I just read a thread by tdappleman about aftermarket radio installation. Nice write up! He mentioned that if you remove the control panel board in the center console, the rear speakers do not work. I had removed it and tossed it, not realizing that the speakers are tied to it.

Does anyone know which wire(s) I can tap into to get my speakers to work without the need of that darn circuit board? Thanks.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure of which wires to reconnect but will take a look and see if I can see anything. I did take a quick look on eBay and didn't see any listed but it may come down to finding a used one and putting it back in.

 

I took a quick look at the panel this weekend and the wire colors at the connector don't match the speaker wires. I would normally do a quick 'pop' using a 9v battery but hate to potentially mess up the board. Hopefully you can find a replacement board - either that or you could run new wires back. Wouldn't be that bad since the panels are all pretty easy to remove.

 

Well, after replacing my cntr console with the jump seat, I had no idea that the rear speakers weren't working anymore. That was done back in Oct. Well after reading this thread a few days ago I asked the wife if she noticed the rear speakers not working. She is the principle driver during the day. Her answer, oh yea the kids mentioned it right away. Well why am I only hearing it now. Oh I forgot. She just shrugged off the kids with, you guys must be getting hard of hearing back there. LOL
All fixed up now, thanks guys.

 

I see this is an older thread but I was just wondering if you ever were able to get the rear speakers in your Excursion working?

My husband and I just purchased an '03 Limited 6.0L Excursion today . It has a few quirks that need to be worked out - one being that the rear speakers appear to not work. After reading all sections of the manual on the single/dual play, it seems the rear speakers just aren't working. I tried plugging in some headphones, too, and those didn't work either. Even running just the radio on single play, you fade to the rear and there's nothing.

Reading that the console board controls the rear speakers is interesting since it seems the center console has been messed with. I'm not sure what the inside of the center console is supposed to have (storage wise), but it's just a big open space, no coin holder, tray, etc. So, we're trying to figure this out. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

You can lift up the rear cup holders on the center console and it will expose the box to that circuit board. Unplug it and you can then jump the two wires in the connector to get the speakers working. I don't recall specifically which ones at the moment, but I'll look it up when I get a chance later after the honey do list.

 

Well we ordered a new module for the rear controls, thinking that was the problem (we weren't sure which wires to jump). However, that hasn't solved the issue - the rear speakers still don't work.

My husband pulled the console out and found one of the plugs on the bottom wasn't plugged into anything (the round one which appears to power the rear speakers? The module still has power w/o this plug plugged in). There was also no wire or plug to plug it into in the floor or under the carpet in the area (w/o ripping it up). The other large plug (square) was plugged in. There was another smaller plug that ran into the storage compartment of the console which I'm assuming was for a CD changer?? I'm wondering if this console isn't the original one. The wood grain pattern on the top doesn't match the grain pattern on the door inserts.

That's neither here nor there - what we really need is to find that wire to power everything. It has the factory HU so I don't know what exactly happened. Are there any wiring diagrams on here?? Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

Sorry, forgot all about it. See if this diagram helps. It shows the plug and the wires attached to each pin in the plug. Try jumping the 2+ wires (2 to 3 and 7 to 8) to see if you get sound prior to cutting the wires.

 

Thank you for the diagram! We had found that one, too. However, I believe the problem isn't related to that module since we ordered an OEM part from Ford and installing it didn't solve the problem. (I guess we should've pulled the console before doing all that, oh well!)

I'm attempting to attach a picture I took of the bottom of the console to show the 3 plugs. Hopefully it works.


The far left (small) plug was run through a hole into the storage compartment of the console. The middle (round) plug wasn't plugged into anything. The right (square/large) plug was plugged in. The DVD player worked, just no speakers. My husband believes the wiring harness in the truck isn't communicating properly with what's in the console - essentially, we don't think this is the original console. What should be in our Ex is probably all wired into the one larger/square plug. Anyone have any experience with this at all - installing a different console? We did find some wiring diagrams on Autozone's website and it appears there are differences between early and late model '03s. Any ideas on how to make this work? Or do we search for a different console?

 

I guess, specifically, has anyone with an '03 Limited Excursion 6.0 pulled their console and what does the wiring harness look like? Does it have the round and square plugs or just the big square one? Not all the pins are being used on the harness we have, either....

 

That one on the left is the one you tap into to get the rear speakers to work. Here is photo of mine where I spliced into. Disregard the blue box there. I added that for the AV sockets in place of that control board.

The green plug is the cigarette lighter plug. This is a shot of the rear of the console with the cup holder removed.

 

Ok. Not sure if you can see the photo, on the top of that rectangular plug, you combine the brown/white stripe wire with the light blue/gray stripe wire. On the other side, combine the orange/red stripe wire with the brown/green stripe wire.

Again, test the pins in the plug before you cut to make sure. I tested with the radio on and fader/ balance in the center.

Good luck.

 

Should've posted an update. My husband was able to pull the wires from the round plug and add them to the large square one (since it had pins that weren't being used) by looking at the harness on the floor. Not sure where the console came from but obviously it came out of a vehicle that used the round plug + square plug whereas ours just combined it into the one.

Thanks for all the help! So glad we were able to get the rear speakers working. Now, we can put a DVD on for the kids and fade to the rear so we don't have to listen to it as loudly!

 

good info i was wondering why my rear speakers werent working, then i found this thread and remembered that i disconnected that centerconsole thing.

 

Thread form the dead!