Radio wires

[mikejones]

So I bought a 86 4Runner about 2 months ago with no radio. According to the seller some one tried to steal the radio and hacked the harness in the process. Up until now i have not looked into fixing it till now. I want to put in a aftermarket radio only problem is since it's all jacked up I'm not entirely to sure it's possible.

That's currently how it looks. So my question is 1 what would I need to fix this mess and 2 how to fix it. Thanks for any help. Also I did try to search this first but I had no luck.

 

[nicnmike]

You first might want to check for wires with power, so you don't short anything out. I'm not sure what the little box thing is with all the spade connectors is. the thick black is probably ground. You could pull the speakers out and check their wire colors and use a multi-meter to figure everything else out. My guess is there should be a wire that's hot all the time, one that's hot when the key is turned on and one that's hot when the lights are turned on. Those and the speaker wires are all you need. Do you have a powered antenna?

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Here's wiring for an '86 4 runner:

1984-86 Toyota 4-Runner Car Stereo Wire Colors

Just get whatever car stereo you want, then use butt connectors to connect the wiring from the stereo to your vehicle's wiring! You have 2 wires per speaker, power, ground, accessory and dimmer control. Plug the black wire with the metal plug on the end (shown in your photo on the very right-most side of the dash) into the antenna jack on the stereo, then mount it all back into your dash.

If you get a standard "din" sized stereo, you'll need a dash kit. If you get a double-din, you will not need the dash kit, but you'll probably need the brackets from toyota to mount it properly. If you feel like tackling this yourself, hit Crutchfield, type in year, make, model, the site will step you through your options.

And that black box is a relay for something, what its for I have no idea. You'll need to trace that wiring back to whatever it goes to. Determine whether you can remove it completely or if its for something necessary. It is definitely not part of Toyota though, so I can only think of it being either for a power antenna, amplifier or light switch that someone maybe had in there before you got it.

Of course, if you just wanna forego all the work and aggravation, just take it to a shop and have them install a deck in there! Installation prices for just a deck in an old toyota are dirt cheap! I used to charge a hundred bucks for installation of a deck and 2 speakers in trucks/4runners back in the the 90's! And, we didn't need no stinkin' dash kits either! We made 'em on-the-fly!!!

 

[mikejones]

That little black box leads to a on off switch that doesn't work at all. And I don't have a power antenna

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Well, you'll need to follow the wiring off the relay, the on/off switch just triggers the relay to turn something on. Ignore the wires to the switch, its just the trigger for the relay. There should be 4 or 5 wires going to the relay, I can't quite tell from the photo you posted. One goes to ground, one goes to power INPUT, one goes to "trigger" which should lead to the switch, and one goes to whatever the relay is powering up.

If you can read the back side of the relay, look for the pole that says 30, make sure that's removed and taped off, it should be your +12VDC supply, then look for the wire connected to "87", follow that wire to whatever its connected to, that's what the switch controls.

 

[mikejones]

Here's wiring for an '86 4 runner:



1984-86 Toyota 4-Runner Car Stereo Wire Colors



Just get whatever car stereo you want, then use butt connectors to connect the wiring from the stereo to your vehicle's wiring! You have 2 wires per speaker, power, ground, accessory and dimmer control. Plug the black wire with the metal plug on the end (shown in your photo on the very right-most side of the dash) into the antenna jack on the stereo, then mount it all back into your dash.



If you get a standard "din" sized stereo, you'll need a dash kit. If you get a double-din, you will not need the dash kit, but you'll probably need the brackets from toyota to mount it properly. If you feel like tackling this yourself, hit Crutchfield, type in year, make, model, the site will step you through your options.



And that black box is a relay for something, what its for I have no idea. You'll need to trace that wiring back to whatever it goes to. Determine whether you can remove it completely or if its for something necessary. It is definitely not part of Toyota though, so I can only think of it being either for a power antenna, amplifier or light switch that someone maybe had in there before you got it.



Of course, if you just wanna forego all the work and aggravation, just take it to a shop and have them install a deck in there! Installation prices for just a deck in an old toyota are dirt cheap! I used to charge a hundred bucks for installation of a deck and 2 speakers in trucks/4runners back in the the 90's! And, we didn't need no stinkin' dash kits either! We made 'em on-the-fly!!!

Thanks for that color link. That helps alot