[pnj]

i am buying a car but it doesn't have a stereo. that's fine because my old car has a tape player in it.

when I took the player out of my old car, there were like, 1 million wires attatched to it.


how in the heck do I know what wires attatch to what? why does it need so many wires when I only have 4 speakers? no amp, no special anything. just a tape player and some crappy speakers...?

'lil help?

 

[firetoole]

Cut the red wire

 

[Echo]

Nowadays usually you get an adapter that makes it super easy. I have to idea what those million wires are for though. 2 per speaker, that's 8, power, that's another 2, antenna maybe. Sounds like a pain in the ass. A Chilton's manual for the car might tell you what all the wires are for. As far as the tape player goes though you might be screwed.

 

[binary visions]

You need to go down to your local car audio place and obtain a wiring harness. They'll ask you what make/model/year of car you have and what the stereo you're installing is, and they'll hand you a wiring harness that will have a list of what each wire is.

You can always ask them if they have any installation sheets or advice as well. But that wiring harness will make things much easier.

edit: the million wires... 2 per speaker, antenna, grounding wires, power, plus a bunch of misc. stuff that you don't think about - for instance, the dimmer for your dashboard lights probably has a hookup for the car stereo. If you have external control buttons (on the steering wheel for instance), that'll have a hookup. That kind of thing.

 

[Konabumm]

You need to go down to your local car audio place and obtain a wiring harness. They'll ask you what make/model/year of car you have and what the stereo you're installing is, and they'll hand you a wiring harness that will have a list of what each wire is.

You can always ask them if they have any installation sheets or advice as well. But that wiring harness will make things much easier.

edit: the million wires... 2 per speaker, antenna, grounding wires, power, plus a bunch of misc. stuff that you don't think about - for instance, the dimmer for your dashboard lights probably has a hookup for the car stereo. If you have external control buttons (on the steering wheel for instance), that'll have a hookup. That kind of thing.

 

[pnj]

Hmmm. i think I have a wiring harness....

something that plugs into the back of the tape player with a bunch of wires that connect to wires coming from the car.

but none of the wires, including the ones from the car say what they are...
red and yellow, black and white....

 

[binary visions]

Hmmm. i think I have a wiring harness....

something that plugs into the back of the tape player with a bunch of wires that connect to wires coming from the car.

but none of the wires, including the ones from the car say what they are...
red and yellow, black and white....

Ahh, well, the color coding on those things is usually fairly good but is by no means 100%. Crutchfield.com or a Google search may yield you some information on the colors & wiring configuration for your car or stereo.

If you compare the colors of the wires coming from your car and the ones going into the stereo (the ones coming from your car may be labeled, actually, in small print on the wire housing - as may the ones on the radio if you look closer), and they match up, then you can give that a go. I've done blind installations before like that but it was only for stereos that I wasn't very attached to

 

[Matt D]

The stereo place will be able to give you the corrosponding harness for your car and head unit, but it's not that easy. The harness they give you will click right into the car's harness, but the other end will have all those wires coming out of it. These wires need to spliced with the wires coming out of the head unit. I would recommend soldering them, but you can ghetto rig it by just twisting them together and putting some electrical tape on it (this method should work, but it's really easy for the wires to pull apart).

You'll get a cut sheet showing which color wires do what, but you'll need to match these up with head unit as I said. Do you still have your manual from the head unit? If not, the colors *should* be similar if not the same.

You could also have the stereo shop do this for you to save you the hassle, but they'll charge you probably $20 or so.

 

[crono35]

you can check out www.the12volt.com . They should have alisting of your vehicle and what each color wire is. Just match that up to the wire coming from your head unit, and your'e done!

 

[pnj]

what's a head unit?

I have just a tape player am/fm thingy....

I know i'm gunna end up driving around w/ a crappy ghetto blaster thing on the front seat......

 

[crono35]

ah... as to why there are so many wires, each speaker will take a positive and a negative source, so that's 8 right there. Then you have power, ground, and accessory sometimes (turns on other devices when the radio turns on). You'll probably also have an antenna lead if your vehicle came with a power antenna, and possibly also a lead that ties to the vehicle's lights. Add a few miscellaneous wires, and you'll have quite a few back there. Usually, the only important ones are power, ground, anything you need for the antenna, and anything you need for the speakers. Don't forget to undo your battery before you do anything else.

 

[pnj]

Don't forget to undo your battery before you do anything else.

uh oh. really?!??

 

[oly]

Just PM bibs... hes an EX installer.....maybe he could lend a hand.....

 

[binary visions]

uh oh. really?!??

It's a good rule of thumb, like unplugging your computer before you work on it, but don't stress if you've already fiddled with it, with the battery connected.

 

[Spunger]

Get the harness for your car. Best $12 you'll spend on this adventure.

They are making it easier and easier for the DIY guys. Most of the color wires just match up to the harness (purple with black to purple to black, white to white etc....) so you can't really go too wrong. I've done a number of installs and never had an issue with a headunit or amp/sub/whatever combo. The harness helps too much to not forget it.

You can choose to either solder or wire crimp the wires to the harness. I always ended up crimping them as I could do it fast and haven't had any issues with it. Soldering requires a little more tools and time but if it's a high end CD/DVD/Touch screen I'd be tempted to solder everything.

Whatever you do do NOT hack the factory plug. I don't think those would be $12 from GM/Ford/whatever. That's the great thing about the adapters. You can just unplug the whole thing and stick the stock back in and be done.

Ask anymore questions. I'm not MECP certified or anything but hooking up a CD player or some of the other stuff is a no biggy.

 

[Hawkeye]

Look you have a tape player.

Leave it in the car and buy a new CD player for the new car. That's the easiest way.

But as a general rule of thumb. the wires coming out of the tape deck(head unit or HU) will NOT match what is in the car. The wiring harness people are talking about here will plug into the cars harness and then you will match up the wires to the HU. You probably don't have a harnes in your car anymore. sounds like when the HU was put in the installer cut the factory harness out of it. You best bet is to do the first thing I said. Leave the deck in there and buy a new one for the new car.

Questions?

 

[pnj]

Look you have a tape player.

Leave it in the car and buy a new CD player for the new car. That's the easiest way.

the tape player from my old car isn't stock. it's a removable face plate thingy. real high tech. so installing it in the new car won't be any different then buying a new CD player. (which i would never do because tapes rule)

the new car has no radio/stereo in it. (it's not a brand new car, just new to me)

because the tape player from the old car isn't stock, I may have a harness attatched to it.....? a friend installed it for my YEARS ago.