1987 ford ltd crown vic w/ premium sound
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=113850
Printed Date: April 26, 2024 at 10:40 AM
Topic: 1987 ford ltd crown vic w/ premium sound
Posted By: hynch
Subject: 1987 ford ltd crown vic w/ premium sound
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 1:48 AM
I have an 87 Ford LTD CV with the Premium Sound (6 speakers + factory amp) and I am trying to install an aftermarket Pioneer. I was hoping to use the factory speakers and avoid having to rewire if possible. I have a wire harness that I purchased at Walmart. The dash unit powers up fine, but I get no sound on my speakers. I am wondering if it is a ground problem.
Any input would be awesome. :)
Replies:
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 4:55 AM
Does the Wal-Mart plug have a blue wire labeled: Power Antenna? If yes, did you connect it to the Blue/White wire of your new deck?
Posted By: tommy...
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 10:23 AM
You replaced factory radio...Everything worked before...? What is the model # off harness you bought...? Did any speakers make a muffled sound when factory radio was installed?
-------------
M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!
Posted By: Ween
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 12:35 PM
hi, was there a ring terminal (red wire?) connected to the rear of the factory radio? if so, it is the ground wire for the premium sound amplifier, needs to be connected for the amplifier to power up. m
Posted By: hynch
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 12:53 PM
i am an idiot wrote:
Does the Wal-Mart plug have a blue wire labeled: Power Antenna? If yes, did you connect it to the Blue/White wire of your new deck?
Yes I did. The wire harness connects to a Pioneer specific harness and I checked all the cables to ensure they are paired up correctly.
tommy... wrote:
You replaced factory radio...Everything worked before...? What is the model # off harness you bought...? Did any speakers make a muffled sound when factory radio was installed?
Yes everything worked fine before. The harness is a Metra 80-1770. It was the only one they had that fit a Pioneer wire harness. The speakers make no sound at all.
ween]w wrote:
s there a ring terminal (red wire?) connected to the rear of the factory radio? if so, it is the ground wire for the premium sound amplifier, needs to be connected for the amplifier to power up.
No, I do not recall a ring terminal.
Posted By: tommy...
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 1:10 PM
The blue wire off of radio is showing 12 volts w/ radio on...? On the black plug in car...How many wires are going into the back of harness{the speaker harness}?
-------------
M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!
Posted By: tommy...
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 1:16 PM
sometimes there is a bad speaker and you dont notice w/ factory...replace stereo w/ after marketand get no sound b/c of bad speaker...you can remove leads one by one untill you get sound or take all of and put pair together... listen...take off... try another pair. ------------- M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!
Posted By: hynch
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 3:44 PM
tommy... wrote:
The blue wire off of radio is showing 12 volts w/ radio on...? On the black plug in car...How many wires are going into the back of harness{the speaker harness}?
There are 5 wires. Speaker Harness.
Upon further inspection there was a ring terminal from the amp. It had slid back behind the dash. I grounded it to the chassis and the speakers "pop" when powering on the dash unit. I assume it is just the amp is firing up. Still no sound though. I am thinking the speakers are wired in an odd way. Gotta love Ford.
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Try connecting one of the aftermarket radios speaker wires to a known good speaker to make sure there is output coming from the deck.
Posted By: burns25
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 5:06 PM
That speaker harness you have has the common ground premium system. Two choices, find the amp and bypass it or run new wires from the speakers. It's been a while, but I know that on the mustangs the amps are right there by the radio and you can just unhook the output of the amp plug and it is just a 1770 harness. Truth be told I really can't remember, but it's worth a shot looking for the amp and see if it has the plug.
Posted By: Ween
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 5:08 PM
with five wires at the output of the radio, or to the input of the amp, the factory radio is common ground. your aftermarket headunit may not be, most aren't these days. you'd probably be best in bypassing the premium sound amplifier. have to remember where the amp is on that model...either trunk or center of dash panel, at the top. m
Posted By: tommy...
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 5:53 PM
beat me to it...sounds like the only wires in speaker harness is the + wires...well, sounds like its time to run some wire...which is probably not a horrible thing...you can use a fairly small wire...might as well look into upgrading speakers why you are in there... ------------- M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 6:09 PM
It looks like the WHITE/ Red wire is a larger wire that the other 4. Is this so? If it is larger than the other 4, chances are it is the ground and the others are the positives for the 4 channels. Now that you have the amp turning on, it should be pretty easy to figure it out. Using a 1.5Volt battery, AA AAA C or D battery and a short length of speaker wire, we can figure it out. Strip both ends of both the positive and negative speaker wire, insert one end into the harness, one on the larger wire (If it is larger). Turn the ignition on and turn on the aftermarket radio. Unplug the aftermarket radio from the speaker harness. Now touch and hold one wire to one terminal of the battery, now touch the other wire to the other end of the battery, it should make a speaker pop. Notice which one pops. Label that wire as that speaker. Repeat for the other 3 wires. If all of the wires are the same size, get some help and stick the wires into any 2 of the slots of the harness that are occupied with a wire. Touch to the battery, if more than 1 speaker pops, you have the positive for those 2 speakers. Once you figure out which wire is the ground for all 4 inputs, do not connect it to any negative speaker wire. Ground it to ground. Insulate all speaker negative wires of the radio and do not connect any of them to anything. Let me know what you find out.
Posted By: hynch
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 6:19 PM
i am an idiot wrote:
It looks like the WHITE/ Red wire is a larger wire that the other 4. Is this so? If it is larger than the other 4, chances are it is the ground and the others are the positives for the 4 channels. Now that you have the amp turning on, it should be pretty easy to figure it out. Using a 1.5Volt battery, AA AAA C or D battery and a short length of speaker wire, we can figure it out. Strip both ends of both the positive and negative speaker wire, insert one end into the harness, one on the larger wire (If it is larger). Turn the ignition on and turn on the aftermarket radio. Unplug the aftermarket radio from the speaker harness. Now touch and hold one wire to one terminal of the battery, now touch the other wire to the other end of the battery, it should make a speaker pop. Notice which one pops. Label that wire as that speaker. Repeat for the other 3 wires. If all of the wires are the same size, get some help and stick the wires into any 2 of the slots of the harness that are occupied with a wire. Touch to the battery, if more than 1 speaker pops, you have the positive for those 2 speakers. Once you figure out which wire is the ground for all 4 inputs, do not connect it to any negative speaker wire. Ground it to ground. Insulate all speaker negative wires of the radio and do not connect any of them to anything. Let me know what you find out.
Thanks for the write up. It started pouring down rain so I will have to put this test off until tomorrow. I don't have a nice shop to work in. :( From what I can tell though, the red wire is the same size as the rest. I will play around and find the ground. Thanks a ton. :)
Posted By: hynch
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 7:46 PM
The rain let up and I got out there messing with it. The black wire is the ground. It is thicker, though you can't tell it in the picture. My iPhone camera isn't too spectacular.
The wire harness is wired correctly, I just had to cut the lead that was going to the ground wire and connect it to the chassis. Stereo works great and sounds awesome. Thanks again for the help.
Now I just have to buy a install kit so it will fit in there. :)
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: May 17, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Glad to help.
Posted By: tommy...
Date Posted: May 18, 2009 at 7:24 AM
i absolutely ,positively did not know you could do that...WOW...if i could have all those hours back...ok...lets say its an aerostar w/ head-phone jack in rear...front have positive/negative ...rear is common ground...this same thing will work im assumming...I LOVE THIS SITE...JUST PLAIN LOVE IT...THERE IS NOTHING THAT COMPARES...
-------------
M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: May 18, 2009 at 8:25 AM
Sorry Tommy, I have not encountered one of those vehicles. They have done many of them here, they all whine about having to run wires to the speakers. If you are trying to get the headphones working, and you know which wires are for the headphones, You can do it kind of the same way. Only difference is you need to install a 1 microfarad non-polarized capacitor in series with the positive speaker wires. And ground the common wire going to the headphone jack. As far as the speakers, they will work like this but you will need a much larger capacitor. Do not connect the radios negative wires to anything, insulate them and leave them disconnected. He has an amp with a common ground input. You have speakers with a common ground setup.
Posted By: tommy...
Date Posted: May 18, 2009 at 6:30 PM
plethora of knowledge...as always...Thank You for making my life easier... 
------------- M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!
|
