Do you know this plug? [Electrical Mystery]

Under the dashboard on driver side, I have a 1.2 amp parasitic draw.

The draw stops when I unplug Rad No. 3 fuse. I also found the draw present around this connector. Removing rad no 3 fuse stops the draw at the connector so well, but here's the weird part: when I unplug it my engine slowly dies!!
Seems so dang weird.

Just wondering what is everything that this connector is connecting??

 

Did your truck come equipped with two package, i.e. OEM trailer hitch and a 7-wire (not 4/5 wire) plug out back?

Because that looks to me like it's related to OEM trailer wiring.

One way to confirm is to take your DMM and confirm power to the rear lights/trailer receptacle. Then unplug it and repeat the test.

 

It did come with that, I'll check that out thanks

 

The RAD No. 3 fuse goes straight to the radio and nothing else that I can see...
IDK why the engine would die.
Are you running an after-market HU?

 

All stock now, but the issue happened after I put some new speakers in, figured it was the speakers so swapped OEM back in, still bad lol.

Hmm yeah, weird too cuz the only junction connector listed down the line from rad no3 is that j60, but this doesn't look like the j60.
I'm trying to find what that connector is so I can trace it back now.

I also found that the upper-left most wire (red w black line) is hot, so that's the issue. Looks like that's the one going to the amp?

 

Seems that connector is IL2

Let me dig around and see what I can find.

 

Ah yes, thanks! so number 3 of IL2 is my issue. That going to the amp?

Now I'm just trying find other stuff that is engine related to see why it dies out on me out of curiosity lol

 

Ah okay I think I got all I need now. Red/Black coming from that is hot, going to my amp, that's my draw.

Engine dying is probably this: my fuel pump relay is grounded at the L side of the center column. Weird, but would explain it.

Thanks for the help!

 

Pin 1 fuel pump
That explains why the engine dies when you unplug it.


Pin 2 red/black - trailer socket and truck backup lights




You're right
Pin 3 to the amp, not the HU


Pin 4

Pin 5 tail light illumination (parking lights) trailer socket


Pin 6 blue - trailer socket battery



Pin 7 cargo light



Pin 8 rear window defogger


I can't find what the big thick red wire on the 4 pin is...

 

Glad to see you got it figured out..
I wonder why the amp is drawing power.
Weird it happened after the speaker change..

 

Yeah, only thing I could think is that The speakers I put in had a different impedance, and I just cut the wires to the mid-range so no mid-range speakers. I'm thinking it just fried something in there? Idk, now that the amp is bad I'm pretty sure I'm just going to go through the whole system and replace everything haha

 

Just throw a modern HU in it, and get the appropriate harness to bypass the amp. It's a win-win situation. I can hook you up with all the info you need, it's in the 'new buyer' sticky thread, in the audio section.

I can't imagine why it would short anything, but the amp is on the driver's side, back wall, behind the back wall panel.

 

Big red wire is pin 8, since it’s rear window defogger, draws lots of current!

Wrong, looked at wrong picture, take my ass back to watching football

Pin four is for towing/trailer brakes.

 

Good tip, just found out about the bypass recently. Will a modern hu run 8 speakers without an amp better than a stock setup? If I'm gonna replace stuff I wanna upgrade my sound. I'll check out the threads soon but figured I'd ask.

 

Audio technology has progressed markedly in the last ~20 years, so I'd say "yes".

And honestly, even if you just went with a setup like this, with a piggy-back amp (there are a few brands making small in-dash-sized amps like this, higher-end names like MB Quart as well), you can even drive subs and such, and everything remains contained behind the dash.

I'm currently running that specific iLX model in my truck, with 6 speakers, and it has plenty of power. It's not my end game, I have a 5 channel JL amp waiting in the wings for me to wire up, along w/2 low profile 8s in back.

Crutchfield has extremely competitive pricing and will help fill in all the blanks necessary to give you the extra harnesses and adapters you need for plug-and-play, without asking. And you get limitless phone support to boot. Can't recommend them enough. Even if you just call their sales people to help piece together the order and you try to go somewhere else that won't do the legwork or give you the phone support.

 

I only had 4 speakers in my 2005 DC, and none on the dash.
What are the 8; 4 door speakers each with a tweeter, or speakers in the dash?

I had three amps under the front seat and a custom 10" sub box.
But I had a bench seat.

 

Yeah the JBL system has 2 rear door, 2 low end fronts with 2 mids in the doors, and 2 tweeters up on the A pillar

 

Maybe a decent 3 way component set for the front and coaxial for the rear.
As @shifty` stated, a decent aftermarket HU is going to push around 22 RMS watts.
If you're going to start messing with audio, I'd get a 5-channel amp since you'll end up wanting a sub enclosure before it's all said and done..

There is a thread or 2 on guys using the under-seat storage area for a subwoofer enclosure.

 

Oh ok yeah cool, I'll probably end up doing that, I think a 10" with a really small box would fit under my passenger back seat. And then I'll just throw a 5 channel where the old amp was.

 

Just an update if anyone's curious. Narrowed it down to the amp, definitely something shorting in there. There's continuity between the top power pins to every other pin on there for the outgoing signals to the speakers.

 

Now you have a great excuse to go overboard modernizing the audio!

 

Personal opinion, but the amp bypass wiring is a pain in the butt. I think it'd be easier to just rewire new speakers. Get good components up front, decent coaxial in rear and new head unit and it will sound a million times better than the factory system.

I got all of the speaker brackets from crutchfield and it was easy to install the new speakers.

 

How do you reckon?

I just unplugged the negative battery cable, unplugged my seat, took 4 seat bolts out, popped off a sill plate, lifted the carpet and slid the wires into place before plugging in everything behind the head unit. It took 30, maybe 45 minutes start to finish.

I know you guys with DC may need to pop off the rear panel to access the amp, but ... running new wires from the head unit, through each side of the dash, fishing through the door grommet, popping off both front door cards/panels, tying off and routing to each speaker, then running wires under the carpet to the B-pillar to run through the rear door grommets, popping off the rear door cards/panels, routing to each speaker ... that's like at least 2hrs labor, even for a professional. And lots of plastic snaps to break on the door cards, which you need to replace later if you don't have on-hand. And no clean route to run the wires under the dash.

Honestly, with the bypass kit, you could probably just fish the between the OEM amp plug and the head unit using a rod or bendy plastic without removing anything, but I wanted to tuck my stuff away neatly, so I popped the seat out to trace along the OEM cable tray at the base of the center console.

 

The DC amp is in the back of the cab behind the back seat so you have to run the wires from the back of the cab to behind the dash, and the door cards have to come off anyway to replace the speakers. I just remember with all the wire fishing I had to do I wished I had just run new wire and not messed with the bypass kit.

 

Finished my install about yr or so ago via Crutchfield purchase. As mentioned, they are great to work with. As far as your question, my 04 DC LTD had JBL system and since they use 2 ohm speakers, chose to get new 4 ohm speakers all around. The amp bypass Crutchfield fixes up for ya installed easy peazy along the drvr door floor panel. The cable harness taped up was only about 1/2 diameter and fit nicely with old harness that I chose to leave in place in case there is a future owner. Their cable simply plugs into the speaker cable output of amp, unplug input to amp and rock away.

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Mine was under the passenger seat, so similar path for me. I've installed my fair share of systems for customers. I prefer easy, plug-and-play. Main reason I went with the kit. OEM wire is ample if you're not intending to compete in IASCA.

OP doesn't necessarily need new speakers; just a new, modern, name-brand head unit would make a massive difference. Especially if he's running the OEM JBL system, JBL's OEM drivers are great, and the lower driver impedance will definitely kick that head unit into high gear. I typically use JBL for my mid/high drivers, they're one of the few vendors who sell component kits at 3ohm.