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Stereo head unit wiring problem

Discussion in '1st Gen Tundras (2000-2006)' started by Sampson, Jul 31, 2021.

  1. Jul 31, 2021 at 2:38 PM
    #1
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    My truck is a 2001 V8 SR5 access cab. I want to put an aftermarket head unit in it so I bought one, and I bought this wiring adapter to connect everything.

    I'm having an issue matching up the wires provided with the stereo and the wires in the wiring adapters. All of the wires match up in colour, except for two brown wires coming out of the first wiring adapter, and one orange wire coming out of the second wiring adapter. Do these wires get connected to some wires inside of the dash instead?

    I'm pretty sure I can ignore the orange wire - it has text on it that says something about "illumination". I know that the wiring adapter is made to fit a wide range of vehicles so I'm sure this orange wire is used in some other application and that's why its on there. I'm having trouble convincing myself of the same thing in regards to the brown wires, mainly since the colour brown is typically reserved for ground if I'm not mistaken. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Jul 31, 2021 at 2:45 PM
    #2
    Festerw

    Festerw New Member

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    There should have been a card with the wiring harness identifying what wire is what. On the radio harness it should be in the manual and it's typically also printed on the head unit.

    DO NOT ASSUME that because they're the same colors that they belong together. While most use the same color convention not all of them do.
     
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  3. Jul 31, 2021 at 2:53 PM
    #3
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    The only papers I have are the ones that came with the stereo. The adapters didn't arrive with any papers
     
  4. Jul 31, 2021 at 3:08 PM
    #4
    Festerw

    Festerw New Member

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    Without that you'll have to match up the factory wires on the other side of the plug unless you have a brand name on the adapter. Or you can look at other brands like Metra or Scosche and see if the wires are in the same position.

    Here's the factory wire colors.

    Screenshot_20210731-180458.jpg
     
  5. Jul 31, 2021 at 3:43 PM
    #5
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    I know that diagram should be helpful to me, but it isn't. I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking at.

    My wiring adapters look identical to this Metra product, down to color as well as positioning of wires, except that the Metra version is lacking the two mysterious brown wires that mine has - instead it has no wires in those slots. The back of the Metra packaging does list a brown wire though, and it says that it's for "phone mute". The Metra version does have the orange wire that mine has, and it also has it labelled as "illumination".

    I'm assuming that I can just terminate these 2 brown and 1 orange wires and continue with the install, no?
     
  6. Jul 31, 2021 at 3:50 PM
    #6
    Festerw

    Festerw New Member

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    I'd say that's a safe bet. To double check, plug the adapter into the factory wiring and see where those wires lead, if the spots are empty on the truck side you're set. If they aren't match the wire color on the truck side to the diagram above.
     
  7. Jul 31, 2021 at 3:56 PM
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    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    Okay, great, that makes sense. Thanks so much for the help!
     
  8. Jul 31, 2021 at 5:16 PM
    #8
    Gravy

    Gravy Cat herder, ASCM #π

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    The orange "illumination" is probably a tie in wire for your dash lights. So as you dim your dash lights, it dims the radio panel as well.

    After looking at your photo more, my guess is that the browns are the remote trigger for your amplifiers if you have them.

    All the other basic requirements for an aftermarket harness are covered.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2021
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  9. Jul 31, 2021 at 5:35 PM
    #9
    SchnauzerMan

    SchnauzerMan New Member

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  10. Jul 31, 2021 at 5:43 PM
    #10
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    So I pulled the OEM stereo out and I was met with a 20 pin harness I wasn't exactly expecting to see. Thankfully I had read about this 20 pin harness before from other people trying to swap head units. I traced the wires down into the dash and learned that I do in fact have an amplifier, even though I don't have the JBL package. Anyway, I pulled the amp out and unplugged it. As expected, my wiring adapters do fit into the harnesses that were plugged into the back of the amp, so I am able to bypass it. The only thing that has me worried is that when I matched up the pins for the two brown wires, I noticed that on the truck side, one of those pins does have a wire. Here is a picture - the two wires on the right side of the frame are the mystery brown wires. On the left you can see one wire going into the same pin as one of the browns. It appears to be white with a black stripe (maybe grey stripe?), and has silver paint marks along it

    [​IMG]

    Just for clarity sake, here is a picture of the second harness that was plugged into the back of the amp. This harness has a purple/yellow wire matching up with the wire adapter's yellow "Battery/constant 12v" wire. Does that make sense? I don't see any pinouts or anything that refer to any wires of that color.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Jul 31, 2021 at 7:29 PM
    #11
    Gravy

    Gravy Cat herder, ASCM #π

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    Good news: shit tons of wiring diagrams available for your year.
    Bad news: Amazon link to wiring harness you bought says its not compatible with factory amplified, premium, or jbl systems for your year/trim (probably usable, once you know what is doing what)

    Best bet: ask James at tech12volt, I'm sure he has a work around
     
  12. Jul 31, 2021 at 7:43 PM
    #12
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    Ah I see where I made my mistake now. Yea, I was sure I had no amp in this truck. I really should have opened up the dash before I ordered the adapter. I was able to get this pinout from the Ebay seller but it doesn't do me much good as I have no idea what any of it means. I think I should probably just buy the correct adapter. But if anyone out there is smart enough to just look at this mess and tell me which wires to swap around, that would be incredible

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Jul 31, 2021 at 8:03 PM
    #13
    Gravy

    Gravy Cat herder, ASCM #π

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    Well, too many questions without having the wiring in hand. Your giving good pics, but I'd need alot more info. Honestly, best bet is to talk to James. I've never dealt with him, but from what I've read on this forum, the man is Tundra Radio God, and he'll probably have the right harness for you to boot, if he can't tell you how to fix that one.
     
  14. Jul 31, 2021 at 10:46 PM
    #14
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    It's taken me all afternoon and most of the night, but I was finally able to find the correct wiring adapter for a non-JBL factory amplifier. It was extra difficult to find because Amazon says it is not compatible with my truck, even though there are people in the reviews that have used it on the same truck to achieve the same result that I am. Fingers crossed that this one works for me. Thanks again for the help
     
  15. Aug 1, 2021 at 7:48 AM
    #15
    weadjust

    weadjust New Member

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  16. Aug 1, 2021 at 8:44 AM
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    Festerw

    Festerw New Member

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    That's the wrong direction. That's if your factory wiring is damaged and you're replacing it to the stock radio.
     
  17. Aug 1, 2021 at 8:48 AM
    #17
    Festerw

    Festerw New Member

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    With the amp in the dash I'm pretty sure you have the correct harness, once you unplug the amp and plug it in you've bypassed it and are set.

    The other one may be if you are keeping the amp but I also vaguely recall someone having a factory amp behind the rear seat. I want to say it was @bmf4069 but I don't think that's correct.
     
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  18. Aug 1, 2021 at 11:12 AM
    #18
    bmf4069

    bmf4069 Yup, that's car parts in a dishwasher

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    Not me, mines in the dash. I do remember someone having it there though.
     
  19. Aug 1, 2021 at 12:55 PM
    #19
    weadjust

    weadjust New Member

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    Good catch. My 06 Limited with JBL system came with the amp mounted behind the back seat
     
  20. Aug 1, 2021 at 10:43 PM
    #20
    NickB_01TRD

    NickB_01TRD You don't need less cars, just more driveway.

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    You were on the right track with removing the factory amp. The harness with green, purple, and brown is for the rear speakers. Green for one side purple for the other. No need to use the brown wires just tape or cap off. Orange illumination wire probably won't change anything either so you can just cap off. I've put radios in a few different tundras and removing the amp is the way to go.
     
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  21. Aug 2, 2021 at 4:34 AM
    #21
    N84434

    N84434 In the Frozen Tundra

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    ^^^^^^ THIS^^^^^^
     
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  22. Aug 5, 2021 at 2:58 PM
    #22
    Sampson

    Sampson [OP] New Member

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    Thank you for the help man. I was just confused about the brown wires going to nowhere, and the fact that the ebay listing of that harness says it's not for use with the amplified system. All I had to do was remove the factory amp and just ignore the brown wires - they must be used in some other vehicle. The orange "illumination" wire also confused me at first but that's just because my aftermarket stereo wasn't capable of that function, so I just had to cap off the end.

    Everything is installed now and it's working perfectly. In fact, replacing the head unit also restored the connection to my driver's door speaker. I was planning on buying a new speaker because I was sure it was dead, but it's not! It sounds great!
     
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