'91 explorer audio help!!!

[apk1]

Hello everybody and thank you in advance for your time and suggestions.

Problem: I bought my 1991 explorer 4x4 xlt from my brother. He had a Clarion RAX530D deck installed with 12 disc changer. Recently my clarion deck has gone on vacation and only works when it chooses to. Since I'm broke I don't have the money to repair the deck. I decided to reinstall the factory premium system and wait until i have some money to either buy a new system or repair the old one. The guy who did the install left some original wiring in the dash: a rectangular 8 flat-pin connector and a square 8 pin connector. That leaves me with two empty slots on the back of the factory deck: a square 4pin and square 2pin. I connected it up and the display lit up but I have no sound. Please explain this to me as I am a complete beginner in the area of car audio.

Thanks a million,
APK1

 

[JTang]

Hello,

The two connections you speak of and have connected are the bare minimum connections on the back, and most likely the only ones that were connected prior to aftermarket installation. Bare minimum meaning that you have done everything that needs to be done - upfront.

Just in case you weren't aware, the factory radio is powered by a component head unit (that's a head unit that doesn't have an amp to put out a powered signal) that is then amplified by a small, stock amplifier in the rear passenger side panel of your truck. In most installations of a new head unit in an Explorer, installers use a wiring harness to bypass this amp, as a new head unit will already have its own power.

I suspect they added this amp bypass harness, and now that you have the component head unit back in, there's no amplified signal. You'll have to go in the back and see, if so, then just get rid of the harness and reattach the amp inline. Follow the link below for the instructs on how to get to the rear passenger panel with the stock amp:

Dead Link Removed

and

http://www.3drant.com/about/jay/Mountaineer/

Good luck,

Jon

 

[cobrajeff]

The square 2-pin connector is not used on an Explorer. That connector is used for the redundant radio controls on a Taurus/Sable, and for factory test equipment on the radio assembly line.

The square 4-pin connector is for a "shorting plug". Some radios need this plug, some do not (depending on the part number of the radio, and when it was manufactured). If your particular radio needs this plug, and you don't have it installed, the radio will light up, and change stations, etc., but you will have NO SOUND. It would be very simple to pull the radio back out, insert the 4-pin "shorting adapter", and see if that makes the radio play. Any authorized Ford radio repair shop should have the 4-pin plug in stock.

regards,

cobrajeff

 

[apk1]

thanks !!

thanks for all the help. There was no harness used, so if I want to have my factory deck back in I need to rewire the deck's connection to the power amp and then to the speakers.
All the best!

apk1