95 stock radio to 2001w/cd exchange

[IanL]

The 2001 radio appears to have more wires than the stock 95 even though it is a single cd and not the 6cd center console. I bought the ford connector harness for the 2001 and need to interface it with the stock 95 sport wiring. does anyone know the wiring color codes for both radios???

 

[hworksinc]

You will need more than just the pigtail harness to connect a 1998 and up radio to a 1995-1997 Explorer. In your truck the head unit is not a complete system - it's just a controller. The rest of the radio/amp is behind the rear right quarter panel. Depending on the specific system, you may not even have an antenna connector going to the head unit. You need a wiring kit (I believe Crutchfield has them) that has a long harness to bypass the stock amp, and get the speaker wires up into the dash (your speaker wires are currently connected to the amp in the back).

 

[IanL]

There is an antenna, and if my 95 is just a controller what are the 15 wires for?? you wouldnt need that many for on/off, illumination, bass, treble

Confused

 

[Macgiobuin]

Radio wires in head unit.

1. Power for clock +
2. Switched power for audio +
3. Ground general -
4. Power to amplifier +
5. Power to amplifier -
5. Dash Illumination +
6. Power antenna if applicable
7. ?
8,9. Left Front preamp signal
10,11. Left Rear Preamp signal
12,13. Right Front preamp signal
14,15. Right Rear preamp signal

 

[hworksinc]

You're in better shape than some since you have the antenna connector behind the head unit. That means your head unit IS actually a tuner and not a totally dumb controller. It controls the amp power and sends the preamp signal to the amp in the rear. (I'll try to upload some schematics later so you can see the details)

There were at least 2 or 3 possible system configurations, some where the head unit didn't even have a tuner built in. I know on those the amp was interfaced to the head unit with a proprietary control bus. However, your system is different as the tuner is built into the head unit, and I don't know what the interface is between the head unit and the amp. If it's a simple trigger signal, then it may be possible to interface an aftermarket radio to the stock amp.

The conventional way to do modify the system is to get one of those adapter harnesses to extend the speaker wires from the back quarter up to the dash, and then connect those wires to the speaker output on the aftermarket radio (or in your case the newer Ford radio). Like I said, I'll post some schematics later so you can see exactly what's going on.

 

[IanL]

Thanks for the help. I did finally find the remote amp exactly where you said it would be, even though the sport does not have a subwoofer. It would appear that both the stock 19b165 and the newer 2001 18c868 are both premium systems, though i am not sure what that means. I did connect all of the wires from the new unit and tested the speaker outputs with an aux speaker and everything works. I do have 2 extra wires unaccounted for from the newer radio, but since everything works am I safe in assuming (yes I know that word is dangerous ) the extra wires might be for powered antenna??