, there used to be a 12-volt constant wire to keep the clock and station presets alive all the time, and the switched 12-volt from the ignition switch to turn the radio on. As a point of interest, the radios could act a number of different ways when that 12-volt memory feed was missing. Some radios would play just fine, but the clock would revert to 12:00 or 10:00 each time the ignition switch was turned on. You'd also have to reselect your station each time. Some models would appear to tune normally, but there would be no sound. Some models were totally dead. As for diagnosing that missing memory 12 volts, it was almost always tied into another circuit that is easy to observe. Chrysler, for example, always tied it into the interior lights circuit, so if the dome light fuse blew, the radio would be missing the memory 12 volts. Import manufacturers often used the horn or cigarette lighter circuit for the radio's memory 12 volts.
Another change that is rather common on newer models is the lack of a switched 12 volt feed to the radio. This is why I asked the year of your Swift. Since the late '90s or early 2000s, radios have been connected to one of the "data busses" on the vehicles. Most commonly that's a twisted pair of wires the computers use to talk back and forth to each other. The radio will have only the 12-volt memory wire; no switched 12 volts. That memory wire is the power source for the radio. The radio turns on when it receives a digital "turn-on" signal, usually from the Body Computer. Those radios will not work without that digital message, and that can include in other models by the same manufacturer in the same year.
All of these tricks and "gotchas" are designed to prevent you from replacing the original radio, and to force you to go to the dealer when you have a radio problem. My first suggestion is if you're trying to install an aftermarket radio because it has features you want, talk with the people at the dealer's parts department. Your vehicle might have a base, or low-end radio model. If it was available with a higher-end model, they may be able to order that for you and install and program it if necessary. My ten-year-old Ram truck has so much stuff on the radio that I don't know what to do with or have any interest in. My friend's 2022 model's radio has a ridiculous amount of technology and features. Once the "wow" wore off, all he uses is the radio. Both of our radios have GPS, but mine is not activated. The cost would be $550.00 with updates typically not supported after around ten years. That expensive feature would see very little use, and would be lost if the truck is sold or scrapped. Instead, a portable GPS unit costs less than a third as much, gets free lifetime updates, and can be taken in any vehicle.
Sound quality used to be something to consider, with many people buying the upgrade package with amplifiers and more speakers. For quite some time now almost all brands and models come with very nice sounding radios or they're available. No need to look to the aftermarket industry for that.
For my final comment of value, if you can find the radio diagram for the Swift and for your new vehicle, and post them, I can try to see if the radio should work in both of them. One big problem I have is interpreting all the abbreviations used for the various wires. Just because different abbreviations are used on two diagrams, doesn't necessarily mean they have different functions. You have to try to figure them out by looking at the circuity. I'm not very good at that. Remember too that almost everything uses data busses now, but besides connecting the two wires to the two wires on the new radio, the digital signals have to match. If the wrong signal is received, it will just be ignored by the radio.
If you can't find the original radio diagrams, try to post the diagram for the aftermarket radio. I should be able to figure out if it can run on just two 12 volt feeds or if it must get a digital turn-on signal.
Thursday, October 17th, 2024 AT 4:15 PM
