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Radio wiring colors

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124K views 29 replies 16 participants last post by  Pisti  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
So I was searching to find out which wires control the rear speakers and came across this site. Looks to be the same colors because I took my radio apart to check and the colors match up but not 100% cause I didn't test anything. Maybe someone can confirm.
give this a shot

  • Car Radio Battery Constant 12V+ Wire: White/Red
  • Car Radio Accessory Switched 12V+ Wire: Blue
  • Car Radio Ground Wire: BLack/Blue
  • Car Radio Illumination Wire: N/A
  • Car Radio Dimmer Wire: Violet/Gray
  • Car Radio Antenna Trigger Wire: N/A
  • Car Radio Amp Trigger Wire: N/A
  • Car Stereo Amplifier Location: N/A

  • Car Audio Front Tweeter Size: 1″ Tweeters
  • Car Audio Front Tweeter Depth: 1″
  • Car Audio Front Tweeter Location: N/A

  • Left Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): White
  • Left Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): White/Brown
  • Right Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): White/Violet
  • Right Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): White/Orange

  • Car Audio Front Speakers Size: 6″ x 8″ Speakers
  • Car Audio Front Speakers Depth: 3″
  • Car Audio Front Speakers Location: N/A

  • Left Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): White/Green
  • Left Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown/Yellow
  • Right Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Brown/White
  • Right Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown/Blue

  • Car Audio Rear Speakers Size: 6″ x 8″ Speakers
  • Car Audio Rear Speakers Depth: 3″
  • Car Audio Rear Speakers Location: N/A

  • Car Subwoofer Speaker Positive Wire (+): N/A
  • Car Subwoofer Speaker Negative Wire (-): N/A
 
#2 ·
Oh also does anyone know the correct radio wire harness to get for our vans for the aftermarket single din radio?
 
#3 ·
This email is from metro for anyone looking for the radio harness and antenna adaptor for aftermarket stereos. Hope this helps someone.

Unfortunately at this time we do not offer a dash kit for this vehicle. We do have a harness for this vehicle. You will need is the XSVI-5524-NAV. The antenna adapter is 40-EU10. Unfortunately

Anthony Crowder
Metra Tech Support
1-800-253-TECH
 
#16 ·
JAM7 said:
This email is from metro for anyone looking for the radio harness and antenna adaptor for aftermarket stereos. Hope this helps someone. Unfortunately at this time we do not offer a dash kit for this vehicle. We do have a harness for this vehicle. You will need is the XSVI-5524-NAV. The antenna adapter is 40-EU10. Unfortunately Anthony Crowder Metra Tech Support 1-800-253-TECH
Click to expand...
Hey do you by chance have or know when a 22 face plate for double din will be here?
 
T
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
JAM7 said:
So I was searching to find out which wires control the rear speakers and came across this site. Looks to be the same colors because I took my radio apart to check and the colors match up but not 100% cause I didn't test anything. Maybe someone can confirm ...

Left Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): White/Green
Left Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown/Yellow
Right Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Brown/White
Right Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown/Blue ...
Click to expand...
These are correct for the main harness on the wall near the driver's seat, though I didn't check for handedness and polarity. At the rear doors the colours are a bit different:

  • White/Green
  • Brown/Violet
  • Brown/White
  • Green/Blue

I couldn't find the connector where the colour change occurs (while moving my the rear speakers up to the partition between the cab and the cargo area).
 
I
#14 ·
tthrsn said:
These are correct for the main harness on the wall near the driver's seat, though I didn't check for handedness and polarity. At the rear doors the colours are a bit different:

White/Green
Brown/Violet
Brown/White
Green/Blue

I couldn't find the connector where the colour change occurs (while moving my the rear speakers up to the partition between the cab and the cargo area).
Click to expand...
After spending the day diagnosing a rear speaker that wasn't working I narrowed down the location where the wires to the rear speakers change color. The wires are as you describe throughout the wire bundle that runs at shoulder height along the driver's side of the van. The bundle splits at the back left corner; the LR speaker wires go into the wall, and the RR speaker wires go above the door frame. At that point the colors are the same as at the driver's door. When the LR speaker wires arrive at the connector next to the door 4 ft later, the color has changed.

I would assume the passenger side is similar, though I was primarily interested in the LR speaker as that was the one with the issue on my vehicle.
 
#5 ·
On the base radio, does anyone know where the auxiliary input comes in? The panel jack is pretty slick, I'd kinda like to use it but have no idea where it goes. Would also consider installing a nice USB input on that panel if I could. Anyone done that on an aftermarket HU?

JAM7 said:
So I was searching to find out which wires control the rear speakers and came across this site. Looks to be the same colors because I took my radio apart to check and the colors match up but not 100% cause I didn't test anything. Maybe someone can confirm.
give this a shot

Car Radio Battery Constant 12V+ Wire: White/Red
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12V+ Wire: Blue
Car Radio Ground Wire: BLack/Blue
Car Radio Illumination Wire: N/A
Car Radio Dimmer Wire: Violet/Gray
Car Radio Antenna Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Radio Amp Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Amplifier Location: N/A

Car Audio Front Tweeter Size: 1″ Tweeters
Car Audio Front Tweeter Depth: 1″
Car Audio Front Tweeter Location: N/A

Left Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): White
Left Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): White/Brown
Right Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): White/Violet
Right Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): White/Orange

Car Audio Front Speakers Size: 6″ x 8″ Speakers
Car Audio Front Speakers Depth: 3″
Car Audio Front Speakers Location: N/A

Left Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): White/Green
Left Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown/Yellow
Right Rear Speaker Positive Wire (+): Brown/White
Right Rear Speaker Negative Wire (-): Brown/Blue

Car Audio Rear Speakers Size: 6″ x 8″ Speakers
Car Audio Rear Speakers Depth: 3″
Car Audio Rear Speakers Location: N/A

Car Subwoofer Speaker Positive Wire (+): N/A
Car Subwoofer Speaker Negative Wire (-): N/A
Click to expand...
 
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#8 · (Edited)
Radio wire colors 2019 Ford Transit Sync 3 with Navigation:

Here are the confirmed radio wire colors on my 2019 Transit. There are two wires at the rear speakers which do not match the color at the radio harness as mentioned in a previous post. I also used an oscilloscope the find the level at which clipping starts at each speaker. Your radio might vary, but this can be used as a reference if you have no easy way to find the maximum undistorted volume.
 
D
#9 ·
Where were you three days ago when I was cutting the wrong wire! I foolishly assumed that the wires at the speaker would be the same color in the wiring harness just behind the B pillar, but no, they change color somewhere. Your chart is correct for the main wiring harness though. I did a continuity probe between the rear speaker jack and what I thought were the correct wires in the harness at the B pillar, but after cutting both wires it turns out one was the wrong one and I had to splice it back. One easy way to identify the rear speaker wires is both speaker pairs are twisted together to reduce interference the entire length of the harness.
 
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#10 ·
Here’s a photo from the Ford wiring diagram manual. I finally broke down and ordered one off of eBay for $50. This explains why the wire colors change. Apparently the sea pillar area is wired for speakers as well, and when the rear speaker wire passes through that area one of the colors changes.
 

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#13 ·
Thanks to everyone who contributed to these color code diagrams. I just finished creating my amp harness based on these. One note, on my 2017 van the white wires looked a lot more like yellow. Probably discoloration due to hear over the years, but it threw me off at first.
 
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#18 ·
There is a excellent chance that it is somewhere in this forum thread.

www.fordtransitusaforum.com

Double din dash kit

Hopefully they finally made one. I just ordered this and I'll let you all know if it works right. My plans are a double din kenwood with gps. This kit comes with the upper trim piece too. http://www.carid.com/metra/single-double-din-stereo-dash-kit-mpn-99-5832g.html#applications
www.fordtransitusaforum.com www.fordtransitusaforum.com
 
#20 ·
not sure if the van only can with speakers up front, but it is easy to check for them in the back doors. just have to remove the interior panels (assuming you have them). not only will you need the wires, but you also need the black plastic speaker mounting pieces...i doubt they will be there if the van didnt come with speakers. they allow you to mount a 6.5" speaker. they are available separately

now for the c pillars, if it isnt a passenger van with the full 8 speaker system, it wont have the wires (kinda but hang with me) or the mounting rings. there is a wire loop meant to cut and add the c pillar speaker terminals, but it is run in line with the rears, so if there is no wiring to the rears, then you wont have the loops for the c pillars either.

if you have the wiring and follow fords wiring diagram, they will be wired in serial (half power with double ohm load) with the rear door speakers. if using an aftermarket head unit or an amp, you would want to switch the wiring to hook them up in parallel (half ohms, but full power). this is all dependent on the amp or stereo specs for the equipment you are using

if you only have the wiring for the front speakers, i would run that signal into a nice (dont cheap out here) line out converter, into an amp, and then from the amp to the speakers...you gotta run wiring anyways and the result will be a bo-zillion time better than stock.

dont expect much out of 6.5s (even nice ones) all the way in the back of the van. that is alot of space to fill...another reason to go with an amp. but if you are looking for nice sound while camping/etc...they will be great for that

here is a thread with some info that may be helpful --> Stereo Upgrade | Ford Transit USA Forum
 
#21 ·
Thank you for the detailed response. I just insulate all doors and there are no speakers or wiring on the rear doors. I bet the radio has outputs for rear speakers, is it possible to wire the rear speakers from the radio?
 
#22 ·
Which radio is on your van? I am only really familiar with the 12" sync 4, but if I was a betting man I would guess the primary plug from the stereo (or is it APIM?) is in the same place and has all of the wiring at that point...just no wiring downstream. doe crutchfield list any install kits for your van? probably be the easiest way (and you wont have to cut the oem harness) to get wiring for the rear 4 channels.
 
#23 ·
I'm not sure which radio I have, I believe it's the OEM radio. It came with a small basic display and I upgraded it to an 8" display (came from a Ford 2018 ecosprort). Originally I had the driver and passenger door speakers and column tweeters. So is there a 3rd party harness that makes the rear speaker's wiring available? I looked at the Crutchfield website but didn't find it. Do you have the part number?
 
#24 ·
sounds like you have the 8"...you upgraded it? was it all one unit or did it have a separate apim module that all of the speaker wires came out of? the 12" head unit is actually 2 pieces

either way, this is the wiring harness i used... 2020 And UP Ford Transit / Transit Connect NON Amplified Radio Plug 'n – Plug N Play Kits

you can get just the harness or bundle in a line out converter/amp/etc.

the harness creates a "loop" so you can send the speaker level inputs (speaker wires) from the stereo to a line out converter or an amp with high level (speaker level) inputs. it then routes the amp output back to the oem harness so you get to use the oem speaker wiring. of course you dont want to amp the power to oem speakers so you use the oem wiring and upgraded speakers.

if you dont want to use and amp and just want to add speakers that will be powered by the oem stereo, and assuming there are speaker outputs for all the speaker locations from the 8" head unit you installed, you could take the output for the rear speaker on the harness i linked and route it to the rear speaker locations (installing your own wire). just make sure you use a 4ohm speaker, probably around 50w (the oem head units dont push much power...maybe 50w per channel over 4 channels)
 
#28 ·
so he has options...run speaker wires from where the oem harness terminates or run it all the way from an amp (assuming he will be using one)


Here is an idea...how about providing him some of your vast knowledge instead of just troubleshooting someone else's answers
 
R
#29 ·
You should link him to your thread and continue your conversation there since it is one of the few threads that cover the later model transits.
The only advice I can offer him here is on the transit's built before 2020 which is a different animal all together.
 
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