Im taking out the old radio and putting in a new one with the volvo kit, but the PO cut all the wires running out of the old wire adaptor except those going to the speakers. what is the best way to proceed from here? I know nothing about wiring but would assume I need to locate where the wires started via a diagram and rewire them to the old adapter?

 

Also its a 69 f100

 

Hang on, someone will get you a wiring diagram.

 

As far as power goes you need 3 wires:
1. 12v switched power - hook this up to the red wire on the new radio
2. 12v constant power (to store presets and clock) - hook this up to the yellow wire on the new radio (a 69 F100 probably won't have this wire. I usually tap into the cigarette lighter wire.)
3. Ground wire - hook this up to the black wire on the new radio

And of course you'll need to hook up the antenna wire and speaker wires.

 

I have a blue wire running out of the fuse box, it looks like the right length and might have been the original power? would that work for the switched power? I can tap into the cig line fairly easily it looks like.

 

Do you have a multimeter that reads volts and ohms and do you know how to use it?

 

Blue wire from the receiver should be for power antenna --something you probably won't have.

Blue with white stripe wire would go to the 'switch on' for an amplifier.

I have a Sony receiver in my '69 F100. I didn't cut ANY of my truck's original wiring harness wires to install it.

I did the same as Cougar John of getting a full time 12v hot off the post on the back of the cigar lighter to the receiver. I used a female bullet terminal (can't remember if it was a .156" or .157" bullet terminal) --someone had previously stripped some of the original wiring insulation off the wire that went to the cigar lighter, where the black 90° connector is.

I crimped two short breakout wires off the female bullet terminal attached to the post of the lighter. On one of the breakout wires, I crimped on a male bullet terminal to go into the black 90° connector that was originally plugged into the post on the back of the lighter socket. On the other breakout wire, I crimped another female bullet terminal to it that would tie into the Yellow wire coming from the receiver that's energized at all times.






For the face illumination of the receiver, I crimped a male bullet terminal on a wire and connected it to the truck's Light Blue with Red stripe wire seen up above and to the right of the female bullet terminal on the cigar lighter post. The other end of this wire ties back into the Orange/White striped wire on the receiver.

The red wire from the receiver is the switched 12v hot wire.

The black wire from the receiver is your ground wire that attaches to the vehicle chassis.

If you take your time and use available connectors, you can also install your receiver without butchering up your truck's original wiring too.

Wiring schematic for my Sony receiver --wiring for aftermarket DIN receivers is pretty much standard.

 

I have power from the fuse box over to the red wire, ground is good, but now my cigarette lighter is not working, im going to cut into the line and try and figure out why its not getting any juice unless theres a better way to test it.

 

and yes i have and am using a multimeter, I should have checked the lighter before starting this but I dont believe it worked before.

 

The lighter element may be bad but its socket probably still works. If there's no power to the terminal post on the back of the socket, either the wire going to it is broken/cut or, the fuse is blown.

Here again, you don't have cut the wire to hook it to your receiver. Some male and female bullet terminals will plug right in without chopping up the original wiring.

 

Is there power at the socket showing up on your multi meter? If so put it on ohms now. Red lead on the stud that the wire pushes on to and the black lead on the lighter socket's body. If any resistance is measured that socket has an internal short and would pop a fuse.

 

All is well, thank you all for the help! I had a blown fuse in the cigarette lighter, a short in the blue wire running from the fuse box had a crimp in it that shorted it out. I landed the ground behing the glove box. And the old speaker works fairly well, it buzzes when i crank her up!!!