what do the colors mean?

Typically, this is the following scheme:

Blue = remote antenna Red = positive (+12 V) Black = ground (also grounded through chassis of stereo) Orange = dim Yellow = battery backup (+12V trickle current)

Speakers are in pairs Green and green/black wire, purple and purple/black, white and white/black, grey and grey/black. I don't remember which is left, front, right, or rear - you can also probably call Circuit City or someone and they can offer you more help.

Merci Jeff

The wiring harnesses probably didn't match up, esp. if he used an aftermarket, non saturn, radio thus making splicing necessary. Can't you just match up the colors? You're putting a Saturn radio back in, so all the wires should match right up.

Weird he didn't use a harnass adapter - they're cheap and common.

I looked in my Chilton's and found everything but the radio wiring. Then I found my old instructions from Crutchfield. This doc is dated

Note - this is for a 1997 SL-2

POWER yellow 12 volts constant red 12 volts switched blue power antenna orange/white dimmer black chassis ground

FRONT SPEAKERS gray right front speaker positive gray/black right front speaker negative white left front speak positive white/black left front speaker negative

REAR SPEAKERS green left rear speaker positive green/black left rear speaker negative violet right rear speaker positive violet/black right rear speaker negative