Hey, just got my new head unit today, and i also got the amp bypass harness i thought it would be pretty easy to do and the head unit install seems easy, but now that ive looked at the amp bypass instructions im so lost. Can i just unhook my factory amp and sub and take them out or do i really need to use the bypass harness?

You really need to use the bypass harness.

However, its pretty easy and you dont have to take the panel all the way off. Just un-screw all the 4 or 5 screws near the floor, pull the panel out.. it has some tree clips on top and you should have enough room to put in the bypass without taking off the seat-belt.

Also, there's only one way for the bypass to connect so you cant mess that up.

i know but hooking up all the other ends of the wires is where im lost

I guess ill just hook up the new head unit like it says and the go from there on the bypass

Did you get the 3600 or the 4600. With the money you are putting into it and the interest you are showing, I would have recommended the 6600 because it has 3 preouts as opposed to 2 on the 36 & 4600, and Id bet you will be amping all of your door speakers down the line.

And If you are having to much of a problem, take it to one of the shops near by and id bet they would troubleshoot for free. When I had a problem installing my HU, I took it to a shop and they fixed what was wrong, It took us about 20 Min and it was still free.

Oh the wiring for the head unit?

Thats pretty easy:

There should be a harness that came with the head unit (A)
And another harness you had to buy to fit your car (B)

Set A and B next to each other, open your owners manual and the piece of paper that came with harness B and start matching up colors.. then splice.

IE: Find "12V Memory" on both papers, it will tell you what colors they are, and then connect them. Most of the colors will match directly, its just always good to check.

The 12V memory is probably yellow, 12v ignition will then be red, black is ground,

Then you should have 4 pairs on each harness
1) White, White/Black
2) Gray, Gray/Black
3) Purple, Purple/black
4) ?? Green, Green/black

Those are all your door speakers, they should match color to color with each harness.

On the harness that came with your head unit, you'll have a blue OR blue/white for a power antenna... the other blue or blue/white is the remote wire for an amp. Then you'll probably have a thing orange/black thats illumination.. that one can just be capped.

I think i got it all.... any questions just let me know

Ok so after i wire A and B together, what do i connect the other end of B to?

and actually there is a C harness, its the power harness it only has 5 wires...blue, black, white/orange, red and yellow

where does that one fit in?

ok, when you took out your factory head unit there were 2 plugs there right?

Do it the same was as i said above, using B and C as kind of "one harness". What ford did was split up the speaker wires from the power wires.

So B should have 8 wires; all the speaker wires
And C is for the power

You'll have to look on that paper to see what the blue and white/orange wires are.
-Assuming you have a power antenna, that would be the blue
-And assuming you have a dimmer, that would most likely be the white/orange


Best word of advice i think i can give.. connect all the speaker wires first. This gets 8 wires out of the way and makes things look a lot less confusing.

Then connect the red->red
yellow->yellow
Black-> black
then look up any wires that are left over to see what they're used for and connect them if needed. If they're not needed just put a cap on em.

oh yea, after all these wires are connected:

one end of this "new harness" goes into your new head-unit, the other 2 ends connect to the plugs you took out of the factory HU.

well when i took out my factory head unit there were 3 plugs...

You probably have the 6cd player in the arm-rest huh?

yea, i took it out a while ago, didnt see the need for it

That would be the 3rd plug..

The wiring harness you bought, how many plastic ends did that come with?

i didnt buy any, i went to crutchfield and it came with everything, the only harnesses i have are the amp bypass one which has 1 plastic end, the power harness which has 1 plastic end, and then whatever the head unit came with, had 1 plastic end...which i plugged into the head unit...which leads me to my next question

now that i have that harness plugged into the head unit, all the wires are on the free end, do i just chop off the old plug(was plugged into factory HU) and then hook the wires up like that?

now that i have that harness plugged into the head unit, all the wires are on the free end, do i just chop off the old plug(was plugged into factory HU) and then hook the wires up like that?
NO

You should have (or need to buy) a wiring harness for your vehicle. It will have one plastic end that plugs into the plastic plugs that you took out of the stock HU. The other end will be wires that you splice with the wire on the aftermarket harness.

Can you take a pic of everything you have (put like an A, B, C) next to all the parts and i can tell you what each part is for...

ok ive got pics now, how do i post em?

edit-im also calling crutchfield right now because i realize that none of those harnesses plug into the stock ones

nvm, i talked to em and understand now....ill take a pic of how its supposed to go if ya like, just tell me how to post

o damnit nevermind, i guess it doesnt fit can someone just tell me how to post pics and i will show you what im working with

if none of the plugs connect to the factory plugs then you got the wrong ones..

you need to have the pics on a website already to post them.. cardomain or something

i lied...

when you hit "reply" scroll down to "Manage Attachments" and you can upload them.


hurry up though cause im gonna have to run out as soon as my friend gets to my house

im not seeing a "manage attachments"...whats it above or below?

heres the problem....i dont have premium sound i have MACH audio

or at least thats what the guy at crutchfield said...and he decribed the plugs i had and it sounds right they have red faces and one is 16 pins the other is 8 so i guess i have MACH then?

The next section under the typing.. right in the middle of the tan box.. scroll down instead of hitting submit reply

read up one post

yea im not sure what the different plugs look like.. but if you have the mach set-up can he send you the harness for it?

He cant attach pics, if you are not elite, you cant attach pics. If you want to attach pics, go to cardomain.com and make yourself an account. Upload the pics to that and you can post them on here. I dont know how though, ive never had to do it.

It sounds like you are missing a wiring harness. I dont see why you would be. Crutchfield is usually pretty good about sending everything that you need to install stuff.

well they forgot one of the terminals that i ordered, and also i do have the MACH audio, i talked with the crutchfield guy about the different shapes of the plugs and they are sending me the mach harness...good stuff