Vehicle: 1989 E-350, 7.3, Born Free class B.
I need some help figuring out what cables I am looking at, as well as where they are supposed to go. Behind the radio/climate controls there are 3 connectors with nothing plugged in. They are as follows:
Black connector - 8 pins, 5 occupied. Pink/blue, white/green, pink/green, black/white, orange/green.

Gray connector - 8 pins, 8 occupied, 2 plastic keys. Pink/blue, green/orange, white/green, blue/white, green/orange, pink/blue, orange/green, pink/green.

Gray connector - 8 pins, 8 occupied, 2 plastic keys. Yellow/black, orange/blue, pink/green, orange/green, red, black/white, pink/blue, white/green.
There is also a cluster of wires that had been cut from a connected wire bundle and spliced in for power - orange/blue, yellow/black, blue/red, orange/black, green/yellow.

And here I will try to show where they are located in relation to each other and the dash:


it looks like most if not all of the expected radio wires are here, but I'm not sure which connector or connectors are for the radio and which are meant to route elsewhere, or where they are supposed to go for that matter. I had the gauge cluster half of the dash apart for the past two days and did not see any matching connectors. I would like to know if I need to take the entire dash off or if there is a component I am missing besides the radio. I can test anything if you tell me what to do - I have a meter, a working simple head unit, and some speakers.
​​​​​​ Any input would be greatly appreciated.
​​​​​​

 

Sometimes the connectors are for options that were not added to that particular vehicle, sometimes the connectors are there for diagnostics. Your best be is to find an electrical schematic for that year make and model.
At least your connectors are in one piece, my 1990 Park Lane conversion looks like some shade tree mechanic with a 2nd grade education was messing around inside and under my dash...I just cannot believe Ford or even a respectable conversion company would do to a van what I'm fining in this one.
Good luck, I hope you figure it out and keep us posted, I am watching this thread.

 

Will do. I found a junkyard about an hour out that has the same year van and I'm hoping to take a look tomorrow. I sure hope you're right about these being unnecessary in my case.
Also I have an electrical manual on the way, still a few days out though.

 

Alright I found out a lot today. First of all, I did get up to the junkyard today and got behind the dash, and the factory wiring was thankfully intact. Here are the photos (prior to me cutting the wires out):

Factory radio connectors from the 89 Winnebago at the junkyard.

Factory power/ignition/etc connector from the junkyard Winnebago. The large connector provides all electrical connections to the radio besides the speakers. The small connector is for power and mates to another connector that goes elsewhere.

The factory speaker harness from the 89 Winnebago. This routes towards the gauge cluster and supplies into two bundles - one going towards each door.

Factory harnesses at the passenger door. These are for the passenger door speaker and rear speakers (ignore the unplugged connector all the way to the right)

Same connectors but showing the pins.

Comparison between the factory speaker harness in my van and the harness in the junkyard van. Notice that the harness from the junkyard (right) has different colors and one black for each colored wire.

Comparison between the factory power connector in my van and the Winnebago.

End of photos.
That takes care of the black connector and cut wires. The two 2x4 connectors were still a mystery - so I did some more googling. Turns out these are for the factory amplifier in the Premium Sound package. I had no idea such a thing existed on a 32 year old van! Given that the harnesses appear factory AND the same year van at the junkyard simply didn't have them, I think it is safe to assume that this van left Ford with this Premium Sound package installed. Unfortunately, a previous owner seems to have removed that factory amp. I'm not one for huge boomy sound and prefer my vehicles to be as close to stock as possible, so I'll definitely be picking up one of these amps in the near future.
Hopefully this helps someone down the line.

 

Heck I could have told what those connectors go to.

Persistence paid off for you. Grats

 

Thanks. I paid too much for this van to let some gummed up wiring stop me. The only thing I wish I knew was where the factory amp is SUPPOSED to be. Google keeps showing me where it is on newer vans, but it's coming up short for the 80s E's. I'm guessing it would have been mounted to the steel bracket behind the radio, but the cables seem a bit too long for that. I'm just trying to avoid buying a duplicate amp if I still have mine buried away behind air ducts.

Should it be mounted here?
I'm also under the impression that the "rear" speaker outputs should go to a single dual-coil speaker in this strange spot in the dash, right above that bracket. Sound about right?

 

Everything I'm reading from 1988 to at least 1996, There are two options, the amplifier is either mounted to the back of the radio or it is mounted behind the right side kick panel.

 

I did read the kick panel thing for the 90s vans, pulled the kick panel off and there is no space behind there for an amp.
Must be the back of the radio. I did see one guy that had it mounted basically where the "dash speaker grille" is, though he didn't have a speaker there. I'll figure something out. Ordered everything I should need to get this all going again within the next week or so.

 

Wherever you decide to mount it make sure you have plenty of air flow for it.

 

For the physical size of my JL Audio external amplifier I mounted it to the seat base underside, seat removed of course. Running the cables is a bit more work but no issues with fitting.