Installing an aftermarket head unit as the Ford one died. Need to tap into a reverse wire in the dash or under the hood. Need to verify the correct wire. Crutchfield has been awesome and sent a pic of the location but it doesn't match my 01' V10.

There are two relays located under the hood next to the fuse box near the firewall on the driver side. In the relay located closest to the firewall there is a black wire with pink tracer. I was told that is the wire but was hoping someone could verify.

Thanks!

 

 

I tapped into the black/pink wire behind the fuse panel below the steering wheel in my Excursion. Unbolted and pulled down the panel to get to the back and used the wire indicated below.
Tim M

 

Thanks guys, sounds like I'm on the right track. I will double check and report back with the wire I ended up using.

 

I couldn't find one under the dash, but I did find it under the door sill on the driver side. It routes from the dash to a grommet that goes under the vehicle. That grommet is right next to the rear side of the driver seat.

 

I have been contemplating a reverse camera and like the idea of the head unit. Can you post some pictures and pricing on what you went with? Where is the actual camera out back mounted?

 

Thanks again everyone, hoping to tackle this again this coming weekend. I did pull a taillight housing and confirmed the black with pink tracer wire is correct.

I went with the Sony XAV-AX1000. Its relatively cheap, I wanted a volume "****", and don't like the look of most with the fluorescent lights around the buttons. We will see how it works, cant say for sure yet.

The camera will go in the rear, not sure where yet. I will be building a bumper so unsure where that will be mounted as of now. It will probably not be installed for a bit.

 

I searched and searched for that black wire with pink tracer in the driver's side door sill but never found it. I'll have to search again towards the back now. Mine's a 2000 V10 FWIW.

I too installed the Sony XAV1000 and absolutely love it. You'll be very happy with it.

 

If you look under the truck under the driver seat area, you will see a wire harness coming from the rear and it goes through a grommet into the cab. Once they are in the cab, they tie into the rest of the harness that is in the door sill. The wire come in from the grommet and turns into the sill and heads towards the dash. There wasn't a whole lot of slack there, and my wires were covered in dust so I had to fish around quite a bit before I found it.

 

 

Hopefully the following helps someone else...

Got the head unit "installed" (more later) and came across a free subwoofer and amp from a friend the night before the install. Very happy with the sound, I have never had an aftermarket head unit before in any vehicle and it updated the truck for sure. The subwoofer took it to another level however. Its an older JL 12" but really makes a difference. Crutchfields' Ready Harness had the blue and white wire for the remote on for the amp and that made wiring easier. Just a note I have upgraded the front door speakers but I don't even recall what they are.

I could not find the black with pink tracer wire in the door sill area for the reverse wire connection. I ended up going under the hood to the rearmost relay junction next to the fuse panel (had to extend the wire from the Crutchfield harness). My 01' does not seem to have a harness coming into the cab near the driver seat. Since I don't have the camera installed it could be wrong but I'm pretty sure its good.

I will mention that I did not fully install the head unit and glad I didn't. I was not aware that the two screws above the head unit needed to be removed for the dash bezel to come out. Now that they are out I need to trim a tiny bit more at the top of the head unit opening to get the head unit to pop into place. Once this is done I wont fear fully installing the head unit. I was hesitant from threads I had searched but luckily I came across a post from WE3ZS that mentioned that the bolts needed to be removed and NOT reinstalled.

I ended up going with the Metra install kit. I will note that the curved sides are actually nice as it gives my other fingers a place to "brace" my hand while I use the volume ****. Without this I could see some unintentional volume adjustment happening as these trucks don't exactly have a smooth ride. I like the Sony head unit, no complaints thus far. Anyone know if you can import pics for the wallpaper? Would be nice to have options other than the preloaded colors.

Hope this helps someone else...

 

Thanks for the follow up as this will probably be done to mine in the future...

 

i searched and searched all reported options for the reverse wire on my '00 and none were to be found on the drivers side or under the dash. I ended up tapping into the signal for the rear view mirror on the pax side since the reverse signal also cancels the dimming when put in reverse.

 

Head unit is fully installed and happy with the sound and fit and finish. The rearview camera will have to wait as we leave town tomorrow for a week.

I do wish the volume **** was larger or possibly had a rubber "ring" around it. Its fine and not a major complaint but with the Metra install kit it feels kind of small. I have not messed with the remote and I do not have steering wheel controls. I may look into aftermarket as reaching over is kind of a pain, first world problems I know. The overall sound, ease of use, and new subwoofer outweigh this however.

I will report back after our 30 hours in the truck over the next week ...