'93Explorer Sport

Did you take it out yet? If a wiring diagram is what you mean then it's (or was) attached to one of the connectors on the back of the unit. At least it was on my '91 and '92.

Thanx for the reply. I have removed the old unit to replace with an inexpensive AM/FM/CD player. I also purchased the connector accessories that would generically do Fords to this player. The problem I'm encountering is the stereo, front and back, speaker wires connector does not match the connector of the Explorer. I am butt splicing the wires, but the colored leads do not match the pairs coming off the accessories connector. There is a green. brown, yellow, purple, two blues, a white/red, and a white/orange. I've tried to guess what would match the designated pairs of the accessories connector. I did not see a diagram on the cexisting connectors. I suppose I will need to find a wiring diagram in a repair manual. But I was hoping to hear from someone that has had asimilar situation.

Do you have the radio with the "flipper" volume control? If so I don't think you can just put the other radio in and connect it to the "speaker" wires because they go to an amp, not directly to the speakers.

Thanx for the reply. The player is the High-Level Audio System which is described in the vehicle's Electronic Sound Systems operating guide. It was a great system but was damaged before I had bought the vehicle at

160000 miles. Yes, it has amps. The brochure says; "Your FORD JBL Audio System consists of Nine speakers, two each in the front doors and the rear doors or side panels (powered by a 60-watt, 4-channel amplifier), and a subwoofer speaker for superior bass performanc, located in the rear right hand quarter trim panel (powered by its own 85-watt amplifier)." Your question matched my suspicion that the wiring is going to the amps also. It would be wonderful to replace this with the same OEM system and get on with life, however, I reverted to the SOS thinking that I could save time and money by throwing in the cheap system. I'm looking for the easy solution here. Thanx for any suggestions.

I posted my experience with replacing an Explorer stereo recently. It included the brands of wiring adapters. Go to google.com/groups and search for: "explorer stereo wiring adapter" and you should find: "radio for '91 Eddie Bauer "

Once you have the wiring adapter and the release tool it's all pretty easy (expect for getting the buttons out of the rear panel to access the amp).

I'm not sure about the JBL system but my son's 92 had the midlevel ford system with an amp but no subwoofer. There is a line level adapter you can buy that lets you drop the radio speaker output down to a "line level" (much lower powered) to go to the amp input. That's what we used when we put an aftermarket radio in his. It worked ok but it didn't have as much speaker power as it should have, apparently it dropped the level a little too low. But it will prevent you from blowing out the amp input. Unless the amp is already fried and that's the problem. What some people do is just forget the existing wires and run new speaker wires from the speakers to the new radio. Others have said they uncovered the amp in the back and hooked to that set of speaker wires and took the amp out of the circuit. That would be the way it would do it if I wanted it to really work right with the least amount of work. If you do keep the amp, assuming it still works. also keep in mind that the factory radio has an "amp turn on" wire that powers up the amp when the radio is turned on. Most aftermarket radios have a wire that's for an electric antenna to make it go up. U can use that as the power for the amp. Of course you have to figure out which one of the factory wires is the right one.

If you want more info send an email to me at borgteam.... at...yahoo.com . I might be able to get you some other info.

Wow! MOst excellent info, Surf Dude. I wish I had known about carstereohelp.com long ago. The site is going to make this replacement understandable and I'll probe the site for more ideas on some future projects. I am beginning to rethink and will probably upgrade my wife's Explorer with a stereo like what you did and put the cheapy in my '86 Chevy service van. Thanx,I'm groovin' on it. (yea I'm from THAT era).

Thanx for the reply Ulysses. You might check out the message Surf Dude sent.It leads to a great web site that has great possibilities. I also have a daughter; 12 going on 16. Scares ol'Dad and makes me understand those looks from them Dads when I was the kid sniffin' around back then. She's already talkin' about "her car" and I'm teaching her a little driving on the back roads. This vehicle is our weekend fishin' vehicle and will probably be around when she gets a learner's permit. "Her car" will have to be the one with all the latest safety bags and bells and whistles; but their first wheels are usually "bumper cars" and this is a good one. I've had to give up trying to work on these newer autos; I use to like wrenchin' on my '70 Chevelle back when. I give the work to the guys that do it all day everyday and have the tools, place, and info on that particular vehicle. But it gets aggrevating to have to come up with the big bucks on each and every little thing, knowing that to get my keys back I have to pay their overhead. But I know a little about business,too. We all have to make a living. (Paid $500 to have an EGR valve and Valve gaskets put in my

2001 Saturn last week; should have signed the check Stupid.) So, I understand what ya mean about having to work on autos. I try to do the trivial stuff myself, but time is always a factor. Thanx for letting me share--have a good evening, Ulysses