RacerX69

Upgrading the radio in my pickup. The OEM connector has 3 ground circuits and the aftermarket radio only has one.

Would I want to connect all 3 on the truck side to the one on the radio side?

Or do I only want to use just one of the ones on the truck side? If so, which one, and what to do with the other two?

I see that Ford went all out and has grounds everywhere, and lots of radio noise suppression capacitors all over, so I’m thinking all 3 should be connected to ensure I have a good ground path and no ignition or alternator noise.

1995 F150 Eddie Bauer
Standard cab.
Standard audio package, not premium.

Steve83

There's only 1 "ground" on the truck (virtually all the metal of the frame, body, drivetrain, & accessories), and every "ground wire" is connected to it. So it doesn't matter which one (or more) the radio uses.


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But even if there are 3 positions in the connector designated for "ground" wires, there's probably actually only one used in your truck. So make sure you wire your radio adapter harness to that pin.


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There's only one factory RFI suppression capacitor beside the coil.


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RacerX69

The diagram shows 13 physical ground locations.

G100 (Body) Left Core Support
G101 (Body) Right Front Fender
G102 (Frame) Right Front
G103 (Engine) Right Side, I6 Starter, V8 Mount
G104 (Body) Left Cowl Horn
G200 (Body) Right Kick
G201 (Body) Left Kick
G400 (Body) Left Taillight
G401 (Frame) Left Rear

The next 4 look to be jumpers rather than physical ground points.
(Body) Right Hood Hinge Top
(Body) Right Hood Hinge Bottom
(Body) Right Cowl Near Hood Hinge
(Engine) Right Plenum Support
The only ground that isn't used is the one for the premium sound system.

Still, all three ground circuits are connected to a chassis ground point, even in if not used by a component, such as the radio.


Odd, I thought I saw more than one while digging through all the wiring diagrams and other illustrations. Must have been tired after all that reading and digging around for information.

BLDTruth

The point being - the truck itself is the ground - welcome to Steve83-ology.

The important point being - everything in the dash is grounded out to either the passenger or driver side kick panel ground bolts - so it doesn't really matter which ground you use. If it were me, I would just run my own. I have always found that more grounds = better.

Steve83

No, it shows many ground CONNECTIONS (terminals). All of them connect to the same vehicle "ground". Did you read the bottom of the caption for the ground location diagram? It may be easier to read under the low-res version:


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