Speaker Wiring Nightmare

I just bought an '89 Eddie Bauer Bronco II. The radio was gone, just wires hanging out. The wires hanging from where the radio had been do not match up to any of the wires at the speaker connections. The wires at the actual speaker connections are the correct colors as shown on the web site. But, at the radio slot, none of the wires present were the same colors as the wires connected to the speakers. There is a thick, light grey cable that contains 8 very thin wires that I thought might be for the speakers, but when I hook them up, no sound at the speakers. There are other thicker wires, none correspond to the wires showing at the speaker connections , but I am concerned about toasting the entire new stereo system. Any advice on how to test for where all the wires are going to?

wolfbros said:

I just bought an '89 Eddie Bauer Bronco II. The radio was gone, just wires hanging out. The wires hanging from where the radio had been do not match up to any of the wires at the speaker connections. The wires at the actual speaker connections are the correct colors as shown on the web site. But, at the radio slot, none of the wires present were the same colors as the wires connected to the speakers. There is a thick, light grey cable that contains 8 very thin wires that I thought might be for the speakers, but when I hook them up, no sound at the speakers. There are other thicker wires, none correspond to the wires showing at the speaker connections , but I am concerned about toasting the entire new stereo system. Any advice on how to test for where all the wires are going to?

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Is there a plug on the light grey wire with the 8 wires coming out of it? That is for your factory amp.You either need to wire your speaker wires to that to feed the factory amp,or you have to locate the amp and by-pass it by wiring your speaker wires from your head unit to the output wires for the amp.I believe the amp is located in the driver rear quarter trim panel. I can get you the correct colors for the wires tomorrow as I just went through this in my 89 Bronco II.Also make sure that the grey harness is plugged in to the main amp harness. If you follow the wire you are seeing in the dash (grey 8 wire harness) there will be another connection around 16" from that end.IIRC it is at the top of the trans tunnel under the dash where the carpet ends. You might have to pull the carpet back a few inches to see it.Its a square 90 degree plug with a metal end.
Chris

crutchfield sales a kit that has the plug for the amp cable and it uses the speaker/amp outs on a aftermarket radio and then u can use the radio speaker wires for tweeters on the das and more rear speakers

Yea, I've been in this boat before...

I had an 89 Eddie Bauer BII that the stereo didn't work quite right, so I pulled it out and discovered that the wiring harness had been hacked apart. I had the light grey cable with the 8 thin wires (but the plug was cut off) which is for the premium sound system (with factory amp). Buried back in the dash was a bundle of wires that corresponded with the speaker wire connections (of course, the plug was cut off those too), and I found a bundle (again minus the plug) of wires that I later determined was wiring for a pushbutton transfer case.

I ignored the grey cable and just spliced a plug back onto the regular speaker wires. Everything worked fine at that point.

Now, that time I was fortunate.

I've had two other BIIs that I was not so fortunate. My 88 Eddie Bauer the previous owner had "replaced" the speaker wires.... except he used some like 28 gauge speaker wire (impossibly thin stuff) and didn't do a decent job of routing it. The stock wires were hacked apart and unusable. So I ended up getting a spool of 14 or 16 gauge speaker wire and running it to all of the speakers. It really wasn't all that bad to run it, I had it done and the new radio wired up in an afternoon.

My choptop was also a problem. Except there was no radio and no speakers. And there were wires run in a birds-nest for all of the lights the previous owner put on the truck. And he grabbed power from wherever he got near a constant-hot wire. He had wires spliced into just about every circuit on the truck (no wonder most of the stuff didn't work, lol). Talk about a freaking nightmare...

If you're anywhere near western Pennsylvania, I'd be willing to give you a hand with it if you wanted.

its funny you mention this, i just did mine last week. i used:http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/stereodetail/811.html for the power wires(and remember to test to confirm) then removed the 4" speakers in the dash ran new MONSTER speaker cable and installed new INIFINITY KAPPA42.9I, then removed the factory jbl speakers from the rear and ran new MONSTER speaker cable to the holes, and aslo ran the MONSTER power cable under the door sills, remember to run your rca cables seperate from your speaker and power cables or else youll get a nasty hum from your alt. then installed new INIFINITY KAPPA462.9CFP 4X6 where the jbls where, installed the deck and the subs and amp.