Need Help With 89 Radio Wiring

[JRA2000TL]

My brother and I are having issues getting a radio working in this 89. We have tried 2 options: 1. Get the existing aftermarket Pioneer am/fm CD player that came with the car working. 2. Get this Ford am/fm premium sound cassette I found at the j/y working.

First, the amp in the trunk is HUGE. It had a blown fuse, so we replaced it and tried; didn't work. Tried to plug in an amp from an 88 Town Car (got it at the j/y too), didn't work.

When I first got the car, the radio would power off/on by itself and had no sound or static at all. We pulled it and it looked like whoever installed it ran it through the amp (we're assuming it's dead). I bought a new harness at Walmart to bypass the amp and install the aftermarket radio. There are also 3 connectors in the dash (not counting the little plug). Here are some pictures...I will connect either radio, I don't care. I'd like to try this aftermarket one.

How do we connect it?

Here's the 2 long ones (1 was plugged into the dash, and there's a 3rd one still plugged in)


1st connector


2nd connetor


3rd connector (still plugged in)


Harness to bypass amp

 

[SHO1]

The Black plug in your right hand is for the speakers and the grey in your left is for power, ground, etc. That middle connector in pic 4 w/the pink, Lt. blue, green, orange, etc. wires is for the speakers and the 6 wire you're holding in pic 3 is for the power, etc.
Have to find my schematic 1st, but I can tell you which color wire is for what if you need it and havn't got the info by time I'm on next, prob 12-15 hrs or so.

 

[JRA2000TL]

Yeah, any help would be appreciated. I have a 90 shop manual but I have no clue how to read wiring diagrams; already looked in there. I wanted to take my meter and test the plugs to make sure I'm getting power there. (Since the aftermarket CD player would come off/on by itself w/ no sound, I'd like to make sure I don't have a short somewhere).

 

[93rev2sev]

I would run 4 new speaker wires and forget the factory wiring. It's a better way to go with an aftermarket head unit and you'll be done running the speaker wires in about 35 minutes (fishing them through the front door might take you a minute or 2 longer).

At the same time, run an RCA (or 2...or 3 if you're head unit is "nasty") and a remote wire along with the rear speaker wires so when you decide to install a REAL amplifier, the 2 most important wires will already be there.

 

[tommyturbo]

For the factory deck, do you have the little black bypass plug that plugs into where the slave cd player would plug in? It may not work with out it.

 

[JRA2000TL]

For the factory deck, do you have the little black bypass plug that plugs into where the slave cd player would plug in? It may not work with out it.

Yeah I have the jumper plug. I am trying to wire up the aftermarket one first. I have 3 long black connectors now (2 were plugged into connectors in the dash). I've tried plugging it in with all 3 different connectors with no luck.

One piece of the harness I bought has a square looking plug with it. Right now, I'm confused. All I wanted to do was unplug the hidden in-dash connector (that bypasses the amp), and plug that into the aftermarket harness, then plug the dash power connector to the aftermarket harness, and have it working. I have too many plugs now and no matter what combination I try, they don't work.

How can I test to see if I'm even getting power through the factory harness? I have a multimeter.

 

[SHO1]

Using the plugs I mentioned.
Ground stereo ground wire to some part of the metal in dash.
Lt. Green-Yel = Instrument panel lts./Batt.
Yel/Blk=Acessory/Key on Pwr
Lt. Blu/Blk=interior lamp
These are the only 3 I use for my pioneer on this plug.
Or/Bk is for pwr antenna if you have one and want to make it automatic, assuming stereo has a wire for it. Shouldn't need other 2 wires.

Speakers:
Dk. Gr./Or (one on end of plug) = RR -
Pink/Lt. Blu (one between both DG/O) = RR+

Other Pink/Lt. Blu = LR -
Pink/Lt. Green = LR +

Or/Lt. Gr = LF +
Lt. Blu/Wt. = LF -

Wt./Lt. Gr = RF +
Dk. Gr./Or = RF -

 

[JRA2000TL]

Thanks. My friend, who's an engineer, is coming over tomorrow and we're going to see if we can get it working. I can't get ANYTHING to power up now, so we may have to break out the meter and make sure it's not a harness problem. I hope not. I am not seeing any voltage show up at the harness.

 

[kevinspann]

It's a radio, not a nuclear power plant.

 

[SHO1]

Also the stock stereo chassis doesn't need to be grounded to the metal in the dash to work, but your aftermarket stereo might, mine does.

 

[JRA2000TL]

My friend came over and we got it working. You know what it was? We didn't have the antenna plugged in on the aftermarket deck....I didn't know you had to do this; we figured all we needed for the unit to just power on was to plug in the long power connector. I had to buy a light tester, and once we found out we had power to the radio, he tried that and it worked. Thanks for the help though!

Oh and the Ford deck I got at the j/y is no good..taking it back for credit.

 

[kevinspann]

My friend came over and we got it working. You know what it was? We didn't have the antenna plugged in on the aftermarket deck....I didn't know you had to do this; .

BTDT felt stupid.