Radio Wiring Questions

[Gary Lewis]

Kyle/First Today called a bit ago asking about the wiring for his father's radio in his '83.  I pointed him to the 1981 EVTM as I was out and about.  But, about the time I got home he sent a text with a picture that shows his wires don't match the EVTM.  So, after a round with the plumbing so we could flush the toilets, I pulled Dad's radio and checked it wires with those of the EVTM.  Turns out they don't quite match either, but I think the differences are errors in the EVTM.

So, I put together a spreadsheet to show the differences in Dad's 1981 to the 1981 EVTM and Kyle's 1983 to the 1981 EVTM.  Basically:

Dad's: The EVTM omits the "hash" term on two of the wires, which clearly have hashes on Dad's radio

Kyle's: His differs  in that the speaker minus wire is apparently Bl/R, although I'm not sure about the red; the Orange wire appears to have no other color, although I can't tell for sure; his power wire is yellow, and he has an additional red wire that is probably the keep-alive, meaning always hot.

So, if those differences exist, then what others are out there?  Can people chime in with how their stock radio wiring differs and what year it is?  I'd like to add columns to the table and post it in the electrical section of the website.

[First Today]

Gary, mine are as follows

   power plug:  Yellow with black hash marks
                      Orange with Silver hash marks
                      Blue with a solid Purple stripe

   Speaker plug: Pink with Green spiral
                        Pink with Blue spiral
                        White with Green hash marks
                        Orange with Silver hash marks
                        Blue with Purple stripe


The old radio has knobs and I am putting in a single DIN radio. It looks as if I have to run constant power from the memory wire to the light Green wire for the lights. Keyed power has to go to the Yellow/black hash wire on the power plug. Ground goes to possibly the Blue/purple stripe on the power plug. The Orange/Silver will not be used.


On the speaker plugs you have 4 positive speaker wires and a common ground wire. (Blue/Purple stripe)

When I checked the other 2 wires on the power plug, neither were a constant or keyed hot. Only Yellow/Black hash is keyed power.

I think it will work this way, I just think it is odd that the colors in EVTM and other sources on the web do not list these wire color codes.

[85lebaront2]

Ok, I just looked at the 1986 EVTM, specifically the non-electronic tuned radio (what Darth came with).

Power plug (C333)
yellow/black - Power in run or acc
light blue/red - instrument lights
light green/yellow - constant 12V feed

Speaker plug (C522)
orange/light green - left front speaker +
pink/light green - left rear speaker +
white/light green - right front speaker +
pink/light blue - right rear speaker +
black/white - all speakers ground

If only two speakers were used (Darth had no factory rear) then front and rear on each side were jumpered together at the dash plug. The four speaker setup was for Broncos only. pink/light blue - white/light green and pink/light green - orange/light green.

[PetesPonies]

Although it says for the E series, not F , chances are these colors would be correct

[vjsimone]

FYI - 83' EVTM

[FuzzFace2]

Don't know how I did not see this.
I have a little information from my 81 F100 that I posted when trying to figure out some wires in the dash radio area and posted some place else.

4 wire harness (I have found they are for speakers)
2 black/white dash - speaker grounds?
1 orange/green dash - left speaker?
1 white/green dash - right speaker?


Brown plug connector 3 wires:? (I don't know if this is for radio or not?)
 2 black to the same spade in connector
 1 red/green stripe



Next time I am in the dash or in the garage I will give a closer look now that I know what some of the wires go to. I can not put power to them yet.
Dave ----

[PetesPonies]

Was this premium sound or no?

[FuzzFace2]

PetesPonies wrote

Was this premium sound or no?

On mine?
I cant say for sure as it is from my parts truck (81 F100 Ranger) and the radio & HVAC control panel was "ripped" out taking part of the dash with it that I had to fix.
The truck was also missing the doors but from what I can tell it had speakers in the doors as the speaker wires, cut at radio end (along with the HVAC wires), trace down to the kick panel areas and the colors match the decoding page.

I don't know what that brown plug with the 2 black wires and the other color wire is to yet?
I also think and maybe this was later years, there was a clock option that was above the radio and this plug/wires could be for that?

Someday I would like to install a radio and have it feed off the stock factory wiring if I can.
Dave ----

[FuzzFace2]

As cold as it was in the garage (34*, 30* oat) I did a little digging for other wires.
I have no clue if any of them are for a radio or not.

I found a 3 prong plug with 4 wires in it.
2 - Black / Blue stripe
1 - Brown
1 - Red / Pink stripe

I also find 1 cut wire in the area.
Blue / Red stripe {edit: in post above it said this was dash lights?}

Dave ----

[PetesPonies]

Premium Sound meant there was an amplifier, small as it was. The wiring was different for that, like the info I posted.

[FuzzFace2]

PetesPonies wrote

Premium Sound meant there was an amplifier, small as it was. The wiring was different for that, like the info I posted.

I don't think this had that system but again this was all from my parts truck and the radio/HVAC control panel was removed (partly ripped out) so I don't really know.
Dave ----

[PetesPonies]

Point is, it might be why the simple speaker wires , aren't so simple, with a leftover plug. Just a thought.

[Gary Lewis]

Here's all I know about radio wiring for these trucks.  From the 1981, 1984, 1985, and 1986 EVTM.