QuestionLike a dummy I tried to install a Sony cd player in my 1996 Ford Econoline Van, I bought a wiring harness off ebay. I opened the dash up say that only half the harness would match up, the other since it was a Ford Premium systems that have an amplifier that powers the speakers did not. My brilliantness thought "ok its only the speaker side not matching up" I cut the factory grey cable open to wire the speakers. NO LUCK. I have since found out that its not recommended that the black box connector but open... Is there any way to hook the stereo up without running new speaker wires or finding an OEM harness and fixing my mistake?
AnswerHi JC,
Don't worry--cutting off the small 8-pin plug makes things a bit more difficult, but not impossible.
With a Ford premium system, you have two options. You can "bypass" the factory amplifier, so that all the speakers are connected directly to the head unit. This is the preferred solution, but it's a bit more work, and you'll need another harness. Alternately, you can "integrate" the factory amplifier, keeping it in the system and using the new head unit's speaker outputs to provide the amp with a signal.
Integrating the amp:
The gray cable you cut open doesn't connect directly to the speakers, but it does carry the audio signal to the factory amplifier. The signal wires include a separate (+) and (-) wire for each channel, and can be connected directly to your new head unit's speaker outputs. You just have to know which wire is used for each channel. Here's what I have listed for your van:
Left front (+): light green
left front (-): white/orange
right front (+): white/red
right front (-): brown
left rear (+): light blue/black
left rear (-): yellow
right rear (+): violet/white
right rear (-): light blue
These eight wires should be bundled inside the gray cable. You'll need to connect them directly to the Sony deck's corresponding speaker output wires. After that, make sure the blue/white wire in the gray adapter plug is connected to the blue/white wire from the Sony deck. This is necessary to turn the factory amplifier on when you turn the new deck on.
Bypassing the factory amp:
The Ford premium amplifier should be located under the passenger side kick panel trim. This is the panel to the right of the passenger's feet. The amplifier will have two plugs. The smaller plug is the other end of the gray cable from the head unit; the larger plug includes all the output wires to the various speakers. You can simply extend these wires up to the new head unit location and connect them directly to the new head unit. The easiest way to do this is to use an adapter harness made by Scosche; the model number is FD12B. This harness connects directly to the output plug at the amp, and includes more than enough wire to run up to the head unit.
Hope this helps!
Brian
