Help with broken wiring harness for wiring rear speakers. Please help!

[Searice617]

Hey all first post here.

Ive been slowly upgrading my 03 Ford Ranger and have installed new front speakers and rear speakers, but there is no factory wiring for the rear. So I ran wires from the rear to the stereo wiring harness and I seem to be missing one wire (like it was removed by accident from a prior owner or something). All the diagrams I've seen show there are 16 wires and I only see 15. So I'm curious if I can just splice the rear wires into the front ones somehow or if there are rear wires I'm missing. Please help!

 

[dvdswan]

You can splice into the front wires but you won't have fade for front / rear.

I would look back at the schematics and find which wire is missing. It could be for a power antenna or something. Anyway, backtrack and find which one and install a new wire if needed.

 

[gaz]

@Searice617 ,
If you splice into the front speaker wires, you will be putting the front and rear speakers in either parallel or series; the normal auto stereo impedance is 4Ω, by wiring in parallel the load become 2Ω and by wiring in series it becomes 8Ω. Neither 2Ω or 8Ω are desirable in an automotive system though the 8Ω is safer as it will not ruin (run the amp at too high a current) your stock head unit's amplifier at too low of a impedance; the problem is Ohms Law V=I/O (V = voltage, I = current and O = impedance also known as resistance), since the Voltage is the constant, if the impedance is reduced the current is increased. Some amplifiers are designed to do this but I have NEVER experienced a stock head unit designed to do this safety.


To "splice" in series, also known as Daisey chaining, the right side + rear wire is connected to the right side front - terminal and the right side rear - terminal to the right side front +. The process is mirrored for the left side. By hooking up (splicing) this way (in series), the overall power will be reduced by 50% because it is being shared between the 4 driver's, verse the original 2 (it will not be as loud) and as @dvdswan mentioned, with no fader control.

I feel that it would be worth the effort to locate the correct front and rear channel wires, even if that means repairing the harness and installing a wire where it may have been removed.

There are simple colored diagrams online if a search for wiring speakers in series is performed.

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

Radio wiring diagrams seen here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/radio_wiring_diagrams.shtml

There are only 4 speakers so just 8 wires, 2 each
Unless there is a subwoofer then there is 2 more wires

There were at least 2 different radios in 2003 Rangers, basic and premium, premium has a separate amplifier for the 4 speakers and an added subwoofer, these radios had TWO separate wire connectors on the back

Basic system just has the ONE 16 wire connector, but only 15 wires connected
Only 8 of those wires are for the 4 speakers
The rest are for power and lights

If you are not using a FORD Radio then DO NOT USE the red/black power wire, that was for MUTE IN START, if you hook that wire up the starter motor will activate with key on, so leave it disconnected and tape the end so it can't touch any metal

The light green/purple wire is full time 12volts to hold clock time and Favorite memory
The yellow/black wire is Key on power for the radio to operate