Singlealt

My dad has a 04 F150 Lariat that he was having a problem with the battery draining. After trying a few things, he took it to the dealership who discovered that there was a short in the radio that was causing it to drain the power while the truck was off. He's asked me to look for him a replacement. He'd be okay with an aftermarket, but he really doesn't like the way the majority of the aftermarket ones look. He'd prefer to get a used OEM radio, but I'm having some trouble finding an exact replacement. His radio is model number 4L3T-18C815-AM.

My question is two part really. First, I found a model number 6L3T-18C815-FD for a good price. Would that radio be a direct replacement for his? I want to avoid having to do work on the wiring harness.

The second part of my question is, what models would be directly compatible with his truck?

Thanks in advance for the help

Bobby Lane

Mine from my 05 is part number 5L3T 18C815 KH. Wonder if that first digit is just the year of the truck. Maybe the one you found is from an 06. Mine is the 6 Disc changer, double din and has 3 connectors. I'd think they'd be inter-changable. Although he'd be much happier with an after market.

2008__XL

The antenna plug changed for the 2007 year. So get one from 04-06 and it'll be plug n play.

Singlealt

So if I get one that is from that range, I should be good on the other plugs? I just wasn't sure if there had been any changes with pin alignment. Would there be any problems with the steering wheel controls?

2008__XL

The plugs will be the same. I've heard the steering wheel controls may not work when switching units like that.

Jamieat

If it comes from the same year model, with the same package (XLT, Lariat, ect.) It might .........possibly work. Thing is, different packages had different SWC configurations while others had none. I swapped a radio from my 08 to my 05 and controls would not work. Went to local Ford dealer and was told that the radio is matched up to the VIN and therefore the options on that truck. If you have all the same options, it might work, if not, Ford can flash the radio and PCM to see if they pair. I was told it'd cost me $100.00 and there was a 50% chance it'd work. I bought an after market and regret wasting time on it as the unit I have now is much better.

Jamieat

There has also been lots of issues with the display's not working properly.

I swapped and took the Aux input from the 08 as well. The 05 harness is the same, just doesn't have the Aux port. The pin locations on the harness are empty so, I swapped the pins from the 08 harness into the 05 along with the radio.

The 05 radio would not detect the Aux input although it was now wired into the original harness plugged into the original radio and original radio had an Aux button. This is due to the fact that the radio was not programmed for an Aux Audio input from the factory. It could possibly be flashed and recognize the new Aux port but, it might not work just the same and for a $100.00, I wasn't gonna gamble. I put the 08 radio in the 05 and everything including the Aux port worked fine except for the SWC. Two weeks later, bought an aftermarket and kicked myself for all the time I wasted trying to get a subpar stereo to work.

Hope this helps.

Horacio Balderrama

So good!!!