I just bought my first ford truck well my first truck period actually and coming from owning a more modern import car and having a brother that has owned them as well i wasnt used to installing a radio in a vehicle as old as my truck so needless to say we ran into a few snags (not including the issue with the bezel not wanting to accept the new radio) the wiring on my truck seems to be a tad bit strange like the original radio was still in it and seems to be untouched but the wiring harness going to it seems to be missing 2 wires as it only has two going to it and it has slots for 4 wires. my radio is the 2 **** am no cassette deck radio just plain am fm antenna trimmer and preset buttons nothing more could this be the reason for the missing wires? its an 84 f150 with the square radio i just realized that i didnt mention it

 

What deck? Single or double din? Where are your speakers, doors or dash?

 

My truck had 1 speaker in each door. I swapped those for 6.5 pioneer 200w. Put a xplod single din in. You need a universal mounting kit about 18 bucks
Wiring adapter about 10/12 bucks
The wiring adapter wl give you key on hot. To get a constant hot i tapped into the cig lighter right underneath. It just slides over a stud on the back on the lighter, yellow wire.

Lmk if you need more info.

 

its the double din i believe (requires modifying the bezel) im putting a single din kenwood head unit in and the speakers are in the door and one in the dash 5's in the doors replaced with 6.5's and the dash speaker is i believe a 5x7 if my eyes dont lie.

 

i am using the wiring adapter or at least attempting to lol my issue is that the wiring adapter that i bought has 4 wires going to it and the wiring adapter coming from the truck only has 2 wires thats what makes me think that something is wrong possibly like it has no green wire (which is what i read was the ignition wire correct me if im wrong please) and i dont believe my truck has a cig lighter because the spot where it would be has what looks like a cap over it but it didnt come off.

 

More than likely it is a 5x7. This has been a stock oblong size alot for fords. My 94 explorer has those in the door. With the wiring adapter there will be 2 plugs. More than likely your 2 wire one is key on power and dimmer. It was grounded through the mounting screws and body. Just add a short piece of wire to your ground from the deck, drill a small hole in the metal bracket under the deck body and tie the ground through it. There shohld be another connector in there for speaker wires. Like i said get your batt+ or constant hot from cig lighter power wire.

 

Yellow/black-hash = fused, key-on power
Light blue/red-stripe = dimmable dash backlighting

If you have a basic radio, nothing more (except speaker & antenna wires) is needed, it grounds through the case as was explained.

Fancier electronic radios available ~1985 also had a light green/yellow-stripe wire providing constant power for clock memories, etc. and some radios have an orange/blue-dot wire used for power antenna connections (an option that was never installed in the trucks, but the same radios were in both cars & trucks).

 

i appreciate that when i tried to hook up the ground i found a loose black wire and that usually indicates a ground (the black color) but i didnt think to just skip that part and ground it directly that could be my problem right there

 

Yeah. Could be. Where are you getting your constant hot from though??

 

i got the red/blue and yellow/black ones right (those are the only two connected to that wiring harness coming from the truck) and combine that with the help finding the ground i should be doing pretty great minus the speakers but i think i can handle that lol

 

so far i dont have a constant thats another problem that im running into without the cig lighter im not exactly sure where that is going to come from

 

You dont have a cig lighter??

 

it seems to be capped off (that doesnt mean its not wired up or non existant but when i first got the truck (4 days ago) i checked it and i couldnt pry up that cap with my pocket knife which led me to believe i didnt have one

 

Reach under the ash tray and feel the back. If there is no wire or stud then your sol there.
But hit tbe parts store. Get a 15amp inline fuse and a roll of 18 or 16 guage wire. Tie 1 end of the inline fuse to the wire. Snake it around the engine bay into the cab. There are a few grommets around the brake booster you can slide a wire through. Tie it in to your + wire for your deck. Then connect the inline to the battery or + stud of the solenoid. Keep it away from heat and moving parts.

 

Sounds like you don't have the lighter.

Look for a light-green/yellow-stripe wire back there RH side of the center console by the HVAC & ash tray, there are 2-3 accessory plugs one of which contains that wire.