New cd player wont work! - Ford Forums

happycabbage · 04-07-2004, 10:32

My husband and I bought an 84 Bronco II a few months ago. For a bit of
background, it had a factory radio, not even a tape player. And it worked
fine, but didnt light up at all (neither do the floor shifter, back-up lights etc). So anyway I just installed the new cd player we bought and it wont even turn on. Nothing at all. Is it more likely to be something I did wrong or is it probably related to the whatever stopped the old radio from lighting up? I bought the kit and it was so straight forward I dont see what I could have done wrong. Fuses are fine, ground wire is nicely attached to the body and I even tried the reset button a few times. Im stumped!

Also, the repair manual says to use a 15amp fuse, but shows a 10amp in the diagram. The diagram in the truck says to use a 10amp. So which is right?

Thanks for any help,

Jessica

'92BigBronco · 04-07-2004, 15:08

If the old stereo worked, you had power. Even if you hooked everything up else wrong, if you had the positive(hot) wire and the ground properly hooked up it would at least turn on. Your best bet is to check each wire for battery voltage with a multimeter while the key is on. Mark the hot wires as key on hot and put them aside. You'll also have a constant hot for the stereo's memory. Check for the constant hot with the multimeter while the key is off. Depending on your stock speaker system, you should only have 4(2 speaker system) or 8(4 speakers) wires left in addition to the hot wires and ground.

If you don't know what wires go to which speakers, a 9 volt battery will help you track them down. With the key off, begin applying the battery voltage to different combinations of speaker wires(1 wire on the positive side and one on the negative). When you hit the right combination, you'll hear static from the speaker those wires go to. Mark them as right rear, left rear, etc. and start the process over again until you have all speakers accounted for. Any wires left over, not including the constant and key on hot and the ground should be taped off to prevent a short to ground which will most likely fry your stereo.

If you accidentally hook up a hot wire to a speaker wire, you'll blow the amp in the stereo. Sounds to me like you have either a blown fuse from a possible short or you have the hot hooked up in the wrong place. Either that or you just don't have the key on hot connected to the stereo. Double check your fuse, label your hot wires, double check your connections, and hope you didn't fry the amp.

Good luck!

Brian