89 F250 7.3

Ok, so I don't know if this was a contributing factor or not, but the truck I bought off this guy said that he took the fuse out of the positive terminal engine that connects to the stereo because it was draining the battery. So I was like...ok whatever, so yesterday morning...I got to start, and next thing you know I get the "raw raw raw" sound coming from the motor. I glanced over at the voltage meter and notice that there was basically crap all for voltage and I had only put that fuse in the night before.

So my problem is, how the hell do I keep my stereo working without unplugging the darn fuse all the time so that it doesnt drain my battery? I'm guessing when the stereo was wired, it wasn't wired properly. Meaning that it wasn't wired to the ignition, because I'm guesssing that's where you're supposed to wire a stereo right? I got one of the waterproof capsule/housing thingy's that the fuse sits in, its just a regular 80 amp fuse.

Does anybody have a schematic for a "proper" wiring procedure...because I really don't wanna have to keep getting boosts every morning because my stereo killed the battery, thats kind of silly. I'm almost thinking of taking it too a stereo place and getting them to re-wire it, but then again I can save the 80$ and do it myself.

I'm open to all suggestions.

 

do you have any amps installed? if so i am willing to bet the amp turn on wire is wired to a constant power sorce (usaly the blue wire) it should be on a switched sorce. post some more info on your set up

 

Ya there's an amp rigged up, but the damn thing doesnt even turn on...so something funny is going on here. I haven't really took time to look where every single wire goes. All's I know for sure is that everything IS connected properly from what I can tell, but the amp isn't powering up...and it's weird because the speaker in my door works just fine, but my 6x9's in the back aren't getting any juice.

 

I'm afraid if I take this thing all apart, it'l take me endless hours to get the whole stereo actually operating properly. The last car I wired took me about 4.5 hours straight, just because there was no wiring harness adapter and I had to find out what each wire was for because none of them were color coded like most are on other automobiles. But since everything is rigged up...I'm guessing that the amp is disconnected somewhere and I wanna get this whole thing fixed. Anybody got a good schematic for these old trucks?

 

check for vlotage on the trigger wire, you might have a bad amp

 

I could in fact have a bad amp...I'm not all too familiar with "stereo" terminology, directions would be in fact alot easier for me to figure out there dieself250.

 

here is a drawing i made up, it should work for most amps
1. amp outputs ,go to the spekers being amped
2. rca inputs, come from the radio( not all radios have them)
3. high power inputs, come from the radio usaly the 2 rear channels
4. high power feed through, go back the spekers( does not always apply)
5. 12v battery power, always hot thick wire big fuse
6. ground- ground wire to body
7. amp turn on, small wire (blue wire on most amps) used to turn amp on, should only have voltage when radio is on or when key is in the on postion.

to see if amp is bad,
1. first check and see if there is any power on the blue wire with the radio off and key off. no voltage should be present.
2 if voltage is present, trace the wire out and disconect it and find a key on power sorce.
3. when you have verified there is no voltage on the blue wire, disconnect the ground wire from the amp, and mesure for voltage, a good amp will show no to very little voltage to ground . a bad one will show voltage to ground

here is a link for the ford factory wire colors
http://www.installdr.com/Harnesses/Ford-Wiring.pdf

 

Ok thanks, but the amp doesnt even power on at all with the key in the ON position or in the ACC position....it just wont turn on...ugh I'm gonna have to rip apart that damn thing tonight I just know it.

This may sound weird...but the diagram is a bit confusing, maybe I'm just tired and not getting it right now.

So let me get this straight. The 12v goes to your battery, the ground goes...? and the trigger goes to the stereo? If you give me an email address and I can send you some pictures of my amp, and the stereo if you wanna help me out.

 

click on my user name and shoot me an email

 

actually, I'll let you know in about an hour if you're still gonna be on your computer on the stuff about my amp/stereo. How do you take apart the dash to get to your stereo?

 

Maybe you could rig up something in "paint" that'l give me a better idea. If you could do it like a normal wiring schematic that would be great. I'm just at work right now, workin late and I'll be home soon.

 

ford factory wireing colors for factory radio
left frount + purple
left frount - blue w/orange stripe
left rear + white w/blue stripe
left rear - red w/blue stripe
right frount + blue w/white stripe
right frount - white
right rear + white w/blue stripe
right rear - blue
ground black
12 switched power blue w/black stripe
12 constant power blue w/red stripe

post some info for the radio and amp you have i should be able to find a diagram for them

 

Ahhh much better display, I like that one. Ok so, since I'm not all familiar with amps...where do all the wires in the back of the amp go? I know how to rig the stereo itself, but I dont know how to combine the two. So do the RCA cables go to the amp from the stereo and thats where the music comes out of? Ugggghhh arrrgghhh so frustrated with this damn stereo lol. Alls I know is that an amp has 3 wiring slots...and thats about all I know. So what do I need to connect in order to turn the damn thing on?

 

Anybody got a good sketch to run a stereo system?

 

Give me a minute or two and I will draw a diagram that will help you out....