97 Eddie Bauer Explorer 5.0L help with stereo

[Mr96er]

So I’ve taken the stick radio out been trying to install after market bought a wiring harness from Best Buy it doesn’t work tried to install the old one to have some music to listen to On my way to work but I can’t figure how it went back.

 

[joney]

Welcome! Take pictures every step of the way is how a lot of folks go...I haven't done radio install for decades now, but found this forum section: Explorer Audio & Navigation

 

[Mbrooks420]

You don’t need very much to get a radio working.

Your 97 has a factory external amplifier behind the rear passenger side cargo cover. This needs removed to get at it. Not difficult, but you need a large torx to remove the seatbelt anchor.

You can power the amp and use it, you can bypass it, and use the aftermarket head units amp, or you can run new wires to the doors from the head unit.

 

[Mr96er]

You don’t need very much to get a radio working.

Your 97 has a factory external amplifier behind the rear passenger side cargo cover. This needs removed to get at it. Not difficult, but you need a large torx to remove the seatbelt anchor.

You can power the amp and use it, you can bypass it, and use the aftermarket head units amp, or you can run new wires to the doors from the head unit.

Its the original head unit but I don’t remember what wires went where I have tried to connect it back up and I have got nothing now. It used to work maybe I’m plugging it in wrong ?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Just put the aftermarket radio in.

 

[410Fortune]

He tried to put the aftermarket radio in and it is not working with the best buy wiring harness

It sounds like they sold you the wrong harness?

Basically the factory stereo has an amp, the amp is in the back on the passenger side behind the cargo plastics. This amp is what powers all of the factory speakers. So in order for your new aftermarket stereo to send sound to the speakers this am must get two things:
power signal to turn on
hi level input from the new head unit

Once you have that sorted you will probably have sound.
Now before you go to much further you need to stop and check the fuses, it is quite possible that your new harness and aftermarket radio from best buy work, you may have just popped a fuse that is required on the power side of things.

Do you have an owners manual?
Can you show us or tell us what parts Best buy sold you
What aftermarket radio are you using?

The fact that you tried to put the factory radio back in and still no sound makes me think you might have blown a fuse

 

[96eb96]

He tried to put the aftermarket radio in and it is not working with the best buy wiring harness

It sounds like they sold you the wrong harness?

Basically the factory stereo has an amp, the amp is in the back on the passenger side behind the cargo plastics. This amp is what powers all of the factory speakers. So in order for your new aftermarket stereo to send sound to the speakers this am must get two things:
power signal to turn on
hi level input from the new head unit

Once you have that sorted you will probably have sound.
Now before you go to much further you need to stop and check the fuses, it is quite possible that your new harness and aftermarket radio from best buy work, you may have just popped a fuse that is required on the power side of things.

Do you have an owners manual?
Can you show us or tell us what parts Best buy sold you
What aftermarket radio are you using?

The fact that you tried to put the factory radio back in and still no sound makes me think you might have blown a fuse

What happens with the JBL system is that amp gets bypassed. The front radio is nothing more than a keyboard that controls that thing in the back(which the antenna connects to).

With that system, you need a special harness that has 20' of each speaker wire, and an antenna. This goes into the SPEAKER harness from that amplifier. The amplifier becomes a paperweight.

Now, you could wire into the subwoofer amp. Then you need a power signal to turn it on and an RCA out for signal.

Now, there were a bunch of systems from 95-97 (which have that crazy setup). Some do not have this arrangement. We would need a pic of his head unit and harnesses to know what we are dealing with.

98 is whole other ballgame.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Before the hassle of bypassing it, I’d just run new wires to the doors. You can splice into the wires before the enter the door harness is you don’t want to fish wires in the doors. (Only a pain on the drivers door)

 

[410Fortune]

in my old 96 I removed the factory amp and wired all my speaker feeds right there, no need to go into the doors.

 

[Mbrooks420]

That’s what I did as well ( after powering and using the amp for awhile) and I’d probably rather intercept the wiring at the doors or just replace it. I’d you’re using high quality speakers a quality speaker wire wired direct will sound better.

 

[Mr96er]

Sorry it took so long for a reply but I removed the whole amp sub and everything I don’t have much time to work on it so that’s why I’m taking my sweet time . Anyways I’ve got everything hooked up the problem was there’s a ground going all the way back to the factory amp and I disconnected it with the amplifier and then factory stereo case back there I guess well grounded again in my stereo system works