Wire Color Nightmare

[JakePSD]

I've been trying to install an aftermarket head unit in my girlfriends early build (7-96) '97 Mountaineer. After trying about 6 different plug in kits I gave up and decided I was just gonna direct wire it. I hacked the factory plugs off and started searching for wire color charts. I've found plenty, but none match the colors in her truck. Her truck has a 6 disk changer and JBL sound from the factory. In the back passenger side where some of us have the little storage area with a net, hers has a speaker cover and it says JBL on it. All I wanna do at this point is find out which wires do what so I'm not out there for 8 hours twisting wires together until I find the right ones. Can anyone on here help me out before I lose my mind?

Here are pictures of the 2 plugs I cut out.

 

[DjDom]

Constant 12V+ Green/Purple
Switched 12V+ Yellow/Black
Ground Black/Light Green
Illumination Light Blue/Red
Dimmer n/a
Amplifier Remote Blue
Antenna Right Front
Front Speakers 5" x 7" Doors
Left Front (+) Orange/Light Green
Left Front (-) Light Blue/White
Right Front (+) White/Light Green
Right Front (-) Dark Green/Orange
Rear Speakers 5" x 7" Rear Doors
Left Rear (+) Gray/Light Blue
Left Rear (-) Tan/Yellow
Right Rear (+) Orange/Red
Right Rear (-) Brown/Pink

 

[JakePSD]

the12volt.com...

Thanks but those colors don't match. I have pictures of the plugs and the wires above.

 

[DjDom]

The power wires do match. Your speaker wires do as well. In the 97, there is an amp in the back quarter panel, right above the rear right wheel well. You'll need to take the panel off and run wiring to there.
That's where you'll find the correct colors.
You're attempting to connect pre-amp, which is a different set of wire colors. Post-Amp is where you'll want to connect, or you'll be sending an amplified signal to an amplifier, which is a no no.

 

[JakePSD]

That sounds like a major PITA. Running pre-amp isn't a problem as long as we are careful with the volume levels right? I'm running my truck pre-amp, somehow I found plugs that actually worked.

 

[DjDom]

That sounds like a major PITA. Running pre-amp isn't a problem as long as we are careful with the volume levels right? I'm running my truck pre-amp, somehow I found plugs that actually worked.

Running pre-amp is not a good idea. You can blow the amp if it won't accept high level inputs.
The best way to find the wire colors is by finding the amp and splicing together the pre-amp wires with the post-amp wires based on the colors I stated.

It is a major PITA, I know. But it's the proper way to do. Running the volume wouldn't make a difference, as you'd just be lowering the power going in, not the power going out. The amp would still put out the same amount of power.

 

[JakePSD]

Do the wires have corresponding positions on the plug for the amp? That wouldn't be too bad if a job if they match up with each other. Wouldn't that effect the volume though being that the amplifier would no longer be sending signal to the speakers? Id be bypassing the amp. My truck has a different sound system than hers but I know its factory amplified because in bad no sound til I hooked up the blue wire. I do know that on mine the volume is really sensitive. My head unit volume goes from 0 to 33 and even at level 1 I can hear it a decent bit sitting idling. I've never turned it up past 15. Like I said I've been running mine that way for months and never had a problem and I've seen on here a few people have ran like that.

Edit: I turned it up to 17 earlier. Avenged Sevenfold was on...

 

[DjDom]

it's just gonna be louder cause you're amp is getting a really hot signal. All new head unit have an amp built in.
I don't think the colors correspond to be honest.. I'm not sure.

 

[mic98xlt]

The earlier JBL Ford radio system is unique but kind of an oddball. The radio head unit looks the same with only the JBL insignia on the rear sub woofer as an identifier.

The radio head unit doesn't do all the low power audio splitting for the 4 door speakers nor the sub woofer signal. It's done by the JBL external rear amplifier unit(s) which is also a signal processor. The rear unit in the right rear hatch does the processing for the low signal splitting (2 channel stereo from radio) and converts it into high power speaker amplification (front and rear- 4 channel) to the 4 door speakers.

The radio head unit also switches on the rear amplifier unit by a control lead. The rear amplifier control unit itself contains a control turn on lead plus a low power signal for the rear sub woofer. The sub woofer is powered by it's own separate high power amplifier.

The reason I went into this explanation is that I do not know of a quick easy "Bypass" of the JBL rear amplifier for the door speakers. Most people do run new speaker leads from the aftermarket radio head unit to the location of the rear amplifier harness. Then they splice into the disconnected harness to power the door speakers. The sub woofer must also be supplied from the radio head unit a sub woofer output via RCA type feed plus a control lead to turn on the rear sub woofer amplifier.

The other basic radio system in that same era (approx, '95-'97.5) which is your own Explorer, I believe is the "Premium" type with a rear amplifier in the rear hatch. It has a different wiring system that only required a bypass harness to eliminate the Amp or direct wiring by splicing the wires together. "DJ" is correct when he said "Post-Amp is where you'll want to connect, or you'll be sending an amplified signal to an amplifier, which is a no no."

This is courtesy of DadNSonF350:

"The Real Amplifier Bypass

If you really want to bypass your stereo amplifier in your 1995-1997.5 Explorer here is how to do it without buying any kits that may or may not be the right one.
Locate the amp in the right rear of the Explorer under the right side rear window. Unplug the two connections and connect the following wire colors together. If you are color blind you will need help here.

Orange/Light Green to Light Green
Light Blue/White to White/Orange
White/Light Green to White/Red
Dark Green/Orange to Brown
Gray/Light Blue to Light Blue/Black
Tan/Yellow to Yellow
Orange/Red to Purple/White
Brown/Pink to Light Blue"

I am only trying to help and maybe it sheds some light on the wiring differences. It took me a long time of trail and error to gain an understanding. I just wish Ford had an easy uniform way to identify which radio and wiring each explorer had.

 

[DjDom]

There you go. ^

 

[JakePSD]

Whoa....

Sounds like I have my work cut out for me.

Does this mean I should be changing the wiring in my truck also? I kinda like having it be louder since for some stupid reason the volume level is way lower any time I plug in a cell phone for MP3's on my SD card or Pandora.

One other related question, how is the antenna ran? Since she got the truck she's only been able to pick up 2 or 3 local stations, and even then the signal got sketchy. When I pulled out the factory HU there was no antenna plugged into it, and I couldn't find any antenna wire in the dash. It has a power antenna, we could hear the motor a few seconds after shutting the key off, but the mast is gone and some tard box took a long twisted piece of wire and stuck it in where the mast should be. The way its looking right now I'm gonna have to just buy a universal antenna from auto zone, remove the fender liner and hope I can get it ran into the cab easily.

 

[sloop]

does your new unit have the outputs for an external amp?

i was looking at a unit that had an internal amp but it also had outputs for an external amp - maybe someone would volunteer a 'ohms for dummies' kinda explanation for us - i decided to leave in my factory unit because i was too lazy to investigate what the unamplified output was for the new unit and what the factory amp wanted for input

 

[mic98xlt]

Jake, if you look at the link below, you will see the actual diagram for the '97 Explorer JBL system. Refer to post #6 . I believe there is one mistake on it. The power antenna motor is feed by a control lead (Org/LtBl) off the rear amplifier unit. If I recall correctly the power antenna cable itself (NCA) is connected to the rear amplifier processing unit in the rear instead of a traditional connection on the back of the front radio head unit. Maybe someone here can verify this but I'm pretty sure.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=204044

You're right the easiest way to correct the power antenna problem is to replace it with a standard manual antenna. There is a rubber plug hole for the manual antenna wire to pass thru. It's in the upper right front door kick area panel. The removal of the power antenna itself may be the hardest part due to it's inside the front fender.

Yes, it's going to take some small effort to rewire but it's doable. The JBL system is the more complicated then the Premium system. There is a plenty of radio wiring info on this website forum, but somehow it's scattered making it more cryptic to understand.

 

[mic98xlt]

I found this under a sticky here on the forums and it explains the 1st and 2nd generation Explorer basic operation. In particular it should be noted the '95-'97 JBL or Audiophile system had it's own tuner in the "rear control unit" not in the radio head unit up front. This makes logical sense why the power antenna cable is connected to the rear (amp) control unit.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25999

Electrical architecture changed in 1995 to a "distributed system" for the Audiophile Systems. The head unit in these systems does not contain a tuner or amplifier; they were both integrated into a "Rear Control Unit", which was slightly larger than a typical Ford radio amplifier, and bolted to the Subwoofer enclosure in the right rear quarter. This architecture applied ONLY to the Ford/JBL Audiophile system, and only for the 1995 through 1997 model years.

 

[mic98xlt]

There really is a world of great information on the website forum. Sorting out the right from wrong information is however often the hardest thing to accomplish from my own experience. I searched to find the "real skinny" on the '95-'97 JBL aftermarket install. One of the very best is from "CobraGuy." In post #8 he breaks it down to exactly the harness required which is Metra 70-5601 and a complete correct explanation of the system. Please note in this linked thread, others try to help but sometimes they accidentally give the wrong information as cold hard facts. The mentioned harness would be the easiest way to go without running your own speaker wires. Good luck.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230366

12-03-2008, 08:37 AM #8
Cobraguy
Elite Explorer
Phoenix...Greatest City on Earth



Quote:
Originally Posted by oplitic View Post
The radio is the radio, the piece in the back is the amp, not the radio.
I'm sorry, but that's wrong. The radio is indeed in the rear of the car next to the subwoofer on a JBL system. The head unit is nothing more than a controller. You cannot take a JBL head unit and make it work as a radio in any other application. It doesn't even receive the antenna signal. That goes to the rear radio.

I have found some inconsistencies here that can all be addressed with some searching. I've done a few of these JBL installs. They aren't that difficult. There is a Metra harness that makes it all very easy. It plugs into the harness back in the rear at the radio and brings all those wires (and the antenna lead!) back up to your head unit. You will need to run separate harness for the subwoofer. It's actually quite easy to do. Here is the correct harness for the JBL system:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...scplp3598584&gclid=CIPcgL-HoLwCFZTm7AodeEoAAw


Your rear radio will now be totally disconnected from your system and the controls on the back of the console will no longer work. Those may be able to be brought back into play with a PAC module.

Most aftermarket head units have a lead for the power antenna. Just follow the instructions on the harnesses and it will work just fine.

 

[JakePSD]

Well I finally got the back panel off and guess what... the damn colors don't match. On one plug they do, but the other one I need to hook to they don't. I guess now is when I should note that recently we found out that this is an early build 97, therefore is basically a 96 and shares many parts with a 96. Does anyone know the wire colors for that?

 

[DjDom]

Well I finally got the back panel off and guess what... the damn colors don't match. On one plug they do, but the other one I need to hook to they don't. I guess now is when I should note that recently we found out that this is an early build 97, therefore is basically a 96 and shares many parts with a 96. Does anyone know the wire colors for that?

Ah, at the amp, it's like that. The colors off the back of the radio are different from the colors at the door speakers.

Here are the 96 colors, shouldn't be different from the 97, tbh.
1995-96 Ford Explorer Stereo Wiring
Constant 12V+ Green/Purple
Switched 12V+ Yellow/Black
Ground Black/Light Green
Illumination Light Blue/Red
Dimmer n/a
Amplifier Remote Blue
Antenna Right Front
Front Speakers 5" x 7" Doors
Left Front (+) Orange/Light Green
Left Front (-) Light Blue/White
Right Front (+) White/Light Green
Right Front (-) Dark Green/Orange
Rear Speakers 5" x 7" Rear Doors
Left Rear (+) Gray/Light Blue
Left Rear (-) Tan/Yellow
Right Rear (+) Orange/Red
Right Rear (-) Brown/Pink

 

[JakePSD]

Yeah those are the exact same colors I've already seen. I came up with a genius idea. Rather than buy a wiring harness that forces you to attempt to shove more wires down the passenger sill, then run them up to the dash, I just cut the plugs off both ends and hooked them together. Basically the wires already in the harness than ran from the dash to the amp were just there so I could hook them to whichever speaker wire I wanted. Matched up the destination and colors at both ends, hooked them up and now my woman is happy because she finally has a radio in her truck after not having one for 2 months...

Now I just need to put a new antenna on since someone at some point broke the little wiener thing off the end of the antenna wire. I was just gonna run it up to the dash until I realized that important piece was missing.