After Market Radio Install (Lesson Learned)

[losinstinks]

I am a first time installer and the lesson learned in this thread is specific to my 1994 4Runner. Radio installed is the Sony CDX-GT54OUI Xplod. I'm not going to tell you about the 9 screws and 6 bolts to remove to get to the radio since there's enough info on the web with detailed steps. The lesson learned concerns ONE anomaly that will leave you wondering if you just bought a defective radio or save you from getting soaked by a less than scrupulous professional installer. It's all in the wiring harness. First make sure you buy the correct wiring harness Receiver Wire Harness For Toyota models, 1987-up at Crutchfield.com. I connected all wires per the instructions, plugged in the radio and antenna and tested before sealing the radio back in its place. Powered the radio on and it came to life. I tested the Tuner, the power antenna extended and it worked and sounded great. I inserted a CD the antenna retracted and music began to play. There was a PROBLEM though, there was NO SOUND PLAYING FROM THE REAR Speakers. I searched the web and found only one thread describing this anomaly. What happens is when using the Tuner the power antenna comes to life this supplies power to the amp for the Rear Speakers. When a CD is in the power antenna retracts no power to amp no rear speakers. The fix is in the wiring. On the harness for the new radio there is a Blue/White AMP wire it needs to be attached to the Blue antenna wire on the wire harness kit. Now when the radio is on the power antenna is now always extended. I originally thought it was kinda cool the way the antenna retracted when I put in a CD but my life is much more complete now. Hope this helps and no offense intended to professional installers, who, if out there, can offer more technical analysis and assistance. Thanks

 

[Tornadom]

This is good information, thank you. I am sure it will save someone a headache when they go to install their setup.

I'm going to be installing my Eclipse deck pretty soon, but I intend to use all 3 sets of its 8v preamp outputs, thus eliminating the factory amp setup.

 

[Jabo]

Thanks for the info.Im going to install an new radio in my 95 monday or tuesday just kept me from spazzing out.

 

[icdawg]

I am a first time installer and the lesson learned in this thread is specific to my 1994 4Runner. Radio installed is the Sony CDX-GT54OUI Xplod. I'm not going to tell you about the 9 screws and 6 bolts to remove to get to the radio since there's enough info on the web with detailed steps. The lesson learned concerns ONE anomaly that will leave you wondering if you just bought a defective radio or save you from getting soaked by a less than scrupulous professional installer. It's all in the wiring harness. First make sure you buy the correct wiring harness Receiver Wire Harness For Toyota models, 1987-up at Crutchfield.com. I connected all wires per the instructions, plugged in the radio and antenna and tested before sealing the radio back in its place. Powered the radio on and it came to life. I tested the Tuner, the power antenna extended and it worked and sounded great. I inserted a CD the antenna retracted and music began to play. There was a PROBLEM though, there was NO SOUND PLAYING FROM THE REAR Speakers. I searched the web and found only one thread describing this anomaly. What happens is when using the Tuner the power antenna comes to life this supplies power to the amp for the Rear Speakers. When a CD is in the power antenna retracts no power to amp no rear speakers. The fix is in the wiring. On the harness for the new radio there is a Blue/White AMP wire it needs to be attached to the Blue antenna wire on the wire harness kit. Now when the radio is on the power antenna is now always extended. I originally thought it was kinda cool the way the antenna retracted when I put in a CD but my life is much more complete now. Hope this helps and no offense intended to professional installers, who, if out there, can offer more technical analysis and assistance. Thanks

I just installed a Pioneer AVH-P3200DVD today and had this same issue come up during the install - the rear speakers didnt work when I tested the radio about half way done with splicing the wiring harness. I just continued with the install, though, and they ended up working in the end. I didn't realize the issue at the time, so thank you for the breakdown!

 

[niteman]

Not to continue to dredge up an old thread, but I'm glad icdawg did and that this popped up. I'm going to be installing a headunit in the next week or so (can't wait to ditch the OEM tape deck lol) and probably would not have though about this as I haven't run across a power antenna in years. I'm sure this saved some irritating troubleshooting. Thanks again.

 

[c3paco]

I can see why alot of people have some problem with this. The esiest way to resolve this is by spliting the antena remote wire and the amps power wire most after market radios have sepret power wires for this. one sais antena the other amp. You can uncover the rear panel were the amp is located and with the original radio still in test to see what wire gets 12 v wen radio is on. Run a wire to the area were the amp is located from behind the head unit cut original wire and tap to amp wiring harness. make sure to cover the other end of the wire the one that is not being used cinse this will still resive 12 wen anttena is up. Conect the affter market unit with the antena wire to antena and the new wire you ran to the amp wire then ur antena will still come down and have full power to the amp. If the amp doce not turn on some after market radios require you to turn on the amp feture to make the amp work.

 

[icdawg]

there's also a great youtube video about doing a parking brake bypass for an aftermarket DVD deck, if anyone needs it. it's super easy. just requires a standard 12v relay from radio shack. i'm more than happy to answer any questions.

these videos are for Pioneer decks. mine is a Pioneer AVH-P3200DVD

YouTube - Pioneer AVH-P4200DVD Bypass & AVH-P5200DVD Bypass

YouTube - avh-p4100dvd bypass

 

[cztheman64]

i put a pioneer in my 93, pulled it out and now its in my 87. im no professional but i didnt have any problems... that sucks yours didnt work right, but its really not anything anyone should stress about. it really takes like 30 minutes max

 

[foonanas]

I am not 100% sure all have the amplified speakers in the back. I know for a fact the 87 does not. This is why you did not have a problem. My bro drives a 90 and his did not have amplified speakers in the back so no need to hook up the extra wire.

 

[mattb]

I'm getting ready to install my clarion deck tomorrow and I wanted to clear up any wiring issues beforehand. Now on the crutchfield wiring harness I see the blue power antenna wire. On the harness from the deck there is a blue wire for the auto antenna (with a plastic connector I assume I cut off to wire it to the crutchfield harness?) and a blue/white wire for the amp. Now, should I connect all three of those wires together? Or if I just bypass the rear speaker amp (like I believe I need to do so I can use the harness) can I just ignore the blue/white wire coming from the deck wiring harness?
I'm trying to identify and solve any problems ahead of time. Thanks.

 

[mattb]

Figured it out, and now re-reading the first post it makes more sense. I think it was all the extra unnecessary information in the original post that threw me off. Here's what it boils down to:
In the wiring harness, the blue antenna wire gets attached to the blue/white amp wire from the head unit. Ignore the blue antenna wire coming from the head unit and just tape it up. Now the car's antenna is always up and the rear speakers are always on.

 

[d1lyh4n4]

that kinda solves the problem

I have a 1991 stock sr5 4runner and found this same problem. My work around was to hook the amp power on to the antenna power on rather than the remote antenna lead from the wiring harness. Now the antenna stays up all the time and the rear speakers are powered. However, the front speakers are no longer amplified and don't work that great. I want to be able to use the stock panasonic amp that was in there to begin with. This small device is an amp for the front speakers. Does anyone know if there is a wiring diagram for the front amp device matsu****a comm model number 86280-89102. If I could run the new stereo wiring harness through this device then the front speakers would be amplified too. I just want even power to the fronts and rears. Is it better to disconnect the rear amps or to try to run the new radio through the stock amp. I either need an adapter or a wiring diagram for this little amp device. or a way to bypass the rear amp devices. Or where the hell they are located to start. Or how to wire the new harness to the stock front amp.
Thanks,
Dylan

 

[Farm-boy]

I am a first time installer and the lesson learned in this thread is specific to my 1994 4Runner. Radio installed is the Sony CDX-GT54OUI Xplod. I'm not going to tell you about the 9 screws and 6 bolts to remove to get to the radio since there's enough info on the web with detailed steps. The lesson learned concerns ONE anomaly that will leave you wondering if you just bought a defective radio or save you from getting soaked by a less than scrupulous professional installer. It's all in the wiring harness. First make sure you buy the correct wiring harness Receiver Wire Harness For Toyota models, 1987-up at Crutchfield.com. I connected all wires per the instructions, plugged in the radio and antenna and tested before sealing the radio back in its place. Powered the radio on and it came to life. I tested the Tuner, the power antenna extended and it worked and sounded great. I inserted a CD the antenna retracted and music began to play. There was a PROBLEM though, there was NO SOUND PLAYING FROM THE REAR Speakers. I searched the web and found only one thread describing this anomaly. What happens is when using the Tuner the power antenna comes to life this supplies power to the amp for the Rear Speakers. When a CD is in the power antenna retracts no power to amp no rear speakers. The fix is in the wiring. On the harness for the new radio there is a Blue/White AMP wire it needs to be attached to the Blue antenna wire on the wire harness kit. Now when the radio is on the power antenna is now always extended. I originally thought it was kinda cool the way the antenna retracted when I put in a CD but my life is much more complete now. Hope this helps and no offense intended to professional installers, who, if out there, can offer more technical analysis and assistance. Thanks

Oh you BEAUTIFUL BUGGER!!!!!
This has been doing my head in! Got a GT600UI for Christmas from my girl but it did exactly what you describe above in my 94 4Runner... no audio through rear speakers when using anything other than radio. WEIRD! Even took it back to supplier to swap it sure it was faulty (embarrassed!)
After a LOT of head scratching, wire diagram studying (and a decent amount of swearing) I read your post and a light went BLING! Then i got to MattB's bit and it confirmed the wiring harness i had was missing the blue/white wire. Swapped the blue wire over to where the blue/white wire was meant to be and BINGO!
Rock on guys - i'm a very happy man this evening thanks to this thread.
Cheers and beers,
farm-boy

 

[dmatt711]

My harness does not have a blue white wire.. and the sound quality from the front is poor and the rear is not doing anything. it is a 1999 4 Runner V4. is there anything i can do to bypass this. the radio is a cheap one. its a BOSS 506-ca

 

[IndianScout]

my `95 came with the amp and rear tweeters, I bought an adapter and put in a pioneer with no problems at all,

but since then I've installed a 4 channel amp, a mono block amp and installed all new speakers front and rear and a box. I didn't use the stock speakers in the rear, I bought 8" 3 way and installed them in the rear, sounds much better..

 

[brocktice]

Huh, I've got a similar problem, no sound at all from the front speakers when using the CD player, everything sounds really tinny. Radio sounds a lot better. Aftermarket deck came with the vehicle. I figured the front speakers were blown or something but the seem to work the the radio maybe? I haven't tested much. I'll have to investigate this issue and see if it's somehow the culprit. Thanks!

 

[brocktice]

Turns out the front speakers are blown, but I followed the instructions here and fixed the sound when using the CD player for the back, thanks! In my case a prior owner had hooked up the "ANT CONT" when they should have hooked up the "P CONT". Swapped them with a tap/splice and now CDs sound much better! Now to find some 4T speakers for the front. (They have infinite resistance = fubared).

 

[4runnerjosh4713]

Pioneer avh-x2600bt pink and brown from stereo

Im trying to install a pioneer avh-x2600bt in my 1993 4Runner I can't figure out where the pink and brown wires go from my stereo to my 4Runner so I can't get it to work where did you put yours?

there's also a great youtube video about doing a parking brake bypass for an aftermarket DVD deck, if anyone needs it. it's super easy. just requires a standard 12v relay from radio shack. i'm more than happy to answer any questions.

these videos are for Pioneer decks. mine is a Pioneer AVH-P3200DVD

YouTube - Pioneer AVH-P4200DVD Bypass & AVH-P5200DVD Bypass

YouTube - avh-p4100dvd bypass

 

[hmartin99]

Thanks, eventually redoing that whole system in my '92 and that probably just saved me an hour of google roulette. (The game I always play when stuff brakes lol)