Aftermarket Radio

[PontiacMuscle]

Im trying to install an aftermarket radio in my 93 XLT but heres the problem.. No sound.. All the wiring for the power is correct and if i hook up a loose 6x9 up to the wiring for the speakers i get sound but if i connect it to the factory harness plug i get Nothing !! stock radio works fine ! all connections are good IE no opens or shorts Ive checked them with my meter ! ive taken the pins out of my aftermarket connector and tried inserting them into the factory plug individually but no luck... i have 2 connectors on the factory side the large retangular side and small square 8-pin !! the 8 pin appears to have some type of shield on it, so i tried grounding it out.. still nothing.. what am I missing !?

Thanks

Scott !

 

[bikeboarder]

do you have the primium sound? if you do then you need a special harness. try to check fuse #5 and fuse #10 those controll the radio even with a aftermarcut headunit.
welcome to the site, i hope this helps put you on the right track

 

[Mud Bug 94]

ur problem is the blue amp wire. it dont matter if you have an amp or not, you need to tap the blue and white wire into a red for power no matter what.

 

[PontiacMuscle]

Ahh ok, so let me understand this real quick.. I need to supply 12v to the blue amp power lead on my aftermarket head unit ? And then to the white ? or is it that i need to supply power to the blue and white on my ford harness ?

I think I can handle that ! =)

Thanks.
Scott

 

[PontiacMuscle]

BTW, I threw on some manual locking hubs and they're much better then the Automatic ones ! anyone else come to that conclusion ??

 

[Jason94sport]

You have 2 options

Option 1
Get a standard ford amp bypass harness. This plugs into the factory amp wiring behind the passenger rear cargo panel. Audio shops, & www.crutchfield.com sell them. I would do this.
Option 2
The factory amp wire in the harness needs to be cut & then spliced into the remote turn on wire from your HU.

Either way search the site. This topic has come up a lot & there are many pics & instructions on what to do.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

the blue wire with a white stripe off the ford harness needs to tap into a hot wire.

 

[eddie baller]

i think i have the same problem my aftermarket stereo has power but no sound. so if i cut and splice that wire into the blue wire on my aftermarket radio it should work right.

 

[pope_face]

If you cut and splice the factory amp wire into a hot wire for the HU, I would suggest connecting it to the power wire itself, not the memory wire... the memory provides a constant 12v power supply to the radio... the power wire is more of an "accessory" wire... it will only apply power to the HU when the ignition is on and the radio power is on... else it'll be cold. If you splice into the memory wire you'll be running your amp full time... even when the ignition is off. This would likely put a strain on your battery, as well as your amp and wiring.

Your HU should have an amp remote lead, so just connect that to factory amp if you can...

 

[cloaked_chaos]

What if you have the premium sound, but no rear sub from the factory? Is there still an amp you need to bypass behind the passenger rear panel?

 

[pope_face]

I don't have premium sound, so I wouldn't be able to tell you, but if you know you have premium sound, even if you don't have the sub, then you'll still have to either wire in to the amp, or bypass it completely... Or, at least I think so... Like I said, I don't have premium sound, and when I did my swap I did a complete custom job... I replaced the headunit, all four speakers, and installed an amp and sub... I rewired everything as well because I wanted to use heavier gauge wire for the speakers... if you have the time and are so inclined, that would be the ideal way to go. That way you can run everything the way you want it, and you don't have to worry about getting into the stock harnesses and all.

 

[eddie baller]

thanks for the help guys i hooked up my red wire from harness to the blue white wire from amp and i got sound. there is nothing worst then driving a car with no tunes

 

[cloaked_chaos]

thanks for the help guys i hooked up my red wire from harness to the blue white wire from amp and i got sound. there is nothing worst then driving a car with no tunes

I am pretty sure that the sub needs 5v and that 12v will mess it up permanently. I don't suggest using it like that.

 

[pope_face]

I am pretty sure that the sub needs 5v and that 12v will mess it up permanently. I don't suggest using it like that.

Somehow that seems a little off for me... as far as I know, everything in a car runs off 12V because that's what the battery stores and what the alternator puts out... The used to make 6V vehicles, and heavy machinery is usually either 12V or 24V, but for a car it wouldn't really make sense to have anything 5V...

Just a thought...

Also, if anyone has any questions as to the wiring for the radio, the12volt.com has a lot of useful information... you'll have to register to view the wiring diagrams, but it's free and it covers alarm and radio wiring for most vehicles (Including my old Honda) and there's a lot in there about stereos and setup and little lessons on car audio... HTH...

 

[cloaked_chaos]

For some reason all the sources where I learned this, I cannot find right now. This is the only reference I could find.

The way the ’91 radio, amplifier and harness are set up , pin #8 on the connector provides the 12Volts to energize the Power Amp (dark blue wire). There is no connection in pin # 7. Pin #7 is for the Power antenna not on the ’91 Explorer.
The issue is with the ’94 Radio. The later years, the Power amp only needs 5Volts to energize so that is what it provided through pin #8 on the ’94 radio.

 

[pope_face]

I see... it makes sense now... however, although it may be relevant to some applications, I don't think it's relevant to the people who were enquiring about hooking up the factory amp above... The two main people have a '92 and a '93, and this states it for the '94... Also, I think this is more for running an aftermarket amp off the stock HU... Aftermarket amps will generally run at 12V... From what I understand, the '94 amp only requires 5V to run, so that's all that's provided, but hypothetically it should run on 12V as well... I think this is implying that the stock harness will not provide enough power to run an aftermarket amp...

Then again, if I'm completely wrong, you could end up with some serious damage to your vehicle... you could blow your amp or burn out your wiring, and if the amp or wiring catches on fire as a result of too much electricity then you could burn the rear panel... and with the proximity to the gas tank, this could be serious. However, I believe that the worst that would happen is that you would blow your fuses... Or, at least I hope you would blow your fuses.

Does any of this make sense to anyone, and am I on the right track here, or am I way off?

 

[pope_face]

'94 Explorer audio wiring diagram, courtesy of The12Volt.com...


1994 Ford Explorer Stereo Information
Constant 12V+ Green/Yellow
Switched 12V+ Yellow/Black
Ground Black
Illumination Blue/Red
Dimmer n/a
Amplifier Remote Blue
Antenna Right Front
Front Speakers 5" x 7" Doors
Left Front (+) Orange/Green
Left Front (-) Blue/White
Right Front (+) White/Green
Right Front (-) Green/Orange
Rear Speakers 5" x 7" Rear Doors
Left Rear (+) Pink/Green
Left Rear (-) Brown/Yellow
Right Rear (+) Orange/Red
Right Rear (-) Black/White



I think it should be the same for all the first gens... Sadly, it doesn't show the voltage to the amp...

 

[cloaked_chaos]

The two main people have a '92 and a '93, and this states it for the '94...

It was stating the '91 used 12v and the rest ('92,'93,'94) used 5v. The quote was an answer to a question specifically about the '94 model though.

Also, I think this is more for running an aftermarket amp off the stock HU...

The other way around. Aftermarket headunit, stock amp.

 

[ricaandjohn]

have you tried the simple walmart radio harness? Instead of splicing and doing all the bull, you just cut the original harness and install the new one in its place. just a suggestion, its what i have on my exp.

 

[TedJ]

I think everyone is about 1/4 right here lol. I've got a '94 that had the premium sound package. No subwoofer mind you, but still with the amp behind the passenger rear panel and with the small square plug and the yellow and blue wires going to the amp. Previous owner had connected a aftermarket stereo to the factory amp and replaced the speakers. It sounded horrible too.

I eliminated the amp and it sounded much better. Reason for this is that factory amp is meant to get line-level input. This is why it is connected through the gray cable with thin wiring (no major power involved) and is also shielded (prevent interference). What you're doing is now connecting a speaker level amplified signal to a line-level input on the amp. It works, but not too well. Not to mention that even if it was the right input, the amp in your new HU is likely much better than the ford one.

So what you really want to do is to eliminate the ford amp so you can use it as a doorstop or something. There is some easy(er) ways around it, but the only "right" way is to pull the back seat, passenger side seatbelts, door moulding and kick pannel, and then the big-ass rear pannel. Now you can see that %#$*#*#& amp and its wiring.

Get some decent speaker wire (16ga will be fine) and fish it down from under the dash, and run it along the side to the amp. Finally you can splice into the factory harness. (i'll get/make a wiring digram if someone asks) I've done it and its a PITA.

As to actually using the stock ford amp, You need to connect the power amp turn on (prolly blue) wire from your new HU to the blue wire from the ford amp to tell it to turn on when the stereo is on. This wire is part of the rectangular connector. I can tell you more about this, but its 10:50, i'm 6/5ths asleep and I can only look at the ford service manuals on a PC. If you're still unsure ask me...

-Ted