Hey, all you 12 volt nuts! Ever try to look up a simple wiring diagram and find out there are like 25 different ones online for the same vehicle? Well that's what I'm finding out in the last few days! I tried the first one I found, which was a diagram showing the black and gray plugs from the back of the 2000 Durango I'm working on. FIRST thing I did before trying ANYTHING was to use my DMM to determine which wires were were actually constant 12v and switched 12v. The ground is easy because it's bolted to the back of the stock deck. Once I got the new Alpine all hooked up and slid it in, I had power and display and the memory held, so the 12v wires were the only ones correct! BUT NO SOUND!!! So, I pulled the Alpine back out, cut EVERY wire except the two power wires, and tested as many variations as I could with a AA battery to find a speaker, a trick I learned 30 years ago. When you find a speaker using a battery, you will hear a very slight click/pop from that speaker. I couldn't get ANY to make a noise!
So, later that night, I googled the issue and found it was VERY common, even on The12Volt forums, to find others who got no sound after they installed a new head unit on a Dodge. Seems the majority of the answers were that this was because they had a factory amp (located behind the passenger side kick panel), and all the speaker wires went to the amp before the speakers. Made a lot of sense to me! I wasn't sure if the guy I'm doing this for has a factory amp or not, but I'm now assuming he does. I'm going back in a few days to check.
Anyway, factory amp or no amp, I was overwhelmed by how darn many different stereo wiring diagrams I've been finding online for just this one same vehicle, a 2000 Dodge Durango. I copied pictures when I could, and copied others onto Word documents when they weren't in an image. So far I think I've come up with 5 to 7 different variations, all of which are drastically different! Different enough to spell trouble if connected that way! I've decided to list a few of the ones I've found, along with pictures of the actual plugs I'm working with on this vehicle in hopes that someone can maybe confirm which one is closest or even remotely correct. Any help is much appreciated.
THIS is the reason I told myself years ago that I would no longer install car stereos for other people (I only do them for friends, family and myself). I've installed more head units with and without amps in my own cars over the last 45 years than I could ever begin to count. I only started taking pictures of them in the mid 90's, so before that I lost count. And I have NEVER had even ONE deck not work fine the first time I connected it all. All the speakers worked, all the lights and displays and remote turn-ons and power antenna leads and everything. Same with amps. They have all worked fine when I put them in my own cars. BUT, it seems like more than half the stereos I go to install in other peoples' newer vehicles, like 90's cars and newer, always seem to have some kind of issue. I blame it on the wrong wiring diagrams I was provided. So, it became such a pain that I decided to not mess with other stereos, but made an exception this time for a friend.
Well, let me get to this. Here are just a handful of the several different color codes I've found online in different sites and forums, and it seems not one of them are close to the wires in my friend's 2000 Dodge Durango!
FROM ONE SITE that only listed speaker wires:
SPEAKER WIRES FROM AMP:
LF+ Green/Red
LF- Green/Black
RF+ Blue/Red
RF- Blue/Black
LR+ White/Red
LR- White/Black
RR+ Brown/Violet
RR- Brown/Green
FROM DECK WITHOUT AMP:
LF+ Green
LF- Brown/Red
RF+ Violet
RF- Blue/Red
LR+ Brown/Yellow
LR- Blue/Brown
RR+ Blue/White
RR- Blue/Orange
From The12Volt's wiring diagram files:
Constant 12v Red/Blue
Switched 12v Red/White
Illumination Black/Yellow
Dimmer Orange
Ground(to chassis) Black/Orange
LF+ Dark Green
LF- Brown/Red
RF+ Brown/Yellow
RF- Brown/Light Blue
LR+ White
LR- Dark Blue/Red
RR+ Brown/White
RR- Brown/Orange
From a post in The12Volt:
Constant 12v Pink
Switched 12v Black/Tan
Illumination White
Dimmer Not Listed)
Ground(to chassis) Black/Orange
LF+ Dark Green
LF- Brown/Red
RF+ Purple
RF- Dark Blue/Red
LR+ Brown/Yellow
LR- Brown/Light Blue
RR+ Dark Blue/White
RR- Dark Blue/Orange
Amp Turn-On Dark Green/Red
From a Dodge Wiring schematic:
Constant 12v Orange
Switched 12v Yellow
Illumination Brown/White
Dimmer (Not Listed)
Ground Dark Green
LF+ Brown/White
LF- Gray
RF+ Light Green
RF- Dark Green/Yellow
LR+ Brown
LR- Yellow
RR+ Dark Blue
RR- Light Blue
Actual colors I believe we have in THIS 2000 Durango:
BLACK PLUG FROM HARNESS, TAB UP, LEFT TO RIGHT:
Blue/Orange
Black/Green
Purple/Black
Green
Blue/White
Brown/Yellow
Green/White
GREY PLUG FROM HARNESS, TAB UP, LEFT TO RIGHT:
(Blank)
Brown/Orange
Blue/Red
White
Orange
Red/White
Pink
Seems I'm only able to upload 2 images, so I'll share the 2 pictures of the harness in this vehicle. That way, maybe someone with a better sense of colors might know what wire goes where. Oh, and I also found out that the white 2-wire plug on the back of the deck is for the steering wheel controls, but of course one site said for radio volume and another site said for CD changer controls.
I didn't even post the several images of various wiring schematics and diagrams found online because this is getting WAY too confusing! I told the guy I might just give up and let him take his Durango to a stereo installer who does this every day of the week and has a nice warm shop with archives full of schematics or has done many Durango stereos. But I haven't given lost all hope yet.
Sorry about another novel, but I wanted to be as specific as I could in hopes that someone would be able to confirm the REAL wiring schematic for this vehicle. Thanks in advance!