I finally got around to getting my new stereo installed! But I have a probelm. The first unit I got wouldnt power on and I have hardwired in. We thought faulty unit. I then read that the yellow and red wires on the stereo are opposite now. Yellow goes to red and red goes to yellow. Still didnt power on.. So I plugged up the old AFTERMARKET AM/FM stereo that came with the truck. Everything worked fine! So I took back the stereo I bought and got a replacement. Well the replacement is doing the same thing.

Could anyone give me ideas or reasons why this may be happening? We are thinking maybe a problem installing the unit in truck because of a need acessory? As the radio that came with it is prob 10 years old.

Any help would be greatly apperciated.

Thanks

 

If its any difference the one I bought to put in is a Pioneer

 

You should have the following wires checked for the following things, ground- check continuity between the ground wire on the factory harness and a grounded piece of metal in the vehicle, if it doesn't measure well run the ground from the new radio directly to a ground point on the vehicle. Check the 12v constant and 12v ignition on the harness for power, if they don't measure 12v+ check the fuses at the fuse panel. Otherwise make sure the speaker wires aren't crossed anywhere. Just some thoughts. Maybe take a picture of how you have it wired up.

 

I didn't have any speaker wires hooked up just power to see if it turn on. I'll grab volt meter tomorrow from Radio Shack and test the wires. If all is good there I will post a picture of how I have it set up.

 

You need to hook everything up. I had a radio that wouldn't turn on because I didn't plug in the antenna.

 

Even when I had the first unit, I plugged in "everything" except I will always have a purple postive and green postive wire coming front the truck, and a set of purple and a set of green wires left over as I dont have rear speakers. I just went out and tried to hook up everything my truck has including antenna, it still doesn't power on.

The weird thing is, I tried to hook back uo the old stereo that came in the truck, I hardwired it the exact way I did the new one, and it works! But still the new one I got doesn't... Its all really weird that its not working, I sure Im not spending all this time messing with TWO FAULTY UNITS!

I am going to test all my wires tonight when I pick up a volt meter. I will also post a picture of hoe everything is wired up. I think the guy I bought it from had numerous wiring harnesses set up. Its got a ton of wires in there but the only ones to connect to are the ones I need.

 

This could be the case, but rarely if this happens it's mostly because the radio isn't getting a proper ground from the factory ground and uses the antenna. I've seen a few cars like this that the factory radio draws such small current that the factory ground isn't very reliable. Once again I'd recommend a self taping screw, star washer and ring terminal to ground it out.

It is odd to have two radio's do the exact same thing and the old be wired up fine. Let me ask you a question. When you test the old radio are you plugging a prewired harness into the factory harness or cutting everything and trying again? If you are plugging in the old harness and it works it could simply mean your new harness isn't wired right. When you plugged in the second new stereo did you see a flash, a brief power on, anything? Check the 10 or 20 amp fuse in the stereo itself.

 

Agreed. And Ford is notorious for not having a ground wire in the factory harness. Most manufacturers actually just ground the radio through the chassis of the radio and the mounting screws/clips/etc. I'd bet this is a ground issue. Even if you got the ignition and constant wires backwards it would work, it just wouldn't save presets or the time.

 

Im just cutting everything and starting over, It has a ground wire built in, but this stereo grounds using the chassis, I have't bolted the ground down but have touched it to the chassis trying to test it. I'll try tonight to actually bolt it down to the chassis.

No brief flash, just doesn't work at all. Someone on other forum suggested getting a new aftermarket harness if this doesnt work, as the one that in is the same age of the old stereo from my guess (I have only had the truck for 2 weeks.) so it probably 5-10 years old.

Thanks for giving me the advice guys!

 

Everything has power to the wires and it's grounded. So I guess it's time to try a new aftermarket wiring harness