Help! Reinstalling the Factory Radio. (1998 Sport SOHC)

Hey guys,

I am not having much luck figuring out what I need. One of the previous owners removed the factory radio to install a sat. radio. (A company did it, I guess.) They snipped the factory wiring harness off, so now I cannot hook the factory radio up. What wiring harnesses do I need to get this connected. It has the premium CD/Tape/AM/FM radio with secondary controls for the rear seats. It appears that the antenna plug is still there (kind of looks like an RCA plug?), but the rest is just a mess of wires. There are several slots on the back of the radio... will all of those be used? I have tried looking for the parts on Ford's motorcraft website, but they have several listed (9+) for my car. My radio looks just like the one in this picture (http://www.fixyourford.com/radio.jpg) from another website. The back of it looks just like the one in this diagram (http://carstereohelp.net/images/FordWireharness12310201.jpg).

Can anyone help this very flustered Explorer owner? I figured this would be a simple fix, but I was wrong. Finding the right parts is proving to be rather difficult!

Thanks!

PS: I'm not even entirely sure that the factory radio works! Is there any way that I can test it without the plugs that I don't have?

Motorcraft Premium/Mach into radio connectors/pigtails T-100:
98-02 Radio- Main 20 pin male wpt184
98-02 Radio- Subwoofer 8 pin male wpt185
98-04 Radio-CD/Rear Control 16 pin male WPT186

Available from rockauto.com
These have pigtails attached all black wires.
or:
Metra 71-5700 Into Radio Harness T-100- all three connectors with pigtails.

No way to test without the t-100 plugs/connectors.

Hope this helps
Scucci

So this:

http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/METRA_71_5700.html

or this?

http://www.oem-auto-accessory.com/71_5700_repair_plug_for_world_plug_radio_j1_j2_j3.html

Is there a place you would recommend to purchase that from?

Thanks!

go to a u-pull it yard and pull the harness out of another my guess is that would be cheaper

No doubt it would be cheaper, but I live in a small town and don't know of any yards that do that sort of thing. I haven't lived here long, though, so I suppose a check of the phone book is in order just in case.

Those harnesses that I linked to would work, though, right?

Yes the harnesses on your links are the correct ones.
Purchase from wherever you can. Some local stereo installers may have them, but they are not commonly used by installers.
I have purchased from oem-auto-accessory.com in the past and have not had any problems.
You will need a radio wiring diagram to match up the oem wires to the t-100 pigtails.

Scucci

The wires aren't color coded like they appear in the picture? Or don't they match the factory harness colors?

Thanks!

TomCat_Ford said:

The wires aren't color coded like they appear in the picture? Or don't they match the factory harness colors?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

They don't match the color code on the Ford harness. Many of us have the schematic so getting that to you is not a problem. I also have the pin-out for the connectors. A lot of splicing is involved, but it is not difficult to do. That's why it is best to purchase an adapter harness when replacing an OEM head unit.

Scucci

Okay, I called around locally and was referred to an audio shop. I went there and he said that he'd probably have to order me the connector since he normally doesn't stock the male ends. When he looked up the part number, he said "wait, I might have one of these." Turns out it's the same connector that he was using on one of his displays. So he went over, snipped it off from his display and sold it to me. Sure was a lot cheaper than those on-line harnesses! Anyway, I'm currently out in the garage with the radio out. Any ideas as to where I can find a wiring diagram. I think I found one on WiliAnswers, but I don't trust that website as far as I could throw my Explorer.

The splicing won't be an issue. My grandfather put in his 40 years at Bell Systems back in the day. He taught my father how to solder who, in turn, taught me. I still use my grandfather's old iron.

It's too bad that they did such a... er... crappy... job installing the Sat. radio. They even snipped the rear controls plug! Idiots! Oh well, I should be able to get that plug out of my '96 Explorer (parts truck). I was trying to avoid taking the harnesses out of that car... bummer.

EDIT: Found a diagram here on the forums, but it looks like it's written in French (to me, anyway!). My harness has what the wires are for printed on the wires (illumination, speakers, etc.), so I just need to know how the factory harness's wires match up to mine. I.E. what color is the wire for illumination, etc.

Okay. I used a thread here that had diagrams for '98-'01 radios. After I took a long deep breath (several, actually!), I was able to decipher the diagram. I got it all hooked up (as much as I can without that rear control plug) and tried it out. No dice. So I broke out the Ohm/Volt meter and tested for power. No power at the memory/always hot wire or the ignition wire. So I checked the fuses. The 25 amp in slot 29 (I think it was 29) was blown as was the fuse in the 20 slot. For some reason there was a 20 amp fuse in slot 20... that was supposed to be a 7.5 amp fuse! So I put the correct fuse in there and tried it. I had power, but the head unit wouldn't light up. So I called the audio shop here in town (just a small-time shop for my small town) and asked them. They said that I could bring it in and they'd let me test a different head unit. Turns out the display in my original radio is burnt out (a common problem, I guess). The installer that I was working with said that it would cost $120+ just to fix it. To replace it with another new OEM... $200-$300! So I was getting quotes for aftermarket systems (I really didn't want an aftermarket system... I wanted to stick with factory radios) and I asked if he had any OEM radios laying around (used). He pulled out a large storage tote full of Ford radios. All of the CD/Tape players had burnt out displays. However, he had several functional head units without CD players (tape only). I ended up buying one of those. The display colors on the radio match the lights in the car, the stereo matches the car, etc. It was much less than the cost of a cheap aftermarket radio, so I was happy. I'm not going to loose any sleep over the CD player... I would have never used it anyway. I also got to support a local business V. order from an on-line place thousands of miles away, didn't have to pay shipping, or wait for it to come in the mail. One more issue to check off from the list.

As I wired up my new harness, I also wrote down which colors went to which between the aftermarket plug & pigtail and my factory harness. I'll post that later tonight or later this week in a new thread so that someone in a similar position won't have to do as much work as I did installing mine.

Thank you very much for any and all help that has been provided!