Transfer stock amp from '94 Explorer to '95?

[Ck_asdf]

Hello, I have two Explorers at current.

'94 GREEN Explorer Sport
2 door
"Premium" sound, power locks, windows, mirrors
Transmission: trashed

'95 WHITE Explorer XL
4 door
Base sound (in fact, base EVERYTHING: not even power locks/windows)
Mechanical condition: good

Obviously, while the green truck may be nicer to ride in, it's not going anywhere at current. So I try to make the best of the white one, getting my radio to play in it at least. So far I've failed.

The stock radio has a broken AM/FM button, resulting in only AM stations (if anyone has a suggested fix for that, it'd be a nice start), and my aftermarket radio (provided by Crutchfield) came out of my green truck into the white one, where it did not work (I only heard music at the very loudest volume of the radio, and even then only barely).

Radio Shack (who provided the new wiring harness) explained that this truck does not have an amplifier, and I was trying to use the "line level outputs," and instead needed to use the "speaker level outputs," which were another set of wires. I hooked it up using those wires, and nothing happened, not even at the loudest volume.

A Radio Shack employee checked my work again, and said it was hooked up correctly, and the only other explanation was that perhaps this output on the radio was bad somehow. How might this have gone bad? Could I have done something wrong? Could the radio's output there have been defective? I wouldn't have known if it was, as I didn't use those outputs in the green Explorer. I still have a bit of warranty remaining, but I am wondering which would be better: plugging it into an amplifier or listening without an amplifier.

I got the brilliant idea of just going to my green Explorer and ripping the amp out of it, and putting it somewhere in the white one, but I did not realize the maze of wire that was needed. I finally gave up once I realized one bit of wire, were I wanting to extract it, would require tearing apart the dash, and the other bit ran through the middle of the truck, requiring seats and carpet to come up. I gave up at this point, having already removed the rear right side panel, pulled up the carpet along the edge, and removed little trim pieces.

I was wondering: just how difficult would it be to put the amplifier in the white Explorer so that I can get some music going?


Some may suggest forgetting about the Ford amp & going with something else, but my budget at this point in time is virtually non-existent. Still, if it's needed to get my music, what price would I be looking at for an amp on par with the Ford amp or perhaps a bit better? I'm not looking for audio perfection, just something to scare away the silence.

These are the two plugs that go into the amp

A) One more of the plugs that's on the same snaking wire as the last two plugs - this one plugs in near the right-middle of the car, as seen by B & C.


I am not sure what that plug is that goes in the middle, but I am guessing it's important.

I'm guessing the other two plugs in the first picture are power & audio.


How far would I get if I did some cutting of the cable, then re-splicing it later, to avoid taking apart the rest of my green truck?



Some advice on the matter would be appreciated.

Thanks for any suggestions & help!

 

[toypaseo]

IMO, just run new speaker wires from your aftermarket head unit. I would not rely on the stock amp if I did not need to.

 

[Ck_asdf]

Run new speaker wires? What might that accomplish? I should have made mention of this before, but I did test the current speakers and their wires by tuning into an AM station with the stock radio - I could hear the audio just fine.

I believe the problem at current is with the wires that come out of the back of the new radio that are meant to connect directly to the speakers instead of an amp - I think something inside that they're connected to may have gone bad. Out of curiosity, could the fuse that is visible on the outside have blown, and yet still work with the line audio?