I can't get no flippen sound!

I hooked everything up according to the AVIC-Z1 manual and used my 1998 Explorer shop manual to sort out the proper speaker wires. It powers up fine, I have a great GPS signal and my bluetooth module is being detected.

The only two wires that I have not yet hooked up are the parking brake wire and the reverse detection wire, but I can't hardly believe that this would prevent me from hearing sound. I tried playing a CD and Local FM Stations but no such luck. The only sound I hear on ths unit is the hum of the motor.

Unfortunely I crimped and heatshrinked the speaker wires during install. I can pull them apart and start over but after reviewing my installation, I see no other way of hooking the speaker wires up.

By the way, my Explorer has the rear integrated control panel which allows rear passengers to scan stations and control the volume from the back of my center console but this no longer works either.

Also, when I cut the harness that went into my factory stereo, I did not wind up using all of the wires, I used only the speaker wires. I did not understand the descriptions of the remaining unused wires of the harness. The harness had 16 wires total. 8 of them were the Front & Rear speaker wires. The remaining 8 wires that I did not use are described as follows:

1. Audio Protocal A

2. Audio Protocal B

3. ASYS On

4. CD Right (-)

5. CD Right (+)

6. CD Left (-)

7. CD Left (+)

8. Ground (Shield)

I would greatly apprecate any and all input. Also, if I could possibly call someone to help me troubleshoot the problem, I would be very grateful and would be more than happy to pay for the call. You can email your phone number to me at: [email protected]

Thanks in advance for everyone that helps.

By the way, it looks friggin awesome, I just wish I could friggen hear it.

Cheers,

Kevin

There's different models of stereos for the 98. Some have an additional amp. There may be extra wiring needed.

You may need to turn on the factory amp, which as I remember is a dark blue wire, +5-12v. The other wires you mentioned are for the rear entertainment and optional cd changer only. I may be wrong about the color, so check your shop manual again. A +5v trigger is all that is needed, as a full +12v may cause a 'thump' when the system turns off and on. Use a resistor to bring the voltage down, if necessary.

Thank you Itchy and Jimmy303. I will play around with this tonight and try to figure it out. Does anyone know if I can still utilize any of the stereo controls of the rear console? If so, what would be the wiring configuration? Also, where do I tap into the speed sensor on my Explorer for the pink wire of the AVIC-Z1?

Cheers,

Kevin

By the way, there is also a second harness that I failed to mention in my first post. This second harness also connected to the factory radio. It has an 8-Pin connector and the wires are as follows:

1. Logic Mute (Drk blue)

2. NOT USED

3. Ground (Blk/Grn)

4. NOT USED

5. Lamp Feed (Red/Blk)

6. Ignition/Accsy (Yel/Blk)

7. Ground (Blk)

8. Power -Full Time (Grn/Pnk)

I used pins 3, 5, 6 and 8 from this harness for the hookup of the AVIC.

Jimmy303 mentioned in one of the replies that possibly a dark blue wire runs the factory amp. Is this maybe pin 1 (Logic Mute) from the factory harness?

By the way, I'm curious as to why I would I need to trigger the factory amp if the AVIC already has a built-in amp? Just asking.

Again, I look forward to all your replies.

Cheers,

Kevin

Jimmy303,

I forgot to ask, if the dark blue wire is the correct wire for the amp, how do I use this wire to turn the amp on? Do I hook this wire up to the accessory hot?

Kevin

If you're to turn on the factory amp, use the remote turn on wire from the avic.

It's been a couple years but I recall installing an avicd1 to a 98 eddie bauer explorer. that one had the premium system w/ the subwoofer, but no rear controls. anyway, I used the remote turn on wire to turn on the stock subwoofer amp.

Okay,

If I do use the factory amp, would this mean that I am not using the amp from the AVIC-Z1 at all? If so, is there a way to by-pass the shitty factory amp and use the one integrated in the AVIC-Z1?

Also, I read in the Ford Explorer Forum that the drk blue mute logic wire does trigger the amp and that it should be hooked up to a wire that goes hot when the ignition is on? Does this make sense? If I do this, than I am using the factory amp aren't I?

Maybe I should just use the factory amp. After all, it is supposed to be a "Premium Sound" system.

All of this thinking is making my head fall off...

premium sound systems in vehicles usually make upgrades more painful.

If you can, try to bypass the factory amp for your 4 channels. Get the color coding of the speaker wires going from the amp to each door, and make that splice into the 4 channel output of the Z1. The pioneer probably produces better sound than the factory amp.

Do you have a factory subwoofer? You may want to use the factory amp for that alone and connect it to your subwoofer preout on the Z1.

I guess I know of no way to by-pass the amp and since the amp is located at the rear passenger quarter panel, I would have to route all new speaker wires from the AVIC (located at the front of the vehicle) to the rear, in order to tap into the speaker harness that I pull from the factory amp. And I just don't have the energy to do this.

If I come up with a by-pass solution, I will post it here.

I still have to figure out where to tap into the speed sensor. I think it is located in the PCM on the firewall.

Kevin

Did the factory plug look like this

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... _400739497

or did it have a gray plug like in this picture

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... _400607077

If it looked like the first plug, then there should be a gray/black wire in a secondary plug and that's your vss. Otherwise you'll have to go to the pcm under the hood on the passenger side of the firewall and it's the same color there.

I have a factory amp in my 97 explorer located in the rear cargo area under the plastic moulding on the passenger side. My installer ran new wires from my N3 to the factory amp. Im clueless to this, but he said it was necessary to do to have audio.

I have a factory amp in my 97 explorer located in the rear cargo area under the plastic moulding on the passenger side. My installer ran new wires from my N3 to the factory amp. Im clueless to this, but he said it was necessary to do to have audio.

If you have the exploder with the factory sub in the cargo area then yes that is nesseccary.

Thank you all for your imput. I took bits and pieces from everyone who responded and did some thinking. And after about a half hour of unscrewing several items in order to remove the plastic quarter panel, I exposed the cheap, ugly, wimpy looking Ford amp.

The amp, which IS in fact located in the rear cargo area on the passenger side, has an input and an output harness. All I had to do was pull out both harness connectors from the amp, snip all the wires from both connectors, and join the two harnesses back together using my shop manual of course, to decipher the correct speaker wires on each harness. So fortunately,vI did NOT have to run all new wires. Of course, they couldn't make things easy and just make the wire colors the same on each harness so they would correspond with each other.

By the way, I just found out that METRA makes an amp by-pass harness with connectors on both ends that would connect the old amp's input and output together. Just 2 clicks and you're done. Using this harness would have prevented me from snipping and joining harnesses together. But I did not want to order one and wait on it to arrive. Best Buy sells this by-pass connector for $19.99 but the nearest Best buy to me is 45 miles away.

Anyway, I did it the hard way and it is a done deal and I now have sound. Which made me realize that I need some better speakers; the factory speakers sound like shi*t. This will be a new topic for my next post. "Which speakers should I buy for my 98 Ford Exploder Sport"?

Thanks again to all, and to all a good night!

Cheers,

Kevin

cntrylvr79,

When you posted the links to the pictures of those connectors, and asked if my factory connector looked like one or the other, were you referring to my factory stereo connectors? If so, it looks more like the 2nd gray connector, which leads me to believe that I'll have to access the wire from the PCM on the firewall under the hood.

By the way, are the wires visible and accessible after I unbolt the PCM from the firewall?

Thanks for letting me know the wire color. I appreciate it. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's pin 58. I'll have to look in my shop manual again.

Kevin

cntrylvr79,

 

When you posted the links to the pictures of those connectors, and asked if my factory connector looked like one or the other, were you referring to my factory stereo connectors? If so, it looks more like the 2nd gray connector, which leads me to believe that I'll have to access the wire from the PCM on the firewall under the hood.

 

By the way, are the wires visible and accessible after I unbolt the PCM from the firewall?

 

Thanks for letting me know the wire color. I appreciate it. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's pin 58. I'll have to look in my shop manual again.

 

Kevin

I believe the wiring can be reached without unbolting the pcm. Though doing that would give you a bit more room work. Yes the vss should be in pin 58 or 68 don't remember exactly at the moment.

I recall getting the VSS from behind the gauge cluster. It's a bit more work, but was also a good opportunity to replace burned out dash bulbs.