Help: Returning to factory

[Rooster-Alpha]

I picked up a factory am/fm/cassette/cd radio today and I'm wanting to replace my 9 yr old x-plod head unit with it. Please forgive me if this is a stupid question as I am the furthest thing from being an electrician there can possibly be.

I got the new/old factory unit out of a Mounty at the junkyard and when I pulled it out I just used my pocket knife to cut through all the wires coming out of the connectors on the back of the unit. What I want to know is how do the wires hook into the pin connectors? Are they soldered in or something? I want to just hook the existing wires in my X into the new pin connectors instead of splicing wire by wire. It just seems wrong on some level to me to have so many spliced connections on something that draws as much power as a stereo does.

Thanks in advance,
Rooster

 

[Joe Dirt]

They should have pinreleases, you'll have to remove a keeper plate inside the end of the harness to get to them. If you can- honestly- go back and find one and just disconnect the harness. It'll be a lot easier. Is there a harness for the X-Plod or did they just cut the factory harness? If they did, never mind- you'll need some diagrams from someone here... Post your radio part number that you bought. (on the side)

 

[Rooster-Alpha]

ok first off, your a genius and I feel stupid. They used a retro fit harness plugged into the factory harness to go to the x-plod.

BUT!!!!!

Now I have a new set of things I'm totally ignorant about.

1)I pulled three connectors from the Mountaineer (one large rectangular one, one large square shaped one and one smaller square shaped one) my X only has two inside the radio bezel (rectangle and larger square)

2)There are alot more wires connected to the larger square shaped connector that I pulled from the Mounty than the one I have in my X.

3)When I hook everything up the radio will play, but the display will not lite up and the unit will not accept or eject a CD (I don't know if maybe there's one still in there)

Here is the No. from the side of the unit I got out of the Mountaineer: 4 076 0 121017. There is another very large number on the bottom F87F-18C868-AE. It also says VEHICLE EQUALIZATION: 4 DOOR MACH TUNER MARKET: NORTH AMERICA. It is dated September, 1998

Note: My X was originally equipped with the basic am/fm/cassette. No CD player

 

[Kriegen]

The MACH stereo system on the mountaineer has the 6 disk changer, rear audio controls and a factory sub (iirc, the sub is the difference between the premium and the mach) These things of course add plenty of new wires.

 

[Rooster-Alpha]

just read in the quick reference for audio sticky that from 1998 on it is possible to upgrade from 1998 on without any wiring modifications. So am I boned? Did I just buy a bad unit?

 

[Rooster-Alpha]

The MACH stereo system on the mountaineer has the 6 disk changer, rear audio controls and a factory sub (iirc, the sub is the difference between the premium and the mach) These things of course add plenty of new wires.

Yeah I figured they were probably for rear controls and sub and stuff but what about the display and cd player. should this work automatically?

 

[Joe Dirt]

If it powers up, you should have a display...

Check this thread out:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163594&highlight=radio+display

If you do have a subwoofer, you have MACH (or in earlier models JBL) audio and it's an entirely different system...

 

[Rooster-Alpha]

I don't have a sub but the Mountaineer did so I guess it's a Mach. I'll try and fix it. Hell I only paid $13.06 + tax for the thing so it's not a huge deal if I destroy it. I'll either be successful or it'll be a good learning experience.