no audio after installing new stereo

[bigben805]

I have a 1991 Ford Explorer 4x4, all stock (and in need of work). I bought it with an after market stereo installed as well as some type of audio leveling device that went out on me a few months after I had it. So I took out the audio leveling thing and connected the stereo straight through to the speakers. They worked fine, but were now louder because they were gettingthe full power of the stereo now.

I wanted to upgrade to a new stereo so a friend gave me one to use. After I installed it I heard no sound from the speakers. The stereo worked fine, it tuned in stations, played cd's, but no sound came out of the speakers. I thought it was the stereo so i threw it away.

Now a month later I got some money together to buy a new stereo. After I installed it I had the same problem. no audio! I am 99% sure that the wires are all installed correctly. There is a wire harness connected to the original wires so that all the wire colors now match up. I also matched up all the speaker wires. I'm wondering why this is happening. I checked all the fuses under the dash and they are all good. So I'm stumped . I am planning on pulling out the stereo this weekend and seeing if maybe I unplugged something behind the stereo inside the dashboard.

 

[Anime]

Depending on what the original stock stereo was, it could be a variety of things.

If it had the premium stereo, with either an amplifier or amplifier and subwoofer, then it's likely that the amp is still back there, and you're either not connecting the speaker wires correctly, or you're just not using the right wire for the remote turn-on wire or don't have the remote turn-on wire connected because you don't know about the amp.

If it has a factory subwoofer in the rear, it's got amps.

If it doesn't have a subwoofer, look through the seatbelt hole on the rear passenger side, into the top of the fenderwell. If you see a silver shiny heatsink, you have an amp and need to be sure the wires are connected correctly if you want to use it. Otherwise, you want to buy speaker wire and run new wire to each of the speakers directly from the receiver. This is better in a lot of ways because the amp has poor quality, and the wires going to it don't handle the full power of speakers all that well, plus it's a really bad idea to send an already amplified signal from the speaker wires into the non-adjustable-input level factory amp.

If yours doesn't have a amp, then it might have come with the base stereo and the issue might just be the wiring not matching up with the harness. Just because wires are the same color doesn't mean that's correct to connect them together.

With an aftermarket stereo, there's always the possibility the previous owner or whoever they had install the stereo took some liberties and did some custom wiring or modifications, in which case you'll have to figure out what's what or post pics and info to get more detailed help specific to what you have.

If you just want sound from 4 speakers, it's easiest to just use the wiring harness to get power and ignition wires connected, then run your own speaker wire to the doors and back to the harness. This takes all the other wiring out of the equation, and makes for an easier install, better sound, and easy troubleshooting.

 

[bigben805]

Depending on what the original stock stereo was, it could be a variety of things.

If it had the premium stereo, with either an amplifier or amplifier and subwoofer, then it's likely that the amp is still back there, and you're either not connecting the speaker wires correctly, or you're just not using the right wire for the remote turn-on wire or don't have the remote turn-on wire connected because you don't know about the amp.

If it has a factory subwoofer in the rear, it's got amps.

If it doesn't have a subwoofer, look through the seatbelt hole on the rear passenger side, into the top of the fenderwell. If you see a silver shiny heatsink, you have an amp and need to be sure the wires are connected correctly if you want to use it. Otherwise, you want to buy speaker wire and run new wire to each of the speakers directly from the receiver. This is better in a lot of ways because the amp has poor quality, and the wires going to it don't handle the full power of speakers all that well, plus it's a really bad idea to send an already amplified signal from the speaker wires into the non-adjustable-input level factory amp.

If yours doesn't have a amp, then it might have come with the base stereo and the issue might just be the wiring not matching up with the harness. Just because wires are the same color doesn't mean that's correct to connect them together.

With an aftermarket stereo, there's always the possibility the previous owner or whoever they had install the stereo took some liberties and did some custom wiring or modifications, in which case you'll have to figure out what's what or post pics and info to get more detailed help specific to what you have.

If you just want sound from 4 speakers, it's easiest to just use the wiring harness to get power and ignition wires connected, then run your own speaker wire to the doors and back to the harness. This takes all the other wiring out of the equation, and makes for an easier install, better sound, and easy troubleshooting.

Anime,

After reading what you posted I went back and pulled out the stereo. I took a look at the wires and I noticed that my radio had a blue wire with white stripe that said "remote output". I then noticed that my car had the same colored wire which seemed to have been connected before. I connected the two together and the speakers came on. Yes! Thanks for the tip.

Ben