Radio wiring question about my 1994 4Runner?

[eremoy]

I recently found that the previous owner rigged up my radio wiring pretty bad so i want to have it replaced. I was thinking i can fix it easily myself and save some money by going to a junk yard and removing an entire harness from a toyota with the same harness as my 94' and then attach the wires to the proper colors.


My plan:


Ok so the tip of the harness is the plastic piece that has 16 pins that plugs into your radio. Then as you follow those wires they begin to splice off everywhere and its just a confusing mess to someone who has no experience in wiring like me. Then they become a nice bundle of wires again at the end just before they go deep in the dash. I was wondering if I could just find a toyota, chop the harness with all the "confusing" wiring intact and then attatch the end of the harness to the proper colors. So are all older model toyota harnesses the same? or which ones will fit my 1994 4Runner?

thank you!!
ER

 

[drmorbius]

I recently found that the previous owner rigged up my radio wiring pretty bad so i want to have it replaced. I was thinking i can fix it easily myself and save some money by going to a junk yard and removing an entire harness from a toyota with the same harness as my 94' and then attach the wires to the proper colors.


My plan:


Ok so the tip of the harness is the plastic piece that has 16 pins that plugs into your radio. Then as you follow those wires they begin to splice off everywhere and its just a confusing mess to someone who has no experience in wiring like me. Then they become a nice bundle of wires again at the end just before they go deep in the dash. I was wondering if I could just find a toyota, chop the harness with all the "confusing" wiring intact and then attatch the end of the harness to the proper colors. So are all older model toyota harnesses the same? or which ones will fit my 1994 4Runner?

thank you!!
ER

Your plan sounds good and will work but you will need to develop good soldering skills to attach the stub from the junk yard to the original harness. You didn't mention how much length on the original harness will be left when you remove the added on wiring. To preserve as much of the original harness as possible I would heat the areas where the junk wiring and the original harness come together. I assume the connections are heat shrunk. You can either slit the heat shrink tubing with a razor and remove it or just lay the soldering iron against each junction and heat them right through the shrink. A good production wire stripper such as those made by Paladin will make it much easier to strip wires in a tight situation especially with a short end of harness in the dash. Hope this will be helpful to you.

 

[eremoy]

so what harness will fit my car? just my gen (2nd) or what?

 

[drmorbius]

so what harness will fit my car? just my gen (2nd) or what?

I don't know the answer to that but you can write down the colors in the original harness in your truck and just look for one with the same colors. The wires basically have to do the same thing in all radio setups.