i recently got a OEM ford radio for my truck out of a 1985 pick up it fills the gap i had in my dash quite nicely but there is one problem, the firestation that owned my truck beforehand gutted most of the electrical to run a CB or something :/ so if i had a stero wire color key for a 1983 and 1985 pick up i probably could make it work but i lack those and my web surfing ability is weak so if anyone could help me out i would be enternally greatful

 

The 85 radio. Does it have;

orange/lightgreen-left speaker +

white/lightgreen-right speaker +

two black/whites-both speaker -

yellow/black +12v

lightblue/red-dial illumination

 

the radio is has two sets of wires the first bundle has a yellow wire, a blue wire with a red stripe and an orange wire, i need to know what the orange wire for that one is as my truck didnt have that wire pluged into the connector. this bundle seems to be for illumination? as when i pluged it in to the connector on my truck and turned on the lights the dial lit up. the second bundle of wires has one white wire with green stripe one pink wire with green stripe one pink wire with blue strip one orange wire with a green stripe and a black ground that comes into one slot and "hops" between three other slots taking up a total of four, the radio came from a 85 but it may not be from one originally, when i pulled it from the donor truck there were no splices or anything so i believe its from the same era?

i apperciate you help greatly

Edit: heres a picture of a radio similar to the one i have hopefully someones familiar with it

 

1. Yellow/Black hash wire is 12volt switched power from the ignition switch.
2. Light Blue/Red stripe wire is for Radio dial illumination.
3. The Orange wire is For the Premium Sound Optional Amplifier. This wire is not needed, unless you get the optional Premium Sound Amp. it connects the radio volume control to the amp.

The Light Blue/Red stripe wire is. The other wires are listed above.

The second bundle is the speaker wires.

1. White/Green Stripe: Right Front Channel
2. Orange/Green Stripe: Left Front Channel
3. Pink/Light Green: Left Rear Channel
4. Pink/Light Blue: Right Rear Channel.
5. Black: Speaker Ground

The Front and back channels are combined in the pickups, because they only had two stock speakers in the doors, between 1980-1991. The Good News is, the radio harness plugs, haven't changed between 1982 to at least 1996. So finding a speaker harness from a donor truck shouldn't be too difficult if you don't have one.

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One thing of note, if this radio is going to be used for a restoration project, it needs to be stated that the radio is wrong for the year of truck you are putting it in. You have a Din style Ford Radio, and the 1983 originally came with **** and shaft type.

1980-1984: **** and shaft style Radio
1984-1986: Din Style Radio.

But as I said, this only matters if you are going for a period correct restoration. the radio will work fine otherwise.

Hope this helps.

 

thank you for all your help especially 81-f-150, you really helped me out. i plan to get some better speaker wire than what is currently installed in my truck along with a connector this weekend and hopefully get everything hooked up. i have just one more question, the radio came with the panel that goes over it and the little ford clock that went above it, i was wondering if anyone knew the wire colors on it as im thinking about hooking one up as i plan to use the panel and it already has the holes in it anyway

 

The Best thing for the Clock is to go and Find a 1983 F-series or Bronco, that had the clock, and get the clock harness extention out of it.

The truck you have already has the Plug on the main harness for the clock harness to plug into. It's the empty plug attached to the bottom of the dash support to the right of the heater control panel. The plug has space for 8 wires. (this is of course if it wasn't tampered with by the previous owners) The optional Headlamp on warning buzzer, and underdash courtesy lights harness also plugs into this same plug using a "wye" connection.

 

Welcome to FTE

helminc.com has the following (and more) new original Ford manuals.

# 3651985S83 1983 F Series Wiring Diagram / $12.00

# A98246 Electrical Manual / $10.00

Helm has printed all of Ford's literature since the 1940's.

 

Idk if this thread is any good still. I recently bought an 83 f150 that must have been bare bones from the factory with only one speaker in the dash. Some where along the line a after market stereo was put in with hack wiring. The dash lights also did not work so today I started pulling the the instrument panel apart and saw that the lights were onand I couldn't get them to turn off. For some reason I reached at the head unit and the cluster lights turned off. The stereo is hooked up to a yellow wire and a light blue wire with a red line. Bothe these wires have connectors on the end like they were ripped out of a plug. Is my wiring all screwed? What do I need to do to make the radio and instrument panel work? Please help!!!!

 

The light blue with the red line is the cluster lights. The yellow might be your hot wire(check it with a testlight or voltmeter). If they were tied together, then voltage was running backwards from the yellow wire up through the lightblue/red powering the cluster lights.

The lightblue/red goes to the radio to illuminate the dial. On some of the newer radios it's not used, or it's used to dim the display at night, or sometimes it's used to dim the display and illuminate some of the buttons. I just retro fitted a newer Ford radio in my old 86 ranger, and I tied the lightblue/red to the proper terminal to dim the display, but forgot to tie it into the terminal to light up the labels on the radio. So I have to "feel around" on the front of the radio at night because I can't see the button labels. I need to take it back apart and tie the other terminal in.

 

I'm gonna wait to hook it back up until I get a new HU so I'll post back if the problem was solved