Newbie with stereo question

[oldlatrobe723]

Hello, I am new to the forum, and this is my first post, although I've been reading them for a while. I recently acquired a 1994 explorer with what I believe is the premium sound system (JBL sub in the back, etc.). I wanted to swap out the stock HU and put in the one I had on my old car (a sony CDX-4250). I did extensive searching on the forum and could not find the specific answer, hence this post. I did some of the installation without looking at the forum first, so I cut all the wiring harnesses off in my attempt to remove the stock stereo. I got the speakers wired correctly to the new HU, and bypassed the amp. My problem is this: when I start the car, the cd pops out and the radio stations are erased. This leads me to believe that I must have wired the power incorrectly as there should be a wire going straight to the battery to provide power all the time, which would save the settings. My sony unit has a black ground wire, a yellow power wire, and a red power wire for the accessory position. I think the factory harness has about 7 wires or something, but the names do not really match up with the sony functions. I wired the 2 grounds on the factory wiring into the sony ground. The wire going to the yellow sony power wire was yellow with a stripe on the ford side. My question is this: Does anyone have a listing of the wiring on my car (colors, locations, functions, etc.)? Or better yet, does anyone know which wires I should wire to the sony power wires? This is the first time I have ever done anything like this, so I'm still surprised that I wired the speakers correctly and that I'm getting sound at all. Thanks in advance, and sorry about the length.

 

[Explorer94GV]

Here are the specs. you need.

Yellow-12volt constant
Red-12 volt ignition
Orange-Dimmer 12 volt
Black-Ground
Blue-Power Antenna
Blue/White-Remote Turn-On

My guess is that you need to hook up your power wire from sony to the 12 volt constant that is what mine is hooked up too. Sounds like you have it hooked up to the red ignition. My X is a 94' so they should be the same colors.

 

[Casey C]

yeah sounds to me like you wired your power wire to your remote(ignition), therefore cutting your HU out of power once you turn your X off.

 

[oldlatrobe723]

Thanks for all the help. I'm pretty sure I hooked up the yellow wire to the 12v constant on the stereo though, so I don't know what's up. Also, I don't really remember a red wire in there to attach to the accessory wire. I guess I'll have to check. Explorer94GV: do you have the JBL audio system like me, and if not, could that explain the difference in wires, if there is one?

 

[Explorer94GV]

when i ripped mine apart i didnt have the sub but i bought this used and the guy before may of taking it out cause he did do audio to it. how should the wire colors be different? Are they?