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93 Explorer Radio swap.... what happened?

Aussie Canuck

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January 14, 2011
Messages
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City, State
B.C.
Year, Model & Trim Level
93 Explorer XLT
Attempting to swap out the factory radio with my new CD player in my 93 exploder.

After cutting the wires from the back of the truck harness only to realize i could unclip it from the factory radio, I re-connected the wires to the harness. I bought a wiring harness from walmart hooked up my CD player to the harness, clipped it into the truck harness aaaaanndd.... #### all. NO POWER, doenst light up, just sits there and pisses me off.

So i figure id hook up the old radio for now as something is better than nothing. Old radio gets clipped in, lights up but has NO POWER! No clock no sounds, **** all. Everything is in the factory harness as it should be, been checked and re-checked. Checked all the fuses..... WTF did i do!
 



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When cutting the wires did you disconnect the battery or at lest pull any fuses related to it first? I ask as one wire is hot all the tie and one is hot with the key on and cutting then with the one hot can short things out big time. I know been there done that and learned the hard way.
May want to unwrap the wire harness and recheck all the wires again as more then once I have found a wire change color.
Also do you have an amp already in your system like a stock one?
Some radios have a built in fuse also on there boards it’s the old glass tube kind and if a single wire strand happened to get crossed that would be more then enough to blow it when you plugged it in and tried to turn it on.
Also recheck all the fuses in the fuse holder as more then once I have thought one was good by looks only to test it and find it blew on the edge were I could not see it.
 






I disconnected the negative from the battery. I didnt pull the fuses before hand as the battery was disconnected. After i re-connected it and found out it lit up but had no power i went and re-checked all my fuses but they are all fine.... dont know what the hell is going on but I dont like it. No factory amp in my truck either just the regular speakers. I assume I have some power to my CD player as it spits out a cd when i plug it in but there is no diplay, no lighting up, no static or any type of sound at all and the factory tape deck doesnt display or turn on anything = (
 
























Had a closer look at the factory tape deck. It says Dolby Systems on the tape flap and goes on about Noise Reduction System under license by Dolby, however, when i check my fuses box there is no fuses for the special Dolby amp. I have the original sound system operating guide and I have the basic stereo cassette, not the high level audio system with the amp, however it does have the Dolby B noise reduction feature.... Could this be what is screwin up my cd player and not letting it have any power?

Part Number -19B132- Midline AM/FM Cassette Player.

Im almost thinking somehow some wires got crosses when connecting them back to the original harness. This is what I have from the grey clip with the wires coming out the left and the clip on the right.

Slot 1 - Empty
Slot 2 - Empty
Slot 3 - Black/Green = Radio Ground
Slot 4 - Orange/Black = Radio Display
Slot 5 - Lt. Blue/Red = Panel Illumination
Slot 6 - Yellow/Black = Radio Power Feed
Slot 7 - Black (small) = Vehicle Chassis Ground
Slot 8 - Lt. Grey/Yellow = Memory Feed

Assuming all of that is right then could I not just bypass the entire clip itself and straight wire my aftermarket cd player right to my truck wiring?
 






Son of a biscuit! After yelling at my truck, and screaming at it and crying a lil bit I decided to re-check all my connections again. Now before we all say anything I already know im dumb, so lets just make that clear. If ya need an example of my stupidity.... my ignition and constant wires from my cd player to the after market harness were loose. Two quick cuts and reconnections and the thing works like a charm. Factory stereo doesnt work for some strange reason but my cd players does and thats all that counts! Thank to all those who tried to help =)
 






I know SFA about hooking up stereo's but I reckon it was the crying that finally fixed it for you mate! Good stuff.
 


















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