Hello please help me try to make sense of what the last owner was doing when putting together this stereo system. Believe it or not it was working before I tried to upgrade it but only the front left dash speaker and right front tweeter were working. I have tested all the connections to from the stock connectors to the speaker connectors on the factory wires and they all should be connected, but I put new speakers in the sound bar and they did not work. So I looked at the back of the radio and tried to figure out the issue and decided I should just get a new radio and wiring harness but when I plugged that in it didn’t even turn on, now when I plug in the old radio it doesn’t turn on either, I tried tracing some wires to see where it might be messed up but I can’t make sense of them because some of them are cut off and others go into big cables and there are randomly exposed wires all over the place, then I also discovered a second wiring harness that wasn’t even connected to the first radio in the back and it looked like a mess as well. PLEASE help, I have no clue what is happening here, no videos show what stock is supposed to look like
Please help me try to fix this radio wiring the last guy did
- Thread starter Bode
- Start date
Well, I just did a radio for an XJ last week and one of the pins on the Metra harness adapter was in the wrong place. Verify that all the pins actually line up & match up to the correct function.
If I hadn’t caught that before the install it would’ve been frustrating to track down.
If I hadn’t caught that before the install it would’ve been frustrating to track down.
Ok I’ve checked again and I think they’re right, I’m mostly concerned with the random wires coming off the fuse box and battery terminal, as well as the random cut wire
Also I’ve determined that there was a different wiring harness just sitting in there I think it was maybe the stock one at a time but got all cut up and put back together
Good work!
That's step 1...step 2 is getting past the fire department waking you up at 3 am to a toasty Jeep fire. =)
What did you find?
I'd check all the fuses and wiring...lots of shenanigans start with stero wiring and spread quickly to alarms, custom lights, extra power ports...
-Mac
I found what im guessing is a ground wire off of the old (im guessing stock ) wiring harness and connected it to my new one, then i zip tied the metra harness together because the connections were loose. but it still didnt work then, so I then replaced the fuse in the fusebox even though the one that was in it i thought was good and put the blue wire that was coming off of it back in it. Only then did the radio turn on and then my rear speakers started working as well(they werent before, But there is now an imbalance between them drivers side is louder) I am really concerned about this wire that comes off the fusebox because im pretty sure its directly wired to the battery, but it also connects to something else but i cant figure it out because it goes through the firwall and through a couple connectors, but i think it goes across the jeep from the battery back through the firewall and then i lose it in a mess of wires there. Theres also a random really thick wire cut where these wires come out.
If you have a blue wire connected it probably runs to a separate amplifier that's running some of the speakers...or was running...thick cut wire might indicate it was hacked out and the head unit speakers patched back in for a quick cut and run sell job.
Nice work - keep at it and you'll figure it out.
Stereo harness colors are pretty universal. The FSM - factory service manual - is in the resources section... it's nice to have the picture of the jigsaw puzzle you're reassembling.
-Mac
Nice work - keep at it and you'll figure it out.
Stereo harness colors are pretty universal. The FSM - factory service manual - is in the resources section... it's nice to have the picture of the jigsaw puzzle you're reassembling.
-Mac
I think is exactly what happened I got my amp wiring kit today and it seems like there was a layout for an amp but it’s definitely not there anymore, gonna rerun all the cables.
CreepinDeth
TJ Addict
Rule #1 in electricity
Identify Identify Identify & label
Rule #2. Always do ID work “Dead Op”
Pull the 12V positive BEFORE messing with any harness
Find a factory harness color diagram and print it and bring it with you to remedy and label. You didnt list what year so Im not sure
Hes not wrong
I fried my main fusible link to my entire fuse block of a 1970s Camaro when I was 19. I took my first stab at a deck install and didnt disconnect the battery. POOF
It took me MANY years to correct that mistake, and the car sat for many years FUBAR because of it
Also FYI any wire ran to the battery BETTER have a fuse on it inline and close to the battery
Identify Identify Identify & label
Rule #2. Always do ID work “Dead Op”
Pull the 12V positive BEFORE messing with any harness
Find a factory harness color diagram and print it and bring it with you to remedy and label. You didnt list what year so Im not sure
Hes not wrong
I fried my main fusible link to my entire fuse block of a 1970s Camaro when I was 19. I took my first stab at a deck install and didnt disconnect the battery. POOF
It took me MANY years to correct that mistake, and the car sat for many years FUBAR because of it
Also FYI any wire ran to the battery BETTER have a fuse on it inline and close to the battery
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Ok, thanks for the advice. I’ve been trying to be good about disconnecting the battery when I’m working on it. I’m pretty sure this wire (the one directly connected to the battery) somehow connected to the old amp even though I actually found the old amp fuse and wire disconnected from the battery and it was cut. I think it has a fuse on it because if it doesn’t I don’t know how it hasn’t burned yet because I’ve been driving it for about 3 months before messing with this stuff.
Ok so I traced this yellow wire to this place where there are a bunch of connectors and it runs into one of the middle ones, I think this wire may be the 12v one that’s supposed to go to the radio and that’s why it doesn’t turn on when I have it disconnected, now I just have no clue why they ever needed to connect this wire directly to the battery and I have no clue how it gets to the fuse box because I tried to trace the wires that come off the fuse box and they either dead end, ground or go up and into the big cable.
Odd. I see your petals and the neutral safety switch so it came all the way to the driver side.
I personally ran all my wires straight behind the passenger side fuse box to where the HVAC lines go through...pretty straight shot to the battery.
Driver side where your picture is at it where all the harnesses plug together...so they could have tapped something in those blocks.
Radio, hood light, optional speaker bar dome light and the power to the ODB2 port are all on the same fuse on my 97.
-Mac
So I’ve discovered that only the wire that is attached to the radio fuse I required for the radio to work. I don’t know where it goes still and I’m pretty sure that the guy who did this last wouldn’t take off the whole dash just to run a wire across it but who knows.
Oh, I thought that those wires were put there. I have a Haynes repair manual and it has all the electrical diagrams but I’m not gonna lie I do not know too much about them I probably need to watch a couple of videos to understand.
Mine is also a 97, I remember using one that looked similar to the first diagram to try to diagnose why my rear speaker weren’t working, but yes I see now that those 2 wires coming off the fuse box are stock. I guess I just thought they looked out of place. But as far as figuring out what the one that is connected to the battery does I’m gonna disconnect it from the battery and see what happens.
Glad you got it working. What @macleanflood showed you is helpful, and so are some other pages of the FSM, which you can download for free on this site.
And just to be sure you know where you're starting, keep in mind that what I circled in red below is the factory wiring harness, and looks pretty good to me. If you have an OEM stereo, you'll find a sticker on there that tells you what each of the wires goes to. (Or one of us can send a pic of that sticker.). What is circled in green is a wiring harness adapter for some other stereo. It connects to the factory harness and adapts if for the aftermarket stereo.
Also, be sure you ground your stereo to the tub. If it isn't grounded properly, it can cut in and out, or give poor performance as you crank up the volume.
Sorry if this is stuff you already know, but it's good basic info to get started.
And just to be sure you know where you're starting, keep in mind that what I circled in red below is the factory wiring harness, and looks pretty good to me. If you have an OEM stereo, you'll find a sticker on there that tells you what each of the wires goes to. (Or one of us can send a pic of that sticker.). What is circled in green is a wiring harness adapter for some other stereo. It connects to the factory harness and adapts if for the aftermarket stereo.
Also, be sure you ground your stereo to the tub. If it isn't grounded properly, it can cut in and out, or give poor performance as you crank up the volume.
Sorry if this is stuff you already know, but it's good basic info to get started.
Off topic: I see you have a 97 2.5. You might enjoy the "97" thread or the "2.5" thread in my signature line. Let us know if you have anything to add.