Car Stereos: in awe, market radio, aa battery

Question
I have a 1998 Ford Explorer. About two months ago someone stole a cheap after market radio out of the explorer. I installed a new radio using the correct wiring harness. After installation I turned on the radio to make sure it was installed correctly. Everything came on, picked up the stations, but no sound. I pulled it all back out and rechecked the wiring. everything is correct. still no sound. decide that i may have gotten a bad radio. took it back got a new one. re-installed with a new wiring harness. still no sound. speakers work have checked them all. Any ideas, besides the obvious (replace the wiring for the speakers.)?

Answer
Hi Enoch,

I can't think of any reasonable reason why it wouldn't work if installed correctly.

The first thing I would try would be to remove the deck entirely.  Take a AA battery, and touch it to the two leads to your speakers.  You should hear static out of the speaker to which you have the wires connected.  If you don't, the wiring is shot.

In the process of stealing your stereo, the thief may have pulled too hard on one of the harnesses and disconnected it somewhere behind the dash.

If the AA battery test works, you're either hooking something up wrong, haven't turned up the volume, or somehow have two bad decks (doubtful).

Justin