i bought a receiver, its a fairly niceone.
but the wiring harness colors do not match the ones from my 98 ford explorer. and i have no idea how to hook it up!!
please help
Just to clarify - I'm sure Heat was referring to using an adapter harness like Alex W mentioned at the end and like you would get from CF and which I would also recommend.
If you REALLY don't want to do this and want to cut the factory plug and hard-wire to the factory harness, I can post a link to the CF wiring info, but I HIGHLY recommend against this!!!
Hope This Helps!!!
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
The new receiver has wires coming out the back, and you have a wiring harness that connects to the truck. The colors may not match up perfectly, but you should be able to connect them. Black to black, red to red, yellow to yellow, etc. The speakers should be pretty obvious too, especially if the harnesses say what they are (some have text on them). If you are still confused, take a picture of what you have and post it on imageshack (or elsewhere) and give us a link to the pictures.
Heat: The new receiver has wires coming out the back, and you have a wiring harness that connects to the truck. The colors may not match up perfectly, but you should be able to connect them. Black to black, red to red, yellow to yellow, etc. The speakers should be pretty obvious too, especially if the harnesses say what they are (some have text on them). If you are still confused, take a picture of what you have and post it on imageshack (or elsewhere) and give us a link to the pictures.
Hold on there! There is nothing that says the colors will even come close to matching up. In fact they may be way off (Ford used black for switched 12V for many years). Mess it up and you can do serious damage to your HU and/or your car. You need to research the wiring in your vehicle and confirm what you get with a meter. Here is a link that may help:
http://www.modifiedlife.com/1998-ford-explorer-car-radio-stereo-wiring-diagram/
I have no idea if this information is accurate so be sure you verify using a multi-meter!!! Once you are sure of the color codes, disconnect the battery and make your connections. If you don't have a multi-meter, or if this all seems too complicated, the best thing to do is purchase a harness that is made to mate your HU to your car. If you are still in doubt about what you are doing, hire a pro. Wiring is not a hobby!
TigerHeli:Just to clarify - I'm sure Heat was referring to using an adapter harness like Alex W mentioned at the end and like you would get from CF and which I would also recommend.
Yes, a wiring harness. Re-reading the original post, it sounds like he is trying to hook the radio directly up to the vehicle without using a harness - if so then yes, the colors will be really funky. Buy a wiring harness - it will only cost about $10 and will make the installation much easier. As an example, when I replace / move my radios, I do the connections at my kitchen table, then go back to the car and plug it into the car.
If he is needing specifics on his vehicle for which wire does what - he'll need to go to a forum for his vehicle and ask there.
Heat:If he is needing specifics on his vehicle for which wire does what - he'll need to go to a forum for his vehicle and ask there.
Actually, if he still needs that, we can probably provide that here, but I still think the harness is the better solution.