2002 Explorer Factory Amp?

[Stupidscript]

Hi! New to the forums, but been lurking for awhile. I can't find the answer to the following situation:

Bought 2002 Explorer from my brother. Nice.

It already had an aftermarket stereo (Sony xPlod) which sounded crappy ... at low volume, everything was static-y with bass and mid response cutting out. It was virtually unlistenable at any volume below 20. (!)

I pulled that unit and installed a new Dual unit and then a new Clarion unit. Both are nice units, but both sound the same as the Sony ... crappy at low volume. The sound is just as crappy for radio, CD, iPod and USB sources.

I got a new conversion plug to replace the old conversion plug. No effect on the crappy sound.

During the installation of the Clarion, I reached way back into the stereo hole and found another pair of factory wires connected to a large-ish jack cluster. None of the aftermarket stereos can accommodate this extra jack. The jack cluster looks like it could manage 12-16 wires (3 banks of holes) and it is almost the width and twice the height of the main stereo plug (both are black), but there are only two wires coming out of the back of it ... one black w/white stripe and one yellow-ish ... might not be yellow-ish, but it's a similar color ... I can't remember exactly, now. Anyway, there are only two wires ... not 8 or 2+RCA plug or anything like that.

I have been doing superficial searching for a factory amplifier, thinking that the crappy sound may be because not enough juice is getting to the speakers, however, unless I have to remove an entire interior quarter-panel, it doesn't look like there is any easy-to-find amplifier in this vehicle.

1) How can I verify whether there is a factory amp, and then where to find it to bypass it (I guess)?

2) If there's no factory amp, any thoughts on why the audio system sounds so crappy?

I did not see any available converter plugs that fit my configuration. I found several that had one primary plug with 12 wires (or whatever) and a secondary plug with 2 wires + 2 RCA plugs, but the secondary jacks all look way too small for my situation, and besides, I only have 2 wires in my extra jack, not enough to satisfy a 2+RCA plugs scenario.

Thanks in advance for your time in considering this issue.

 

[fixxxer]

You may want to check through this manual 2002-Explorer-Diagrams
Just select the download tab and open it as a pdf file

 

[Stupidscript]

Yoiks!

Thanks for that, fixxer ... I am checking it out in all its geekish complexity.

I did find what I believe is the original stereo, YW7F-18C815-AA or similar, and a photo of the reverse of that unit (http://oem-auto-accessory.com/BACK OF RADIOS/T100 PLUG S SIZE.pdf) shows the two jacks I referred to. (I would attach an image with highlighting, but it seems to be disabled for me ... probably because I am new ...)

In this product photo (http://oem-auto-accessory.com/71_5700_repair_plug_for_world_plug_radio_j1_j2_j3.html) you can see a similar plug as the one I found buried in the dashboard. It is the lowest one of the three in the photo.

So I have that plug, except with only 2 wires coming out of it, and one plug with like 12 wires coming out of it. The 12-wire plug is where the speakers, etc. plug into ... but I haven't yet discovered what the 2-wire plug went to. I have found no information on a second plug with only 2 wires attached to it in a Ford of any kind.

I will continue to scour the set of diagrams referred by fixxer ... but confidence is very low that I will find my answer there ... I don't have a lot of experience reading these types of diagrams.

 

[Josef86]

How many total plugs do you have?

If you have 3 one is for the main harness, one is for the 6dish in dash changer (if you had it) and one goes to a factor subwoofer.

Are you still using factory speakers? That could be whats causing the bad sound.

The factory sub and amp (if you have them) are in the right rear of the ex next to the 3rd row seats.

 

[Stupidscript]

I have only found the two plugs ... one for the main harness and the mystery one with 2 wires. I dug around in there pretty good and didn't find any other plugs.

I am still using the factory speakers, and that's my next replacement target. All four of them sound the same as I described earlier. Using the fader and balance controls confirms that they all sound equally bad, which is why I am first looking for a common component or wiring issue. They don't sound like blown speakers, but maybe they're just really crappy? I had imagined that a Ford factory stereo might sound at least okay ...

The right rear next to where the 3rd row seats might be (if I had them) is a solid PVC interior panel. It looks like I would need to remove almost an entire side of the interior plus some of the flooring ... it's one big piece with no visible mount points. Does that sound familiar?

Regarding the 3rd row ... I have the front driver/passenger row, and a 60/40 bench second row for 3 passengers, and then the cargo area has floor two panels that lift up ... one in the back for the jack and spare tire stuff and one right behind the second row seat that leads nowhere. I imagine that this is where the 3rd row seat might go, if this vehicle had had one. If there is/was a 3rd row seat, those who sat there would need really tiny legs, as there is no room for actual human-sized "sitting". Maybe "scrunching up in a ball on the seat", but definitely not "sitting". Does that describe the 3rd seat in a 2002 Explorer?

 

[Stupidscript]

And I'm not thinking of a subwoofer ... rather I'm thinking that maybe there is a sound system amplifier in there that is no longer enabled, so my aftermarket stereos are trying to push through that dead/powerless device.

If I crank the volume way up, to around 30 or so, the speakers clean up and the highs, mids and bass are all present and clean. It's when the volume gets lower that the noise begins, and when the volume is below 20 or so it is really obvious that there is distortion and the mids and bass cut out ... and at talking-level volumes, like around 6 or 7, there is no bass, no mid, and even the highs begin to cut out. It's truly unlistenable ... not like "bad speaker quality" unlistenable, but actually annoying.

 

[Josef86]

The factory amp that year only powers a factory subwoofer (if you have one). Which I don't know if you do or not. If you only have the speaker harness connected the sub amp would not get any power or singal so it would not be on.


Yeah the 3rd row seats are really tight. Only good if your small. Mine are down most of the time

 

[Stupidscript]

Thanks, Josef86.

Yeah, I just went out and checked the area behind the 2nd row seat. After lifting up the panel in the cargo area, I noted a black PVC piece in the floor area that is probably removed when there is a 3rd row seat. I turned on the stereo and checked for any type of speaker beyond the four in the doors and found nothing ... of course ... if the sub amp is not being powered, then there would be no sound from the subwoofer, so this is less than scientific.

Do you think that if an existing subwoofer and its amp were disabled (because they were no longer hooked into the stereo) then the four remaining speakers would sound crappy at low and medium volume levels? AFAIK, having no subwoofer amp/speaker should only affect the depth of the bass signal, and not distort the mids and highs simply because the sub is absent. No?

I'm gravitating toward speaker replacement, but if that doesn't fix everything then I'm stumped.

 

[Josef86]

I would replace the speakers. I am pretty sure thats the problem.

 

[Stupidscript]

Thanks, again. I believe I will replace the speakers. Any idea what the 2-wire plug was for? (I'm going to ignore it if the speakers fix the sound quality issue.)

 

[Josef86]

I'm not sure on the two wire.

 

[jrford]

Thanks, again. I believe I will replace the speakers. Any idea what the 2-wire plug was for? (I'm going to ignore it if the speakers fix the sound quality issue.)

my guess is Corp protocol A/B (pins 6/7) plugs into the Body module. Do you have steering or rear controls? That harness is for those and Rear DVD if you have it.

in an '04 FSM the Yellow goes to the steering wheel buttons.
Also the grey/black is listed as VSS.

3rd row - kids. . .

 

[Stupidscript]

Oh Well

I replaced the speakers (see this thread for my HOWTO), and they sound better, but the problem is still there. During the speaker replacement I noticed that the speaker wires and their shielding were pretty deteriorated. The inner core of the shielding had started to goo up the copper wire inside, and required a good bit of cleaning with mineral spirits to get all the crap off before I could attach the new leads with any confidence. I'll bet if I replace all of the speaker wiring, the problem would go away ... Thanks for all of your thoughts and guidance, peoples.

jrford ... I do not have steering wheel audio controls nor rear audio controls or a rear DVD player. Thanks for the info.