Need stereo wiring assistance

[JeepinJoe]

1069896

I just bought my first (but not last) Jeep - 91 Wrangler Sahara (YJ?) - I'm just getting used to all the terminology of being a Jeep owner - still find it wild that every other Wrangler I pass waves - thats cool!

Anyway, I hope you can help me out.

The stereo unit that was in here was deader than a doornail when I got it, so being a little naive, I found a great stereo on Ebay, removed the old one, to find a cluster**** of wiring behind it. Heck, half the wires weren't even connected, and the ones that were connected were just twisted together, some with duct tape, some with elec tape. Well, I took the old one out - but now can't find a good wiring diagram for this area. I'm a computer guy (web design and hosting), but I WANNA be a Jeep guy - can anyone help me out?

Looking specifically for info on the stereo for now... but I'm sure I'll have other questions, if you don't mind

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Joe
Schenectady, NY[addsig]

 

[jps4jeep]

1069915

Alright assuming you got yourself a birds nest back there, i will give you the long version.

Your need a Munti meter set to 12 volts.
find a good ground and attatch the neg side of the meter.
Now this is assuming all the fuses are good (check those first)
with the key in the off position, test every wire. One wire will give you 12 volts, 12.31 to be exact. this will go to the yellow wire on the new harness (the one that comes with the radio you bought) Now turn on the the ignition, the wire that gives you 12 volts now will go the the red wire on the new harness. All jeeps from 87 on have a seperate ground that was not in the factory harness and it was always black in the YJ's, connect that to the black wire in the new harness. Now turn on the head lights and find the wire that gives you 12 volts, when you find this, turn off the lights and cap this wire, unless your deck has positive trigger dimmer you won't use this wire. Cap it anyways!

Now here is the fun part! Get a 9 volt battery, you know the one with the two terminals on the same side that as a kid I stuck to my tongue to get shocked!

Find one of the remaining wires, any one, assuming all the speakers are god working order and are connected, put that one wire to one terminal on the battery, and touch every other wire to the other side one at a time. If you hear a "slight thud sound," you found that speaker. Do this till all the speakers are found. Some YJ's do not have rear speakers, but the wires are under the dash, so do not get discouraged if you test a bunch of wires and no sound is heard!

Now finally, to test for phase, when the speaker wires are found, touch the wire to the battery and hear the thud, look at the speaker, it the cone sticks out, the wire on the positive side is pos. and the other is neg. If it sucks the speaker cone in, switch the wires.

On your new deck the wires are as follows
red- switch
yellow- constant
black- ground
blue- remote (not used unless you have amps or power antenna)
orange/white - dimmer can also be just orange, just cap it (there ya go Nick)

white- front left pos.
white/blk- front left neg.

gray- front right pos.
gray/blk- front right neg

green- rear left pos.
green/blk- rear left neg.

purple- rear right pos.
purple/blk- rear right neg.

If there are any after-market wires behind there, see where they go and try to remove as much as possible!

Hope this helps, if you need more help, email me!

Johnny

edited by: jps4jeep, Jun 05, 2003 - 07:42 AM[addsig]

 

[XJNick]

1069917

Well said jps4jeeps! You beat me to it by about a minute.
Just to add there may also be a wire from the dash light dimmer (but you may not need it). Also, if you need furthur wiring schematics try Alldata.com, I've found they have many more specific diagrams that the haynes manuals don't cover.

Good Luck
-Nick

edited by: XJNick, Jun 05, 2003 - 04:36 AM[addsig]

 

[dingus]

1069949

i had the same problem in my XJ... the moron before my CUT the harness out to wire in his aftermarket head unit... i used the OEM head unit (has a wiring diagram with a blow up of the stock wiring plug) and the part he cut out to reference what wire does what... then matched the new harness to the wires in the car... much easier that way. i BELEIVE the OEM radio grounds by a spade, not part of the harness.[addsig]

 

[jps4jeep]

1069951

I mentioned the dimmer, but is not needed, told them just to cap it with crimp cap. Considering most aftermarket decks only have a neg trigger dimmer. Unless you get into the higher end decks, do you get a pos. trigger, And I think sony's have both. Your could use a 5-wire relay and change the polarity but thats such a hassle to explain.

Hooked up the dimmer on my DEHP-940 and the difference is so subtle, but beat having spare caped wires hang low!

Are you a installer Nick? If so where?

I installed for 3+ years but have been out of it for about two years now (since I graduated college)[addsig]

 

[XJNick]

1069971

Hi, I know you mentioned the head lamp wire, but my '88 XJ has both a wire from the head lamps AND a wire from the dash light rheostat (as an intensity signal) . Just mentioned that incase he still ended up with an extra wire :-D .

No i'm not a professional installer. However I have an Electrical background and I end up with electrical projects on my Jeep very often, such as having rewired the entire front end lighting, radio and much more :-O :roll:. I also work alot with sound equipment for theatrical productions.

-Nick

edited by: XJNick, Jun 05, 2003 - 09:36 AM[addsig]