Factory amp bypass on '96 XLT

[ErockSteady]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about wiring up an aftermarket stereo in my '96 XLT. It has the non-JBL system with the factory amplifier located behind the rear-right panel. When I ordered my stereo from Crutchfield, they sent me an amp-bypass wiring harness with a large amount of wire. The instructions are to plug this into to the speaker output from the amp, then run new wire all the way to the front and splice into the new stereo's output. However, I was thinking: why can I not simply splice the existing wires from the back of the old stereo to the output of the new one, then just bypass the amp by splicing the incoming wires to the outgoing wires on the amp itself (signal wires to speaker wires)? I know they're color coded differently, but I have a diagram. Has anyone done this? Is there a problem with this route, hence the instructions to run new wire?

I know there are many threads addressing similar issues, but I wanted to know what the results are from someone who had specifically done this. Thank you!

 

[kelly2]

can be done, just easier to return to stock using the harness crutchfield supplied you. no cutting or hoping the diagram is right

 

[ErockSteady]

Hmmm...thanks for the reply. Still seems easier to me to cut & connect 8 wires rather than running 15 feet of new wire under carpet and plastic panels. We'll see...

 

[Charlie]

Old thread of mine, my factory amp blew, so I just bypassed them. You can do this through the rear passenger speaker hole..on a 2 door at least. I don't know where the bundle runs on a 4 door, but I would assume the wire colors are the same. Using a bypass plug at the amp would be a cleaner way to do it, but I went with the cheaper way. I think the bypass plug was about 20 bucks, and I figured this way worked just as well.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169530

 

[icefshng8]

ok im confused

so i might be wrong but could the amp be behind the radio on the drivers side cuz there is a black box there with about 4 plugs in it also i have bought 5 different wire harnesses to try to hook up an aftermarket radio and none of them have the same plugs i am very confused i have a picture of the plugs but i am kinda new to forums and am not sure if i can or how to upload it please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Joe Dirt]

No. That is the GEM module, that is not part of your radio.

CLICK ME

 

[ErockSteady]

so i might be wrong but could the amp be behind the radio on the drivers side cuz there is a black box there with about 4 plugs in it also i have bought 5 different wire harnesses to try to hook up an aftermarket radio and none of them have the same plugs i am very confused i have a picture of the plugs but i am kinda new to forums and am not sure if i can or how to upload it please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have my Explorer any longer (sob), but no, the factory amp in my 1996 XLT was definitely in the right rear quarter panel, behind the plastic. Kind of a bugger to get to. You could either do some detective work and splice the input and output wires to the amp together directly, or use what I'm assuming your wire harness is for on your truck, and run it from the amp's input harness all the way back up to your radio.

 

[icefshng8]

yeah i started to think it was a computer or module or something after i posted so does anyone know where the amp is on the ranger? im kinda curious now

 

[mtx1000d]

1996 96 96' ranger / explorer factory amplifier

Same thing happened to me, the amp jumper cable so popularly in use did not match my factory amplifier ins and outs.... the IN is 8 pins on top, and 2 sets of 3 pins on either side of the bottom contained in a rectangular plug. The out is the small square black plug with 8-pins (2 rows of four)... All of the square black 8-pin aftermarket female plugs DO NOT match the square male end that leads to the rear speakers (close but no cigar). I tried bending the pins, but the pins are too big to fit in the holes and will probably loosen at some point, so direct bypassing (strip and solder or crimp), or just running a bundle of speaker wires to this point (the 8-pin out to the speakers) is the solution. This happened in premium sound systems with CASSETTE only in 1994-1996 (at least). They DO NOT make an amp jumper cable that fits this design.

The amp is located on the BACKSIDE of the metal to the left of the rear speaker, behind the middle of the passenger seatbelt, behind that large plastic piece in the back.
I had to pull about 8 of those plastic plugs, unscrew the seatbelt mount to the floor... unscrew the rear window mount, pull the plastic out far enough to reach back to unscrew the passenger rear speaker mount, reach into that cavity you'll feel the amp. Good ol' number F57F-18T806. It has three mounting screws that you can unscrew from the front, but getting back there is a B.
Here's the pinouts for the different factory amps... http://mysite.verizon.net/jay_york/Sound_System_Pinouts.html

These are the inputs to the factory amps, however, you need to match these with the square black output plug to bypass the amp (different colors)... look-up your specific speaker wire colors.

or just run speaker wire from your new head unit to this point (the square black plug) and label to avoid confusion, then cut off the plug, get the color diagram, and match the stock colors to your aftermarket leads... then hopefully success! You can see a picture of the amp or something that looks almost identical if you search "image F57F-18T806"