Factory Radio Wire Color

[BoolFighta]

Hey I’m looking for the factory radio wire diagram can’t find it anywhere
Putting in after market radio(hard wire)

 

[Hamfisted]

Always tell the year and model of the vehicle you're working on ..... so we don't have to go digging for it ....

Entertainment System Wiring Diagram for an unknown vehicle






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[JimR_TN]

I will say most of these have a red wire that is not switched power. When I installed my aftermarket radio I had to find 12V switched power under the dash.

 

[mbrownpwd]

I will say most of these have a red wire that is not switched power. When I installed my aftermarket radio I had to find 12V switched power under the dash.

Where did you get the switched power source from

 

[JimR_TN]

Where did you get the switched power source from

I used a test light under the dash, found a +12 V switched power that wasn't being used. I believe they do make a CANBUS adapter as well but finding a red switched power was not an issue once I figured out the red in the harness wasn't used.

 

[Todd4cbc]

I used a test light under the dash, found a +12 V switched power that wasn't being used. I believe they do make a CANBUS adapter as well but finding a red switched power was not an issue once I figured out the red in the harness wasn't used.

Can you please give a little more specifics on where you found the unused switched power wire?

 

[DeafBringer]

Just curious, why do people not spend the extra $25-30 bucks for a plug in harness?

 

[eddytheexpy]

Just curious, why do people not spend the extra $25-30 bucks for a plug in harness?

One possible reason they'd need this info is the scenario that I encountered with an aftermarket HUD install. It was a cheap one (but I'm floored by how good it is) so the harness supplied with it didn't have the same colored wires as the factory harness. I wound up throwing out the factory harness once I had it "working" and then later learned that the sub pop I was hearing when turning on the vehicle is a ford thing. Turns out that I needed to wire in a 12v to 5v reducer for the subs so they didn't pop from the 12v wake up signal. All the instructions for wiring in the reducer were based on wire color, not pin position and I no longer had the factory harness for reference. It was a bear finding the documentation on the pin-outs for that harness.

Learned my lesson on that one. Now I do a 1 month waiting period before throwing anything out in case I need it for reference or even to look for witness marks if a problem comes back.

 

[JimR_TN]

Just curious, why do people not spend the extra $25-30 bucks for a plug in harness?

In my case I bought the Metra wiring harness for Ford vehicles. I matched colors with the harness to the radio and it plugged into the vehicle harness and radio didn't work. Most basic radios need a +12v switched signal (AKA accessory power) when the key turns on. The vehicle wiring harness has the red wire but it isn't +12V switched power since Ford uses CANBUS from the computer to turn on/off the radio. I found +12V switched power and everything worked.

It was only later I found out there are kits with adapters that will use CANBUS to trigger aftermarket radios that require +12V switched power to turn on. I believe the kit is Metra XSVI-5520 at about $60, but since I didn't use it I can't confirm how well it works.

 

[JimR_TN]

Can you please give a little more specifics on where you found the unused switched power wire?

It's been a couple of years, but I found a couple of unused connectors under the dash right under the steering wheel. I used a volt meter to find which one was +12V when the key was on and wired that into the red on the new radio harness.