Edit - 2021 F150 XLT powerboost with 7 speaker standard stereo system - 12" screen

So i bought a Kicker Key 200.4 and some Morel Audio speakers. Had an issue getting through the firewall, bought a better fish tape and that was all good. Have power coming from battery to distribution block. Kicker Key fused wire plugged into Distribution Block. Ground wire run from Passenger side - used bolt in footwell. Spliced into the harness plugged into the stereo with the correct audio cables. If you look down into the hole, it's the black harness on the left, not the right grey one. It has all of the correct colored wires for audio. Spliced into the correct positive and negative for each speaker and plugged into the Kicker Harness. First dip switch down for DC detect. Kicker Key will not power up. If i change DC Detect to 12V and deselect the Radio Detect button, put the accessory (blue) wire up to a constant power, the Key will power up. I have tested the Kicker harness and get audio from the part that plugs into the amplifier - verified all channels are correct with fader and balance. I have run a ground direct from the battery to verify that was not the issue - still no power. I plan on calling Kicker tomorrow. Am i doing anything obviously wrong?? What is my stupid mistake?

When the remote/accessory lead is plugged in, no audio comes through the still plugged in speakers - as if the unit is going into a protect mode but does not indicate anything. I tried plugging into the Audio Out harness into speakers and no dice there either - however if i plug directly into the harness before the amplifier is plugged in, sound comes out of the factory speakers and the speaker plugged into the harness.

 

I’d recommend posting this in the audio specific section too, there’s a ton of great dudes over there who will probably respond a little faster than here!

 

I'd be interested in hearing what the outcome is. I'm waiting on delivery of a 302A XLT PB with the standard stereo, and plan on upgrading the audio system as well (DSP, component speakers sans crossovers, a couple of amps, and at least one subwoofer behind the rear seats). Already have the majority of the parts, just waiting on the truck.

 

If you are only installing a key 200.4 for the door speakers then reach out to plugnplaykits.com and see if that guy will sell you just his harness for the key 200.4 because you already have the amp. His harness will plug directly in and get power and ground from the head unit. His tee harness will plug directly into your speakers and viola you are done. Just tune it and enjoy. It is literally one plug. If you want other amps for a sub he can give you the signal wires put of the harness to go to the back of the truck, the key will go behind the radio. I bought his whole kit with the key 200.4 and a kicker hideaway 10” for behind the back seats. I did have to run power for the hideaway.

 

Quick question along the same lines, I’ve got Plug-N-plays Kicker Key 200.4 kit for a 2021 f150 Xl. The truck has about 150 miles on it, was a Late July 2021 build. The Kit was very straight forward to install no issues as I’ve installed them in a few other Ford trucks 15-20’s.

Where my problem arises is the amp will only come on after the truck has been turned off and locked for about an hour. If i do not lock the truck it will not come back on.

Once the my truck sits for about an hour and I unlock with the remote i can watch the amp turn on and work fine, other than the radio is super glitchy. And apple car play won’t stay connected.

With the T harness disconnected and radio hooked up normally the glitchyness goes away and CarPlay stays connected.

Did Ford make any changes that could be casing this??

 

Same issue on mine with Plug N Plays T-connector kit.
I figured out the Ford head unit needs a speakers resistance on the front left channel to power up. I verified by Taking a speaker and attached it to the back of the first 2 amplifier input pins on the kicker amp so the Ford Radio sees a speakers resistance.
you’ll need to let the truck completely power down with the doors locked. About 3 minutes. Then unlock the truck with the remote and your amp should work fine. This seems to be the only way I can get the Ford radio to power up the front left channel. To activate the amp.

If i power mine up with the remote wire my front left channel does not have sound.

This obviously is only to show you the Ford radio does not like the kickers built in radio detect resistors.

It also really messes with car play. It’s very glitchy when the amp is working.

The guys at PlugNPlay kits is telling me I need to buy another harness with resistors pre installed to make this kit I already bought work.

He said I’m the only 2021 that’s ever had the issue, he said he’s sold a couple 100 to 2021 owners already with no issues.

any ideas before I take the dash apart again??

 

Thats a bummer. I have a basic sound Lariat with the 12” screen. I plugged this kit up and it worked fine right out of the box. You guys talked to him so I assume you walked through all of the dip switches with him and they are all set correctly with the first one on the left down for signal detect and the rest are up? I was able to defeat the time alignment or the eq separately and independently with the dip switches as well as globally with the mic button. Front and rear fader works and all four corners.
I don’t use car play so I can’t speak for that. Do you guys have the 12” screen? Maybe the 8 is deferent?

 

I have the smaller screen. Base radio.

That is awesome yours is working.

 

Hey guys. Did you ever figure this out? I signed up for this because you all seem to have the same issue as me. I don't have an F150 but I do have a F250 with Sync 3 and the basic non amp 7 speakers. I too bought the Plug n Play Kit with Kicker 200.4 AMP and the optional Sub out RCA's to a KICKER Mono AMP. I actually am experiencing something very similar to both of you. When I plugged in everything as I got it with the DC Offset down and other switches up sometimes the AMP wouldn't power on. So, I ended up switching it to 12v and added accessory wire and it would work fine sometimes. What happens now is that sometimes I only hear sound from passenger side front but its low and doesn't sound amplified. Other times it will all work and sound great. I did remove the center speaker so I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. Also, I installed a Component set and replaced the front door speakers and tweeters with the speakers that came with component set but did not use the Crossover that came with component set as I figured Ford is already doing some time of Crossover via head unit and now Kicker Amp. It's very frustrating as it sounds great when it works.

 

Not sure about all of your problems, but the stock crossover is built into the tweeter (at least in 2021's). You may have an issue without the crossover. I just installed my component crossover to my tweeters and have no issues.