1998 Explorer Eddie Bauer Harness

[rs2k]

I'm about as far from being an audiophile as you can get without being deaf.

I'm having trouble finding the correct harness for my Explorer. Will the Metra 70-5700 harness work for my Explorer? It's the one that Autozone is recommending.

I don't know what sound system I have. It has CD, AM/FM, cassette, and a multi disk CD changer in the arm rest and I think it has an amp... at least if I disconnect the smallest of the three connectors from the radio I loose a lot of bass. Maybe that's just a sub with no amp... I don't know.

I went here to check my wiring harness:
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/stereodetail/861.html

It's missing a lot of the wires I have.

I also have a SCOSCHE FDK13B. The speaker negative and positives seem backwards on it and it's missing the antenna trigger wire which is in the middle sized of the three harnesses in the dash. It also has a black/white wire with no label next to the white and black negative left front speaker wire.

Any help at all will be appreciated. I can post pictures if that'll help.

Thanks!

 

[DjDom]

Oh, it's you.

Do you have a subwoofer in the rear right quarter panel?
It sounds like you have the Mach sound system.

Post pics of your harnesses.
Also, I'm pretty sure the Square connector is for the CD Changer in the console.

 

[rs2k]

It's ameee!

The middle sized connector definitely has the antennae trigger, so I know I need an adapter that uses that... or I can just cut up the factor harness.... want to avoid that though.


Wow, that camera flash makes my interior look dirty. Time to clean it up!


Head unit. To be replaced with AppRadio3 in a few days.

Multi CD changer. Never gonna use it. Time to take it out.

Sub is in there. Sounds bad though. Need to replace I think.

Harness:

Ignore the wire coming out the back, I put that there:

 

[DjDom]

The sub in yours is an 8 inch. You can squeeze a 10 in there..

Also, the wiring harness for your radio isn't as bad as it looks.
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/stereodetail/861.html does list the wires you need to connect to. Honestly, you may have trouble finding a harness, so just cut and splice.

The wires that will be left over will be from the CD Player/Subwoofer.

 

[rs2k]

Thanks!. I ordered a harness that I think will work. If not at least it has the wires I need and I can go from there.

Any idea which wire in the harness leads to the sub? I think it's in the smallest one.

Being a completely idiot when it comes to speakers I have a few questions.

Does it matter if a speaker is connected in reverse polarity?
I'm pretty sure I need to replace my sub. It sounds distorted and it rattles. Anything I should look for in a 10 inch sub? I'm not much for music. I listen to AM radio, audio books and creepy pastas.

 

[DjDom]

Thanks!. I ordered a harness that I think will work. If not at least it has the wires I need and I can go from there.

Any idea which wire in the harness leads to the sub? I think it's in the smallest one.

Being a completely idiot when it comes to speakers I have a few questions.

Does it matter if a speaker is connected in reverse polarity?
I'm pretty sure I need to replace my sub. It sounds distorted and it rattles. Anything I should look for in a 10 inch sub? I'm not much for music. I listen to AM radio, audio books and creepy pastas.

Sub is probably the small one.

Yes, it matters on polarity. They will work with reverse polarity but in the opposite form. Long story short, it does matter for sound quality reasons.
There's a post somewhere on here about a sub that fits in stock enclosure perfectly. Just find that one.
If you don't listen for music, don't bother getting a sub. Lol.

 

[Dono]

Please keep this thread updated.

I seem to remember reading that there was an issue with the connectors to the sub and rear speakers when the center console cd player is removed.

Im sure its not a big deal to fix up, but if your rear speakers and sub quit after pulling the cd changer you will know where to look.

Let us know what wiring adapter you are using if it works well.

 

[rs2k]

Will do. I got my radio today and have it installed in the bezel. My harness will be here Friday. I'll let you know what happens.

 

[DjDom]

You'll probably need to bypass the amp..
The Eddie/JBL radio is a pain in the rear..

 

[rs2k]

OK, got a lot of the information I needed after doing some testing and looking at the 70-5700 wiring harness diagram. I need some help with the 8 pin connector though.

Amp power:
I found the amp's power and ground and I found which wires go to the sub. Should I connect the amp's power to the system remote wire on my head unit or should I just connect it to the hot when key is on wire the radio is connected to?

Sub signal:
My head unit can do 4 speakers or 2 speakers + sub through the normal connector. If I want a sub with 4 speakers I need to use the RCA. My head unit has 4 RCA connectors. Front Left, Front Right, Right Sub, Left Sub. How should I connect my only sub to the RCA connectors on the head unit? I was planning on just connecting the sub to the Right Sub RCA on the head unit. Any ideas?

Here's what I have so far:

I'm using http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/stereodetail/861.html to find correct speaker polarity

For the 16 pin connector:
1. Always hot wire correct.
2. Hot in run wire correct.
3. Ground wire correct.
4. Left front speakers are correct
5. Right front speakers are reverse polarity
6. Left rear speakers are correct
7. Right rear speakers are correct.
8. Illumination wires are correct.
9. 2nd ground wire on pin 16 is for AMP ground, connect it to amp ground (Pin 3) on 8 pin connector.

16 Pin Connector Summary: Only need to swap the right front speaker wires to use this connector. Pin 16 (White on Black wire wire) of the 16 pin connector goes to Pin 3 (White on Black wire) on 8 pin connector.


For the 28 pin connector:
1. Pin 2 is the Antenna Trigger and is correct.
2. Pin 10 is Push To Answer (PTA) AKA Mute button and is not used... at least with my system. Tape it up.

28 Pin Connector Summary: Plug it in and tape up the brown wire.


For the 8 pin connector:
1. Pin 4 blue/white (amp power). Not sure how to wire this yet... will edit later
2. Pin 3 (white on black wire) amp ground goes to pin 16 (white on black wire) of 16 pin connector.
3. Pin 2 Sub - (Cannot confirm polarity since my diagram does not have this listed)
4. Pin 1 Sub + (Cannot confirm polarity since my diagram does not have this listed)

8 Pin Connector Summary: TBD...

 

[rs2k]

Got the radio all in. Sounds GREAT! All four speakers plus the sub are working perfectly.



End results:::



For the 16 pin connector:
1. Always hot wire correct.
2. Hot in run wire correct.
3. Ground wire correct.
4. Left front speakers are correct
5. Right front speakers are reverse polarity
6. Left rear speakers are correct
7. Right rear speakers are correct.
8. Illumination wires are correct.
9. 2nd ground wire on pin 16 is for AMP ground, connect it to amp ground (Pin 3) on 8 pin connector.

16 Pin Connector Summary: Only need to swap the right front speaker wires to use this connector. Pin 16 (White on Black wire wire) of the 16 pin connector goes to Pin 3 (White on Black wire) on 8 pin connector.


For the 28 pin connector:
1. Pin 2 is the Antenna Trigger and is correct.
2. Pin 10 is Push To Answer (PTA) AKA Mute button and is not used... at least with my system. Tape it up.

28 Pin Connector Summary: Plug it in and tape up the brown wire.


For the 8 pin connector:
1. Pin 4 blue/white (amp power). Connect to system remote control. (One wire powers both the sub and antenna on my head unit)
2. Pin 3 (white on black wire) amp ground goes to pin 16 (white on black wire) of 16 pin connector.
3. Pin 2 Sub - (Cannot confirm polarity since my diagram does not have this listed)
4. Pin 1 Sub + (Cannot confirm polarity since my diagram does not have this listed)

8 Pin Connector Summary: Wire as above and go.

 

[Dono]

nice job! Amazing for a guy who says he has no real good understanding of what hes doing with wiring.

Did you leave the cd changer in the center console?

 

[DjDom]

I doubt he wired in the CD Changer.

 

[Dono]

I was more wondering about any wiring involved in taking the cd changer physically out.

I'm wondering if you can just pull it out, or have connectors to wire together to keep the rear speakers working. I thought I read somewhere that this needed to be dealt with when yanking out the cd changer.

 

[rs2k]

It's amazing what forum advice, time, logic, two wiring diagrams, a working radio, a multimeter and some jumper wires can do.

The sub sounds great now... at least to my non musical ears. I guess there was a problem with my old head unit. It sounded somewhat tinny, scratchy and was popping before. Now it's deep and crisp.


Now that everything is in and working the next step is to remove the 6 disc CD changer. I have no plans to try to integrate it. I don't think it would be feasible to try to integrate it even if I wanted to. I'll let you know if removing it makes any changes to the wiring of the speakers or amp. I don't think it will.

 

[rs2k]

Removing the CD changer made no difference at all. Still sounds great! All 5 speakers are working.


Finished product (except some of the wiring):

Love the tilt feature.

 

[Dono]

excellent!
What head unit did you use? Looks great.

 

[rs2k]

Thanks!

Pioneer SPH-DA210 AppRadio3. My slimport adapter should be here Monday. I can use that to mirror my phone on the radio.

I also have a rear view camera on the way. That's going to make backing up to a trailer s much easier.

 

[Dono]

Nice unit!