Speaker Wiring to head unit issues/ Just another stereo question

[rpete]

I've had my runner for 4 years and loved it. Only two of the speakers have worked since I've owned it and found out it's a wiring problem today. I uninstalled the speakers and used the placements that I knew were putting out sound to check to make sure my speakers weren't the problem and they all work fine if plugged into the one of the two speaker placements that always work. It looks like I have stock speakers, stock head unit, and aftermarket thicker gauge blue wiring to the speakers for some weird reason. I pulled the head unit out to see if maybe it was a bad splice job before I got it but it was worse then that. The wires are all a total mess and I don't have a clue. I have a basic knowledge of car wiring and replaced a head unit in a different vehicle but this is a mess. What would you recommend my net steps to be? Should I order a new wiring harness and just cut everything and try to start over? Should I just attempt to redo his splicing job on the speaker cables? It looks like everything was still attached tight just was a mess and am not sure which wires go to witch speakers anyways. Also as seen in the last picture while pulling everything apart I found the same wire that they used to run to the speakers ran down my center console and was spliced into my cigarette lighter plug.. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[rpete]

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[evan1242]

Oh wow they messed you up good.
First things first.

Does it still have the OEM radio?
Are the original speaker wires still in the locations where there is new speaker wire?
Do you have the OEM JBL system? (Center channel and sub)

Edit: the blue wire under the cup holders attached to the power outlet wire is most likely being used for “switched or ignition” power. Maybe to turn on an amplifier or going to some relays for lights maybe? If not it can be removed.

 

[rpete]

Yeah man let's just say I wasn't excited when I pulled the radio out. Thanks for your response.
Yes it is still the original OEM radio.
I couldn't see any original speaker wires still in there. And I know if they are they don't still run to the doors. The guy routed the new wiring bad too so initially when you would role the windows up or down it would also catch the wires.
I do not have the JBL system. Just the basic plane Jane system.

In regards to the blue wire under the cup holders: Next time I have it apart I'll try to trace it back a little better and see if I can find where it is going. Make sense though, I couldn't figure out why they'd want to get power from all the way back there. But ignition power makes sense. However there are no aftermarket lights on it except for a light bar which I installed, Pretty sure there isn't an amplifier, and honestly I got it and it was completely stock except for obviously the speaker wire for some reason. There isn't anything weird to it that I know about that would need that power.

 

[evan1242]

Yeah man let's just say I wasn't excited when I pulled the radio out. Thanks for your response.
Yes it is still the original OEM radio.
I couldn't see any original speaker wires still in there. And I know if they are they don't still run to the doors. The guy routed the new wiring bad too so initially when you would role the windows up or down it would also catch the wires.
I do not have the JBL system. Just the basic plane Jane system.

In regards to the blue wire under the cup holders: Next time I have it apart I'll try to trace it back a little better and see if I can find where it is going. Make sense though, I couldn't figure out why they'd want to get power from all the way back there. But ignition power makes sense. However there are no aftermarket lights on it except for a light bar which I installed, Pretty sure there isn't an amplifier, and honestly I got it and it was completely stock except for obviously the speaker wire for some reason. There isn't anything weird to it that I know about that would need that power.

Gotcha. So I think there was definitely an amplifier installed somewhere. Is there new speaker wire for all 4 speakers or just 2?

Another thing to find out will be does the new speaker wire go straight from behind the radio to the speakers or does it go somewhere else first?

The reason I am asking is because there may be a “junction” somewhere. It will be where ever the amplifier used to be and there could be some bad connections there as well.

 

[rpete]

That is where it gets more confusing. There are 8 new blue speaker wires ran up behind there. You can see them circled in this picture. You’ve given me some good ideas though and there very well maybe an amplifier somewhere. Those could be as small as a large sized wallet right?
I’ll tear it open again tomorrow and see if I can trace them a little better, find an amp or previous amp location, and get some more pictures. Let’s touch bases again tomorrow [emoji106] thanks

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[Jpilot]

Easy trick to get wires worked out so you can label them is to use a 9v battery on the radio side. Touch the wires to the battery lead for a little sound (static) out of each speaker. Label each as you go.
Good luck.

 

[rpete]

Never heard of that one before. Thanks for the awesome tip.

 

[evan1242]

Easy trick to get wires worked out so you can label them is to use a 9v battery on the radio side. Touch the wires to the battery lead for a little sound (static) out of each speaker. Label each as you go.
Good luck.

This is so long as they are attached to a speaker. And be careful you can damage tweeters this way.
It won’t make a static sound. If you do use this method only do it very briefly and listen for a pop sound. Do not hold the wires down onto the battery.

One of these would be safer
http://www.walmart.com/ip/PAC-TL-PT...olarity-Tester-with-RCA-Cable-Tester/24214155

 

[Ed_C]

2006 Toyota 4Runner Audio Diagram

 

[rpete]

I bet you couldn't have guessed it but it gets more complicated. See the pictures in the next comment. So the old OEM wiring harness is still in amongst the cluster of wires. The only wires cut and spliced from it are the blue/yellow which thank you for the wiring diagram, is battery power, and a black. The blue/yellow is pig tailed twice (as seen as the straight yellow wire) and then wired into the new wiring harness. Then there are a total of 10 new blue wires previously thought to just be speaker wires, that are all of considerable gauge. Those are then all wired into the newer looking wiring harnesses wires, All except for the green and green/black as seen as the pictures. still piggy tailed together but not actually connected to anything. Which I think according to that diagram would be for an amp. Also weird side not the connecter that plugs in next to the main wiring harness is also not OEM as seen in the picture. It has most the wires coming out of it not used but two purple wires com out and pig tail back until they eventually connect to their own aftermarket big blue wires. Thanks to your tip as well I found that the blue wire spliced into the cigarette lighter runs up into a daisy chain of red wire and into the radios wiring harness.

I literally am so confused. I think whoever this man was tried to bypass all the vehicle wiring for the radio and actually rewire everything himself? I guess my next step is to literally just chase all his new wire back and see where everything goes?? I know four of them run passenger side and the other 6 run drivers side at least initially but holy cow what a mess. On another side note it's only the passenger side speakers that work. I think it's time to light it on fire. Anyone have any guess to the best next steps to take?

Also the last picture is of the antenna connections. Only the one bigger one has been plugged in. I never get the reception I think I should out of the radio. What is that smaller antenna plug for? It looks like there is a spot for it in the back of the radio. Is it going to hurt anything if I just plug it in? Thanks for even reading to the end of this nightmare lol

 

[rpete]

2006 Toyota 4Runner Audio Diagram

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[evan1242]

I bet you couldn't have guessed it but it gets more complicated. See the pictures in the next comment. So the old OEM wiring harness is still in amongst the cluster of wires. The only wires cut and spliced from it are the blue/yellow which thank you for the wiring diagram, is battery power, and a black. The blue/yellow is pig tailed twice (as seen as the straight yellow wire) and then wired into the new wiring harness. Then there are a total of 10 new blue wires previously thought to just be speaker wires, that are all of considerable gauge. Those are then all wired into the newer looking wiring harnesses wires, All except for the green and green/black as seen as the pictures. still piggy tailed together but not actually connected to anything. Which I think according to that diagram would be for an amp. Also weird side not the connecter that plugs in next to the main wiring harness is also not OEM as seen in the picture. It has most the wires coming out of it not used but two purple wires com out and pig tail back until they eventually connect to their own aftermarket big blue wires. Thanks to your tip as well I found that the blue wire spliced into the cigarette lighter runs up into a daisy chain of red wire and into the radios wiring harness.

I literally am so confused. I think whoever this man was tried to bypass all the vehicle wiring for the radio and actually rewire everything himself? I guess my next step is to literally just chase all his new wire back and see where everything goes?? I know four of them run passenger side and the other 6 run drivers side at least initially but holy cow what a mess. On another side note it's only the passenger side speakers that work. I think it's time to light it on fire. Anyone have any guess to the best next steps to take?

Also the last picture is of the antenna connections. Only the one bigger one has been plugged in. I never get the reception I think I should out of the radio. What is that smaller antenna plug for? It looks like there is a spot for it in the back of the radio. Is it going to hurt anything if I just plug it in? Thanks for even reading to the end of this nightmare lol

Man oh man I wish you were closer so I could help you out lol.
I would my self prefer to rip it all out and start from scratch re using as much OEM wiring as possible. I would take the speakers out and really look in there and see if the OEM wire is still in there somewhere. That would be a awesome.

 

[rpete]

This is definitely not what I expected when I opened her up haha I still can’t figure out why any human being would do what he did. I’ll dig for the stock wiring and if I can’t find it I’ll probably be stuck with two speakers. The rest of this is a little over my pay grade. Thanks for your help thus far.


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[evan1242]

This is definitely not what I expected when I opened her up haha I still can’t figure out why any human being would do what he did. I’ll dig for the stock wiring and if I can’t find it I’ll probably be stuck with two speakers. The rest of this is a little over my pay grade. Thanks for your help thus far.


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Best case all the OEM speaker wire is there and you can just re connect it at all the speakers and reconnect it behind the radio and be back to normal again. I do this for a living and have never ever seen someone remove the OEM wire that goes into the door.

 

[rpete]

Big update. Thanks to the advice from many people everything is working properly like it should. All the wires where half hazardously pig tailed into the harness and all had an extra jumper of like 4 inches of spare wire also pig tailed into the system. Found a couple of those had no connection at all. Found the two green and green/black wires shown in the original pictures that aren’t connected to anything actually go to the rear speaker and was able to get those connected to where they needed to go. Then I redid all of the previously done connections to make them look a little better. Now everything’s all set and a little bit cleaner looking. Thanks again for all the help!

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