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In a car with a factory head-unit how do you hook up an amp, specifically the remote turn-on wire? Car in question is a 2001 Grand Am GT and I was wondering if there was some way I could trick the amp into turning on without an aftermarket unit. Thanks in advance for the help.

i tap the radio fuse in the fuse panel just make sure you get the dead side.

The ignition turn on lead for your radio is yellow(according to my wiring info). If that doesn't work, and you have power antenna, check a dark green wire as well, thats the power antenna.

If neither of those work, GM's are notorious for having a brown wire in the HVAC controls that is an accessory wire. You can find this in almost every GM vehicle from like 90+.

Now that I think about it, your 2001 Grand Am probably has the new style harness, which means that your factory radio doesn't have an igniton/accessory turn on lead. You will need to either go to the ignition harness (which on the grand ams is super easy to get to, pull out the radio, it's on the left side of the opening, you can use orange or brown), or tap into the brown wire at the HVAC controls.

Anyways, always test with a DMM.