Car Head Unit

12-08-2002, 05:36 PM

I just got a new cd player and i was going to put it in myself and i bought the scosche harnesses to go with it and when i spliced the harnesses to the harness with the cd player and pluged them in, i get power and all but no sound what so ever. I went over my speaker connections and they were all correct and all. Can anyone tell me what might be the problem, maybe someone has put one in before or someone came over the same problem.

I appreciate any help
thank you

NotchJohnson · 12-08-2002, 05:53 PM

You still have the factory amp in your car, and the cd player has its own internal amp. You have too bypass the factory amp. I just got a bunch of speaker wire and wired up each speaker to the head unit. Its a pain but it has to be done. I had the same exact prob you do, all power, but no sound.

NotchJohnson · 12-08-2002, 05:57 PM

Also, do not turn the bass up when you get the head unit in unless you plan on getting new speakers very soon.

lx5091 · 12-08-2002, 06:15 PM

beat me to it!

That's right, the Mustang has a factory amp under the dash and the factory harness is different than all other Ford's (wires don't go directly to speakers, but instead feed a signal to the amp). The harness you bought is universal for Ford, you just have to modify the wiring for the Mustang.

If I remember correctly, I was able to unplug the harness from the factory amp and I opened the plastic end(comes apart) and placed the wires where I needed them to line up, closed it and plugged it into the aftermarket harness, but it was a major PITA getting my hands into that small space in there.

tireburner163 · 12-09-2002, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotchJohnson
Also, do not turn the bass up when you get the head unit in unless you plan on getting new speakers very soon.

Not true...what are you gonna blow them on?.....with the 15 watts the HU puts out?

They will distort like hell, but I doubt you'll blow em.

True, maybe if you jacked the the end frequences ALL the way and turned the volume all the way up......but I can't see for one second that sounding good enough to leave it there for long enough to create enough to get enough thermal energy to blow the speakers.

ChunkFunky · 12-09-2002, 05:08 PM

I hope you didnt cut or open any harnesses yet... it's REALLY easy... now I have a convertible but I assume it's the same system.... you'll ned to yank out the factory amp.. it's mounted behind the head unit in teh dash there.... it's held in with two screws... hex heads... anyway... once you get that out it'll have it's own harness to unplug... you kinda need alittle of each... the main power and all dimmer function and remote turn on, etc...that on one of the plugs... the other plug goes to the amp... so you wont need that... once you take out the amp you'll see the SQUARE harness that came out of the amp... THAT goes to all your speakers.... do yourself a favor and find a wireharness kit for ford factory amp setups.. call crutchfield if you have too... I bought my head unit from them so they sent it to me free.. but I'm sure you could buy it if you needed to... then you butt connect those harnesses to the new head unit and you just plug it into the dash harness... you should never need to cut any factory wires or pop open harnesses... when it's all done your new CD player head unit will have one FLAT PLUG and one SQUARE plug... those will plug into the harness in the dash... you wont need to run special speaker wires either... it makes for nice install and you'll know the connections are good... otherwise you'll be dealing with loose connections and you'll hit a bump and your left rear speaker will go out and then come back.. it sucks... when it comes to stereo stuff make sure you do a clean job... and try to avoid cutting and splicing if you can..
-as

bigredstang · 12-09-2002, 05:12 PM

I ran into the same problem in a ford truck but the speakers had a short to ground. They would work with the factory head unit but the new head unit detected the fault when it powered up and would not put out sound. I replaced the speakers and it worked fine.

lx5091 · 12-09-2002, 08:01 PM

No offense chunky, but you aren't an easy person to understand...

Seeing as 1989 stanger already has a harness, my instructions will suit fine. It is by no means a "hack job", I know you didn't call it that, but it seems you may have been implying that.

I say that your method is the best for future reference, in my book.

I'm sure 1989 stanger gonna do what he feels most comfortable with.

If I had known that a company makes a harness specifically for the mustang, I probably would have used it, I am a freak about wiring things right, no wire patches and no electric tape holding wires together here!

Agent_4573 · 12-09-2002, 08:31 PM

yeah, i bought an aftermarket jensen head unit (real piece crap but it was cheap) and it WILL blow your speakers. You can blow your speakers with the stock unit. I replaced my speakers before i replaced the head unit. I would recommend some infinity or cerwin vega speakers.

srv1 · 12-09-2002, 10:25 PM

just remember, distortion blows your speakers.

Agent, Infinity's are crap. For the price and reliability, go with Boston Acoustics.

NotchJohnson · 12-09-2002, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tireburner163
Not true...what are you gonna blow them on?.....with the 15 watts the HU puts out?

They will distort like hell, but I doubt you'll blow em.

True, maybe if you jacked the the end frequences ALL the way and turned the volume all the way up......but I can't see for one second that sounding good enough to leave it there for long enough to create enough to get enough thermal energy to blow the speakers.

You are probably right, my knowledge of audio stuff is very limited. My friend put a 45x4 head unit in his 93 and he put the bass up to level 6 and played his rap music all the time, his speakers only lasted a month. Ive had my 50x4 unit for a year now and have no probs. I also have the bass on -2 since I really dont care about it.

lx5091 · 12-09-2002, 11:12 PM

My infinity references are great, I power them off of a 4ch mtx thunder 4244 sound nice. I used to be in audio competitions back in '96, alot's changed, but I did help my brother build a nasty '98 s10 2 years ago. We cut a huge hole in the back of the cab and the bed and sealed it together, then dropped 2- rf punch 12's and 2- 15's in the bed firing into the cab with a couple of power rf amps and it was just nasty.

Anyway, it's all about how it's done, wiring audio on an advanced level is an art. As far as putting in a stereo and speakers for your regular listening enjoyment goes, you're good as long as you're not using Urban Acoustics components from walmart!

I like boston acoustics, I don't think they're the greatest thing since electricity, but they work. My infinity's were cheap because the next year's line of audio came out at circuit city when I bought them!

tireburner163 · 12-11-2002, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotchJohnson
You are probably right, my knowledge of audio stuff is very limited. My friend put a 45x4 head unit in his 93 and he put the bass up to level 6 and played his rap music all the time, his speakers only lasted a month. Ive had my 50x4 unit for a year now and have no probs. I also have the bass on -2 since I really dont care about it.

Just so you know, ratings on head units aren't accurate. Even the highest rated head units only put out about 20 watts MAX.

Quote:

SRV1
just remember, distortion blows your speakers.

Not really. In sum, clipping does not blow speakers. It is the additional power that is produced by clipping that can damage speakers thermally. But ONLY if that extra power cannot be dissipated by the speaker itself. So the old addage "You can blow a 1000watt speaker with a 100 watt amp" is false.

Kingz1990GT · 12-13-2002, 02:53 AM

Yeah i had the same problem with my head unit. Im gonna try the whole amp thing and try to get sound outa my speakers. I like my bass high. Even though i have subs im gonna pump out as much bass as possible from my front and rear speakers. I know you guys are joking and that its impossible to blow out speakers so bass away! Man im an audio genius!

MidNiteBlu 5.0 · 12-13-2002, 03:11 AM

I wouldnt call Infinity crap but they arent the greatest. The new Kappas are pretty good though. Boston Acoustics are good but I liked my Alpine Type R components better than them. You just have to listen to your speakers before you buy them.

12-08-2002, 05:36 PM	#1
1989stanger Guest Posts: n/a	Car Head Unit I just got a new cd player and i was going to put it in myself and i bought the scosche harnesses to go with it and when i spliced the harnesses to the harness with the cd player and pluged them in, i get power and all but no sound what so ever. I went over my speaker connections and they were all correct and all. Can anyone tell me what might be the problem, maybe someone has put one in before or someone came over the same problem. I appreciate any help thank you

12-08-2002, 05:53 PM	#2
NotchJohnson Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Florida Keys Posts: 593	You still have the factory amp in your car, and the cd player has its own internal amp. You have too bypass the factory amp. I just got a bunch of speaker wire and wired up each speaker to the head unit. Its a pain but it has to be done. I had the same exact prob you do, all power, but no sound. __________________ 89 notch-finally not stock!! ported gt40's, ported cobra intake, 65mm tb, 75mm maf, mac cai, lt's,prochamber, fms 1.6 rr, 125 shot.

12-08-2002, 05:57 PM	#3
NotchJohnson Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Florida Keys Posts: 593	Also, do not turn the bass up when you get the head unit in unless you plan on getting new speakers very soon. __________________ 89 notch-finally not stock!! ported gt40's, ported cobra intake, 65mm tb, 75mm maf, mac cai, lt's,prochamber, fms 1.6 rr, 125 shot.

12-08-2002, 06:15 PM	#4
lx5091 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Fall River, MA Posts: 467	beat me to it! That's right, the Mustang has a factory amp under the dash and the factory harness is different than all other Ford's (wires don't go directly to speakers, but instead feed a signal to the amp). The harness you bought is universal for Ford, you just have to modify the wiring for the Mustang. If I remember correctly, I was able to unplug the harness from the factory amp and I opened the plastic end(comes apart) and placed the wires where I needed them to line up, closed it and plugged it into the aftermarket harness, but it was a major PITA getting my hands into that small space in there. __________________ '02 Explorer XLT 4.0L --Nice Vehicle '97 Saturn SL1--Soon to be ditched for a Ford!

12-09-2002, 05:08 PM	#6
ChunkFunky Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Tustin, CA Posts: 465	I hope you didnt cut or open any harnesses yet... it's REALLY easy... now I have a convertible but I assume it's the same system.... you'll ned to yank out the factory amp.. it's mounted behind the head unit in teh dash there.... it's held in with two screws... hex heads... anyway... once you get that out it'll have it's own harness to unplug... you kinda need alittle of each... the main power and all dimmer function and remote turn on, etc...that on one of the plugs... the other plug goes to the amp... so you wont need that... once you take out the amp you'll see the SQUARE harness that came out of the amp... THAT goes to all your speakers.... do yourself a favor and find a wireharness kit for ford factory amp setups.. call crutchfield if you have too... I bought my head unit from them so they sent it to me free.. but I'm sure you could buy it if you needed to... then you butt connect those harnesses to the new head unit and you just plug it into the dash harness... you should never need to cut any factory wires or pop open harnesses... when it's all done your new CD player head unit will have one FLAT PLUG and one SQUARE plug... those will plug into the harness in the dash... you wont need to run special speaker wires either... it makes for nice install and you'll know the connections are good... otherwise you'll be dealing with loose connections and you'll hit a bump and your left rear speaker will go out and then come back.. it sucks... when it comes to stereo stuff make sure you do a clean job... and try to avoid cutting and splicing if you can.. -as __________________ '89 GT Convertible: TFS TW Heads, TFS Street Intake, TFS Stage 1 Cam, FMS 1.6 RRs, 24# Injectors, Pro-M 75mm MAF, No Name CAI, 3.73s, O/R H-Pipe, FlowMasters, AOD w/ Trans-Go Shift Kit

12-09-2002, 05:12 PM	#7
bigredstang Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: lincoln, NE Posts: 80	I ran into the same problem in a ford truck but the speakers had a short to ground. They would work with the factory head unit but the new head unit detected the fault when it powered up and would not put out sound. I replaced the speakers and it worked fine.

12-09-2002, 08:01 PM	#8
lx5091 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Fall River, MA Posts: 467	No offense chunky, but you aren't an easy person to understand... Seeing as 1989 stanger already has a harness, my instructions will suit fine. It is by no means a "hack job", I know you didn't call it that, but it seems you may have been implying that. I say that your method is the best for future reference, in my book. I'm sure 1989 stanger gonna do what he feels most comfortable with. If I had known that a company makes a harness specifically for the mustang, I probably would have used it, I am a freak about wiring things right, no wire patches and no electric tape holding wires together here! __________________ '02 Explorer XLT 4.0L --Nice Vehicle '97 Saturn SL1--Soon to be ditched for a Ford!

12-09-2002, 08:31 PM	#9
Agent_4573 Registered Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 375	yeah, i bought an aftermarket jensen head unit (real piece crap but it was cheap) and it WILL blow your speakers. You can blow your speakers with the stock unit. I replaced my speakers before i replaced the head unit. I would recommend some infinity or cerwin vega speakers. __________________ '89 LX 5.0, off-road h pipe, flowmaster muffs, underdrive pulleys, rebuilt WC T-5, King Cobra Clutch, 65mm throttle body, Explorer Upper/GT40 lower, Lakewood Rear Lift Bars. 76mm C&L Mass air w/ inlet pipe, Twisted wedge heads w/ stage 2 port,polish, MAC equal length shorties, Billet AFPR, 255LPH fuel pump, fresh low end w/ 10.5:1 compression. If anyone ever wants to go to Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey, give me a shout. RICER HATERS CLUB MEMBER 87! www.ricehatersclub.com

12-09-2002, 10:25 PM	#10
srv1 Get down..... Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Room 103 Posts: 2,095	just remember, distortion blows your speakers. Agent, Infinity's are crap. For the price and reliability, go with Boston Acoustics. __________________ Cobra brakes are on! Finally..... ------------------------------------------------

12-09-2002, 11:12 PM	#12
lx5091 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Fall River, MA Posts: 467	My infinity references are great, I power them off of a 4ch mtx thunder 4244 sound nice. I used to be in audio competitions back in '96, alot's changed, but I did help my brother build a nasty '98 s10 2 years ago. We cut a huge hole in the back of the cab and the bed and sealed it together, then dropped 2- rf punch 12's and 2- 15's in the bed firing into the cab with a couple of power rf amps and it was just nasty. Anyway, it's all about how it's done, wiring audio on an advanced level is an art. As far as putting in a stereo and speakers for your regular listening enjoyment goes, you're good as long as you're not using Urban Acoustics components from walmart! I like boston acoustics, I don't think they're the greatest thing since electricity, but they work. My infinity's were cheap because the next year's line of audio came out at circuit city when I bought them! __________________ '02 Explorer XLT 4.0L --Nice Vehicle '97 Saturn SL1--Soon to be ditched for a Ford!

12-13-2002, 02:53 AM	#14
Kingz1990GT Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1	Yeah i had the same problem with my head unit. Im gonna try the whole amp thing and try to get sound outa my speakers. I like my bass high. Even though i have subs im gonna pump out as much bass as possible from my front and rear speakers. I know you guys are joking and that its impossible to blow out speakers so bass away! Man im an audio genius!

12-13-2002, 03:11 AM	#15
MidNiteBlu 5.0 I got something to say Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 1,557	I wouldnt call Infinity crap but they arent the greatest. The new Kappas are pretty good though. Boston Acoustics are good but I liked my Alpine Type R components better than them. You just have to listen to your speakers before you buy them. __________________ 91 LX Hatch 5.0 - made for the twisties 89 LX Hatchback 5.0 5spd. stolen/stripped 4/7/05 http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/...splay.cgi?3494 1987 Toyota Pickup Ricer Haters Club Member #33 Want a custom gauge cluster for your Vintage Mustang? www.jmeenterprises.com

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