Wiring '98 HU into '96 harness

[617ricky]

If there is no "power antenna" then that wire will be missing from the 8-pin plug, right? If I take the "amp turn-on" wire from that plug and connect it to the '98 blue/white wire on the HU that may power the internal amp on the '98 HU?

Thanks for the speaker connect info but I still don't know which wire in the OEM harness goes to which speaker because the colours don't match any schematic I've seen...

You don't have to know the colors if you envision how the 2 plugs connect to the OEM harness you have. I told you all the wires corresponding to exactly how they look in that picture of the 97 harness, but it's still definitely tedious, I can imagine.

I just looked at the pics again of your OEM harness - and you have the amp turn-on wire, I can see it, it's the one all the way on the left. You're gonna wanna connect that to the power antenna wire on the 98 harness side - I would imagine that should be on there. And then the amp ground right into your stereo/chassis ground connection.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Brooksie,

Any specific reason you didn't want an aftermarket deck? It's a whole lot easier to hook in... Not suggesting, just wondering...

The METRA 70-5600 harness is a plug in harness for your truck (also the same type of harness posted by Ricky, you could have tunes in 10 minutes... I just put one in my new Ex- but it woulnd't help you with your install of the newer factory deck.

I got the harness from the Installers at Best Buy since I just wanted to do it right away, but it is the same kit you can order from eBay that Ricky linked...

 

[Brooksie1]

You don't have to know the colors if you envision how the 2 plugs connect to the OEM harness you have. I told you all the wires corresponding to exactly how they look in that picture of the 97 harness, but it's still definitely tedious, I can imagine.

I just looked at the pics again of your OEM harness - and you have the amp turn-on wire, I can see it, it's the one all the way on the left. You're gonna wanna connect that to the power antenna wire on the 98 harness side - I would imagine that should be on there. And then the amp ground right into your stereo/chassis ground connection.

Your description of the speaker wires will help. I guess what I need to do is find the amp power that will give me sound, hook that up and then try colour combos to see if I can one, then two, etc speakers to generate some sound.

By "the one all the way on the left" are you referring to Pic #3 of the 8-pin gray plug? If so, I hooked that blue wire to the new 14-pin pigtail that came with the '98 HU.

As noted, there is no power antenna on my '96 but is there a wire for one that I should be looking for? Realistically I guess I'm looking for a switched power source but what do I connect it to?

Thank you so much for all your help today!

 

[Brooksie1]

Brooksie,

Any specific reason you didn't want an aftermarket deck? It's a whole lot easier to hook in... Not suggesting, just wondering...

The METRA 70-5600 harness is a plug in harness for your truck (also the same type of harness posted by Ricky, you could have tunes in 10 minutes... I just put one in my new Ex- but it woulnd't help you with your install of the newer factory deck.

I got the harness from the Installers at Best Buy since I just wanted to do it right away, but it is the same kit you can order from eBay that Ricky linked...

Didn't even consider that an aftermarket deck could be installed in the dash unit... I was checking eBay and up popped this nice replacement HU that had AM/FM/Cass/CD/MP3 already onboard...

In 20/20 hindsight, I probably should have just added deck from Best Buy or similar vendor. Ahhh well, I just want to get this done so I can get on with some restoration work on my '63 Avanti... sigh, it's only been apart for 7-8 years!

 

[617ricky]

By "the one all the way on the left" are you referring to Pic #3 of the 8-pin gray plug? If so, I hooked that blue wire to the new 14-pin pigtail that came with the '98 HU.

As noted, there is no power antenna on my '96 but is there a wire for one that I should be looking for? Realistically I guess I'm looking for a switched power source but what do I connect it to?

Thank you so much for all your help today!

Yes that blue wire on the left in that pic is the amp turn-on wire. I realize you have no antenna wire on the 96 harness, but there should be 1 on the 98 harness - aren't those wires labeled on there? If there isn't 1, I'm not exactly sure where you'd connect it to, but it's definitely gotta be possible somehow. Have you found the amp ground wire on the other plug?

 

[Brooksie1]

Yes that blue wire on the left in that pic is the amp turn-on wire. I realize you have no antenna wire on the 96 harness, but there should be 1 on the 98 harness - aren't those wires labeled on there? If there isn't 1, I'm not exactly sure where you'd connect it to, but it's definitely gotta be possible somehow. Have you found the amp ground wire on the other plug?

Then I could simply run a patch wire from the switched wire over to the amp turn-on wire. I found the amp ground on the plug - it's black, right?

 

[617ricky]

You're lucky that these thread updates are linked to my email, haha kidding.. Yea that should definitely be an option, if you're sure that the 12v switched wire would safely serve the same purpose as an antenna/remote wire, cuz I'm not positive about that.. Now I'm not sure exactly what you mean about "patch wire", but you're basically gonna be doing the same thing with both these wires.. That sounds like the amp ground wire - is it on the bottom row of 5 wires at the end closest to the middle? Anyways, you take that amp ground, and twist it with your stereo ground and chassis ground wires - so all 3 together.. And if you think the 12v switched wire is good for the other purpose, you twist the amp turn on wire in with your 2 12v switched wires - 3 together again.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Brooksie, if this helps:

This is the harness in my '97. I have the same factory setup.

This is my harness-

Factory plug is on top, the gray plug is my aftermarket plug that hooked to it. The factory blue wire on the right hand end is the one that hooked up to the blue/white "Remote Amp Turn-On" wire from my aftermarket harness to power the amps in the rear to power the speakers...

 

[Brooksie1]

You're lucky that these thread updates are linked to my email, haha kidding.. Yea that should definitely be an option, if you're sure that the 12v switched wire would safely serve the same purpose as an antenna/remote wire, cuz I'm not positive about that.. Now I'm not sure exactly what you mean about "patch wire", but you're basically gonna be doing the same thing with both these wires.. That sounds like the amp ground wire - is it on the bottom row of 5 wires at the end closest to the middle? Anyways, you take that amp ground, and twist it with your stereo ground and chassis ground wires - so all 3 together.. And if you think the 12v switched wire is good for the other purpose, you twist the amp turn on wire in with your 2 12v switched wires - 3 together again.

I sure hooked into the right forum! I can't thank you enough for the help you have given... I'll try the hookup today and will let you know if it works (it should!)

Brooksie

 

[Brooksie1]

Brooksie, if this helps:

This is the harness in my '97. I have the same factory setup.

This is my harness-

Factory plug is on top, the gray plug is my aftermarket plug that hooked to it. The factory blue wire on the right hand end is the one that hooked up to the blue/white "Remote Amp Turn-On" wire from my aftermarket harness to power the amps in the rear to power the speakers...

That is the same 8-pin plug as mine but you have 6 wires connected. I'm betting mine will work today with all the help - doubtless a loud cheer will be heard from my wife today. Hell, you'll probably hear me too!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Nice! Maybe we'll hear the tunes as well...

The missing wires on the harness are (according to my install kit)

Orange: Illumination/Dimmer
Blue: Power antenna

Neither affect operation, and my dimmer is a function of the knob on the dash. The radio, however, does not dim with the knob. But, I have my lights on full blast at night anyway...

Hope it works out- Ricky knows his stuff!

 

[Brooksie1]

Nice! Maybe we'll hear the tunes as well...

The missing wires on the harness are (according to my install kit)

Orange: Illumination/Dimmer
Blue: Power antenna

Neither affect operation, and my dimmer is a function of the knob on the dash. The radio, however, does not dim with the knob. But, I have my lights on full blast at night anyway...

Hope it works out- Ricky knows his stuff!

I'll crank up the tunes so you can all hear them!

Stay "tuned"....

 

[617ricky]

I've installed stereos in a few different cars, and I've never touched illumination/dimmer wires, if the deck powered and lit up, I figured I'd just leave it be haha.. I would really look closely at that 98 harness tho and see if you got a power antenna wire on there, cuz I'm not positive about connecting an amp turn on wire to the 12v switched connection

 

[Brooksie1]

I've installed stereos in a few different cars, and I've never touched illumination/dimmer wires, if the deck powered and lit up, I figured I'd just leave it be haha.. I would really look closely at that 98 harness tho and see if you got a power antenna wire on there, cuz I'm not positive about connecting an amp turn on wire to the 12v switched connection

Didn't hear any shouting huh? I got really good at replacing the 7.5A fuse though...

No luck except the odd errant noise from the LR speaker but I have no idea what I was doing to achieve that!

I posted a JPG to Photobucket listing the wiring & plugs I have been working with. It's here...

http://s822.photobucket.com/albums/zz142/brooksie1_photos/Explorer Radios/Radio Wiring/

If you have accessed the usual sources to get the colour coding that my XLT is SUPPOSED to have, you'll readily see that what I found in my dash harness does not match and I have NO IDEA what colour wire goes to what source or destination except I got the two 12v leads and the ground hooked up right! Wow, what progress! Is it time to just take it to Best Buy or some such to hook it up? 3 hours futzing today and no tunes!

See if the JPG makes any sense or generates any thoughts that might filter through to my fizzled grey cells... Thank you all!!!

 

[617ricky]

I'd hate for ya to bring it to Best Buy, who knows what they'd try and charge you since you cut the wires already.. Before I even thought of doing that, I would just buy a used aftermarket deck, cuz the installation would be easier than what you're trying to do now I think, and probably cheaper than Best Buy installing that one you have now.. I got mine used on ebay for $15.99 total! But at the same time, what you're trying to do now is definitely doable..

 

[Brooksie1]

I'd hate for ya to bring it to Best Buy, who knows what they'd try and charge you since you cut the wires already.. Before I even thought of doing that, I would just buy a used aftermarket deck, cuz the installation would be easier than what you're trying to do now I think, and probably cheaper than Best Buy installing that one you have now.. I got mine used on ebay for $15.99 total! But at the same time, what you're trying to do now is definitely doable..

hehehe, "doable" for whom? I just wish the wires in my dash were the colours they're supposed to be...

 

[617ricky]

So have you cut the plugs off the harness? Did you leave enough of the wires on the plugs so you know which wire was where? If you have some good pics of the plugs themselves, we can figure out exactly which wire is which I think..

And about the 98 harness- are all those wires labeled or what?

 

[Joe Dirt]

Brooksie, if you do end up going aftermarket, you could peek here: CLICK ME

 

[Brooksie1]

So have you cut the plugs off the harness? Did you leave enough of the wires on the plugs so you know which wire was where? If you have some good pics of the plugs themselves, we can figure out exactly which wire is which I think..

And about the 98 harness- are all those wires labeled or what?

16-pin plug has been cut off... uploaded photo of it with each wire labeled for the colour in the dash harness.

The '98 harness has each wire labeled. I noted the colours & hookup for that in the JPG I uploaded to Photobucket.

http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz142/brooksie1_photos/Explorer Radios/Radio Wiring/OEMPlug.jpg

 

[617ricky]

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