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Aftermarket stereo install 98 ford explorer

Juustino102

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January 2, 2016
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Year, Model & Trim Level
1998 ford explorer
So i have a 98 ford explorer and someone installed a stereo but it resets when the car turns off. I think they set it up to bypass the pats program. But i dont know would i have to re hook it to the old harness and buy a new harness to hook up to it to rewire the stereo in so itl work right or is their a way to make it work?
 



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There's a wire that constantly has power and then the main power wire which comes on with the ignition.

It's a classic mistake to get them backwards.
 






Im use to stereo installs but from what i heard the pats system runs through the stereo also so if i mess up a wire their goes starting my car again lol. Already had a fuse to the pcm go out and left me stranded on the side of the road
 






Yup, what Robman said. Should be pretty easily to figure out. Pull the radio out and make sure all the wires are connected properly.

We just installed an aftermarket stereo in my sons 96 Explorer. We bought the wiring harness from a local car audio store. I connected all the wires... Was very easy.... Red to red, blue to blue color striped to same color striped and so on. Then you will have two black (ground wires) left over. Both should run to a clean metal to metal part somewhere on the car. I put two washer type connectors on each ground wire then found a bolt that screwed in to a metal part under the dash. I ran the bolt through each washer connector and tightened. Works perfectly.
 






What i was woundering is because pats is in the 1998. And i dont want it to go out. Ill check the wires though. I dont know much about the pats system but seems like its annoying lol
 






What i was woundering is because pats is in the 1998. And i dont want it to go out. Ill check the wires though. I dont know much about the pats system but seems like its annoying lol

I've had 4 Explorers and haven't run across anything about the stereo and pats stuff being interconnected.

Yer good, pull the radio out and check the memory and power wire.
 












Wiring harness

Agreed. The PATS system should not be related to a proper stereo installation.

Pull the radio, and make sure that the previous installer used an aftermarket harness. The aftermarket harness should plug into the factory harness. Then the wiring connections are all downstream from the factory harness. These aftermarket harnesses are inexpensive, and come with instructions and a 800 number for questions. The only difficult item to aftermarket harnesses is that each aftermarket harness unit covers many vehicle models, such that the wiring codes and colors are slightly odd, and there may be colors and codes that connect without matching perfectly. Remember, these aftermarket harnesses are not expensive (translate "cheap"). The toll free lines are a good resource.

But the most difficult situation you could have, in my opinion, is if the previous installer "saved" the money fot the aftermarket harness, and clipped out the factory harness connection. This would leave the radio wiring going directly to the guts of the vehicle wiring with no harness connection. This situation could get nasty, and I might pay a professional installer to resolve that.

In either case, you will be able to get this resolved.

Good luck with the installation.
 






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