Shadow-Bandit
New member
Also what is this green/white wire for? My wiring harness doesn't have a pin for it.
Stereo Harness Question
- Thread starter TXRick
- Start date
Also what is this green/white wire for? My wiring harness doesn't have a pin for it.
[MENTION=10169]TheDurk[/MENTION] does your alpine work as advertised? Would you recommend it?
Sorry for being off topic.
I want to change the stereo from my car for a while now.
I have settled with Alpine. Though I'm lost which unit would be the best choice.
Most internet reviews are just full of ... it's only hype. When I read some real
customer feedback I got discouraged.
After searching awhile I've found a different blog. They sure tell it how it is. I've read that review and got me thinking. Is the Alpine Halo9 iLX-F309 stereo really that bad?
How bad is that 480p? Is the price worth it?
Any thoughts of wisdom?
Sorry for being off topic.
I want to change the stereo from my car for a while now.
I have settled with Alpine. Though I'm lost which unit would be the best choice.
Most internet reviews are just full of ... it's only hype. When I read some real
customer feedback I got discouraged.
After searching awhile I've found a different blog. They sure tell it how it is. I've read that review and got me thinking. Is the Alpine Halo9 iLX-F309 stereo really that bad?
How bad is that 480p? Is the price worth it?
Any thoughts of wisdom?
TheDurk
Elite Member
My Alpine is pretty long in the tooth. It doesn't even have Bluetooth. I just feed it via cable from my tablet which has it's own mount. It works just fine as a preamp to an Alpine amp. I have used Alpines in maybe a dozen cars over the last 40 years. They were the only brand I found way back that had decent tuner sections, and I gave stuck with them ever since. I don't think any of them ever needed repair except for lasers that got weak in the years where burnt CDs were just coming into vogue.
I know nothing about current quality in general or the specific model you cite. I'll keep buying Alpine until I get one that pisses me off.
gamefreakgc
Elite Member
Crutchfield.com has some honest reviews and they aren't afraid to tell you if it's not all that great.
After doing a major sound overhaul, the thing that made the most difference in sound quality is adding an amp. I just have a small plug-in amp that fits behind the dash but it makes a huge difference. Now of course if the only reason why you are swapping out the head unit is for adding modern features that might matter at all to you.
After doing a major sound overhaul, the thing that made the most difference in sound quality is adding an amp. I just have a small plug-in amp that fits behind the dash but it makes a huge difference. Now of course if the only reason why you are swapping out the head unit is for adding modern features that might matter at all to you.
Going to bump this up rather than posting an entire new thread.
I posted a while ago about my radio instantly blowing fuses. I've narrowed it down to the gray connector that's on the right side. Does anyone know what this does? The radio works without that plug connected, but has insanely bad reception. I hear that these 4 runners have in antenna amplifier, I don't know that's what this is for what it's supposed to do.
I posted a while ago about my radio instantly blowing fuses. I've narrowed it down to the gray connector that's on the right side. Does anyone know what this does? The radio works without that plug connected, but has insanely bad reception. I hear that these 4 runners have in antenna amplifier, I don't know that's what this is for what it's supposed to do.
brillo_76
Elite Member
Did you remove the Factory amplifier and plug into the wires coming put of the bottom of it? As those are your speaker wires. You have a photo of the wire you think is blowing your fuse?
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octanejunkie
Elite Member
There are 2 antenna connectors, one is GM size smaller, that is the rear passenger window antenna. I used an adapter and antenna Y cable to get both antennas (diversity) plugged into my aftermarket radio.
I'm not aware of any gray connector around the radio, there should be a larger white one that has everything on it... And a separate smaller white one for the rear door speakers. Here is the adapter for it to aftermarket radio harnesses. Soldering is recommended.
Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker Amazon.com: Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker : Electronics
Like said, please post a pic of the offending connector/wire.
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I'm not aware of any gray connector around the radio, there should be a larger white one that has everything on it... And a separate smaller white one for the rear door speakers. Here is the adapter for it to aftermarket radio harnesses. Soldering is recommended.
Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker Amazon.com: Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker : Electronics
Like said, please post a pic of the offending connector/wire.
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I would have posted the picture before but for some reason i can't post photos at all on this site.
I am using the factory radio. it was two smaller connectors that are on the left side, and one on the right that is gray. The thing is, the gray one fits and locks on to the radio but it definitely a differnt size connector, so I am thinking maybe it is not supposed to b plugged in there and that's why the fuse is blowing.......
However, the previous owner said she had never had the radio out, and that it recently stopped working, so the harness has been connected the entire time.
I tested it out by leaving the gray harness unplugged, and the radio works fine aside from horrible reception. As soon as I plug it in,. the fuse blows. I do not believe I have a factory amp since it is the base model.
octanejunkie
Elite Member
The antenna plugs are both round, banana jack style, one smaller than the other. There should be 2 connections for them on the back of the factory radio.
The amp is a smaller box that all the speaker wire runs through. It is typically removed with the factory radio as all aftermarket radios have more power/internal amps. Follow the speaker wiring from your factory radio, if it goes through an intermediate box on the left side, that's the factory amp.
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Thank you. I really wish I could post pictures because it would make everything so much easier. I'm just trying to use the factory radio, not aftermarket. I also only see one antenna connector and my radio only has one "port". Do you recall how many plugs are used on the back of your factory stereo? I also do see a little box underneath the radio but I'm not sure what it is, I'm assuming that's the amp.
octanejunkie
Elite Member
You can "post" pics, indirectly. Use a photo hosting site like Flickr, Photobucket, Google, etc and copy paste links using the "" tags, the picture looking icon inserts them
You can also link through an app like Tapatalk which makes it handy to post off your smartphone.
Lastly, you can create an album attached to your profile, upload pics there and link them via URL to your threads/posts. Many ways to do the same thing, none of them as easy as we'd like. Please consider sponsoring the Forum to help get us off this crap forum sw.
[QUOTE="mymalade, post: 3722968, member: 53099"]I'm just trying to use the factory radio, not aftermarket. I also only see one antenna connector and my radio only has one "port". Do you recall how many plugs are used on the back of your factory stereo? I also do see a little box underneath the radio but I'm not sure what it is, I'm assuming that's the amp.[/QUOTE]
Here's a pic of the back of the factory radio back, note it's upside down in the pic, the two antenna connections are shown right next to each other.
[IMG]https://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachments/3rd-gen-t4rs/196345d1458470019-stereo-help-20160319_141339-jpg
That pic came from this thread, here: Stereo help!!!
Here's another pic from a member's album here
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phattyduck
Elite Member
Yes, that's the amp. Two plugs from that should go to the dash harness. One plug from the amp should go to the head unit. The other white plug (if equipped) is not used.
At this age, it is possible that the radio has gone bad... I've gone through one OEM Toyota radio, one OEM Subaru radio and am on a previously used aftermarket head unit in my 4Runner. The first two OEM units stopped working at some point. 300k miles really wears things out...
-Charlie
Just an update in case anyone reads this later. I'm an idiot, and the gray harness was not supposed to ve connected to the radio at all, and it's also what was blowing the fuses. The previous owner lied when she said nobody had taken the radio out since somebody obviously plugged in the wrong connector.
Also, the little "box" that I thought was the amp is clearly labeled "cruise control" and it was soo dirty in there that I couldn't see it. So, radio seems to be working fine now.
Also, the little "box" that I thought was the amp is clearly labeled "cruise control" and it was soo dirty in there that I couldn't see it. So, radio seems to be working fine now.
