Stereo Install Harness Help (3 Viewers)

[revelario]

Ok guys, just to close this thread and possibly help somebody else out in the future, here's what worked for me:

• Took a 9v battery and ran the posts against the mystery blue speaker wires that were connected to the previous aftermarket harness. Heard some statics so that confirmed these wires were going to the front door speakers. This is what I should have done from the get-go
• Spliced those janky wires (t-taps, yeah I know) to the Metra harness (I didn't want to touch the car's original harness)
• Factory amp near the glove box was still connected so I disconnected that, although I noticed that door speakers (the ones I care the most about right now) still worked when I rigged up the new harness to those existing extra speaker wires
• I disconnected the front knee-level tweeters for now to test how the new head unit drives the door speakers
• Still need to dial in the right speaker configs and whether I want an additional amp and sub

For now, I'm going to keep those janky extra speaker wires spliced to the Metra harness because I'm tired of having my LC just sitting in the garage while there's still snow on the mountains. But once I handle some other squawks, I'll tackle what's going on with the crazy wiring to the door speakers.

Shout out to the all the people who've posted install pics, shared EWDs, and threw ideas out in this thread and others.

 

[studawg]

Im having the same problem. 1996 TLC with all original 9 speaker system. New Sony head unit, Used the Metra harness, everything working fine except the front door speakers. Unplugged the amp. Wiring diagram shows the front door speakers go to the amp but also to the deck, so I think they should be working. All speakers working except front door speakers??

 

[revelario]

Im having the same problem. 1996 TLC with all original 9 speaker system. New Sony head unit, Used the Metra harness, everything working fine except the front door speakers. Unplugged the amp. Wiring diagram shows the front door speakers go to the amp but also to the deck, so I think they should be working. All speakers working except front door speakers??

I never found where the original door speaker wires were in mine. PO clearly just added additional wires to the head to power the door speakers. My rig was down for 2+ weeks so once I got those speakers working, I gave up and buttoned everything back. Once I figure out the amp situation, I’m going to investigate again.

 

[jpb24ms]

Im having the same problem. 1996 TLC with all original 9 speaker system. New Sony head unit, Used the Metra harness, everything working fine except the front door speakers. Unplugged the amp. Wiring diagram shows the front door speakers go to the amp but also to the deck, so I think they should be working. All speakers working except front door speakers??

Did you ever get your front door speakers working? I am having the exact same issue with my head unit install. All wiring is stock and I installed a Boss Apple CarPlay unit with the Metro 70-1761 harness that I had crutchfield wire up for me. With the factory amp removed, I get sound out of the rear door speakers and front knee speakers, but no sound from the front door speakers. Kind of at a loss as to what to check next.

 

[MTrun]

Did you ever get your front door speakers working? I am having the exact same issue with my head unit install. All wiring is stock and I installed a Boss Apple CarPlay unit with the Metro 70-1761 harness that I had crutchfield wire up for me. With the factory amp removed, I get sound out of the rear door speakers and front knee speakers, but no sound from the front door speakers. Kind of at a loss as to what to check next.

Two sources I have found: 1 - front speakers are original and blown. 2 - one of the speakers is shorting to ground in the door panel (if not original speakers).

 

[mightyowl]

If you're installing a factory stereo, Toyota made it idiot -proof (they call it poke-yoke). The harness connectors will only fit the stereo connectors they are intended for; if you're installing an aftermarket stereo, Metra makes a Toyota LandCruiser specific harness connector. It plugs into the factory harness and has unterminaled pigtails for the respective load leads. Your new stereo will have the wiring diagram to match the Metra pigtail.

IIRC, Metra used the standard wire colors for their pigtail, so you can almost connect it without thinking. or butchering the harness.

Crutchfield sells the Metra connector.

Metra connector doesn't have a dimmer

 

[Amarek454]

I'm having similar issue. Installed new Sony head Unit and all speakers became distorted and then blew a fuse. I will try to disconnect factory amp , replace fuse and cross fingers. But I'm pretty sure I'll be re-wiring and replacing old mismatched speakers too....

 

[ChaunceyBronson]

So I have a 97; PO had Polk crap in front doors and worse in rear…. They finally gave up. The front passenger one went with some loud noises n hiss…

While understanding there is likely a ground or something on Front passenger speaker, I investigate whilst installing new speakers.

I’ve found nothing in the way of grounded wires… at all. Chased from door factory butt connections to door, thru to truck under glove box and up to stereo…. Cannot find an issue…. I’m worried I’ll have to pull the dash to discover some chewed on wire or the like…. I think even if I were to bypass new wire to the door from the harness for example; I think the line would still be hot on other side and still ground out..

I don’t know that it’s grounding out; but it sounds like trash and like it’s competing with itself; all other speakers are great; but the dash one and the door one that are each fed from the same channel are sounding terrible…. Which to me means that the problem is at a minimum prior to the split between the two speakers….

This is making me think the metra harness (checked and even chopped and resoldered) is /was compromised, or that the cheap stereo has just given up on that channel output?? I’m more of a mechanical dude and this is really hurting my head.

Factory amp removed when speakers removed, although the causal issue was present both previous to old speaker removal, and after factory amp removal.

Opened the stereo up and it appears to be all conditions normal in there, nothing fried or blown that I can observe…

Have the alpine kt445u amp on the way and at this point it’s prob just going to complicate things.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what the issue might be from the info presented? It’s really frustrating bc the other speakers work great, and the front right two speakers, door and dash are messing up the whole thing…. I believe it to be a moot point since condition was present prior to new speakers (tho there was no condition change) but the speakers are component Focal 6.5” slims up front, and Focal 6.5” coaxial ones in rear. Focal 4” auditor coaxial speakers up at knees in dash.

Shot in the dark that someone knows the goods on this. Thanks to anyone with a meaningful insight.

 

[MTrun]

Any chance the speaker frame itself or solder points on the door speaker or grounding out to the frame? Sometimes the after marked speakers make contact that the factory did not intend. You can try removing the door card and see how the speaker sounds when it is not pressed into the door itself.

 

[ChaunceyBronson]

Any chance the speaker frame itself or solder points on the door speaker or grounding out to the frame? Sometimes the after marked speakers make contact that the factory did not intend. You can try removing the door card and see how the speaker sounds when it is not pressed into the door itself.

It’s funny bc there WAS going to such a conflict at least at the clips. But no, I have the cards all the way out and the tweeter and 6.5 both have it; then the 4” one off of the same line also has same exact presentation. It’s frustrating enough to want to just bypass from meta harness entirely. I’m not 100% clear on that being a viable solution even if I ran a whole new length of wire. Tap would be bad form I suppose; but I don’t believe it’s fire bad form issue considering how many are there related to alarm.

At any rate; I do appreciate the feedback. It seems so simple, but it’s only a free length of wire so long before it’s in the harness bundle and through the door, and mostly is unexposed in continuance.

I’m not sure what’s at the actual Y Split in the line from the factory. It’s a logical enough failure point I suppose, but it might just be factory hurried in tape also.. hard to want to cut into the harness for any reason. Thank you again tho man, best community on web for breaking down problems and solutions

 

[ChaunceyBronson]

Feel like the dash coming off is going to happen just to hand over hand troubleshoot the issue. I haven’t felt that particular joy yet.

 

[sbman]

Feel like the dash coming off is going to happen just to hand over hand troubleshoot the issue. I haven’t felt that particular joy yet.

I'm not sure how close this is to the 97 wiring, but here is a breakdown. I don't think taking the dash out is going to help. There three connectors behind the stereo.

R1A - Gray 10 pins - Connections to speakers Front Left +/-, Front Right +/-. The door and dash speaker wires are in parallel, so both lefts and both rights are connected together. All speaker connections are also connected to the OUTPUT from the factory amp. If using this 10 pin connector, amp must be unplugged or removed (as you have done).
R3B - Gray 6 pins - Connections to Speakers Rear left +/- and Rear Right +/-. The left and right door speakers are also connected to the left and right roof mounted rears if your vehicle is equipped with them. If your vehicle was equipped with the rear mounted sub woofer, these speaker connections are also connected to the rear subwoofer amp INPUT.
R2 - White? 15 pins - Runs to factory amp connector at pass side dash area, expects line level signals. No connections to speakers.

To wire and bypass the factory amp, you need a Metra 70-1761 harness.

To test the speaker wiring, unplug your stereo and any existing modified metra harness. Unplug all the speakers. Make sure the factory amp is unplugged. Make sure the factory rear mounted sub amp is unplugged (if equipped). Plug in a fresh metra harness that has not been wired up yet to R1A and R3B. With the vehicle key turned off, start at any speaker and put your meter on the 'tone' setting for continuity. First check that there is NO continuity from + to -. Then check + to the body (ground) and - to the body. Assuming none of those have continuity, then see which speaker you are connected to and check it from the speaker wire + and - to the appropriate metra harness speaker + or -. Each wire should go to one of them and one of them only. You can do this for all 8 speakers, when testing front door and dash speakers, remember they are connected together. If you've left the rear sub amp plugged in or left the roof speakers hooked up while testing, or left any other speaker hooked up or the factory amp hooked up you will not get valid test results.

Factory speakers have some crossover caps mounted to them that can cause issues. If you are replacing door speakers, dash speakers should also be replaced or unplugged. Same with rear doors, if you have the roof mounted speakers they have some crossover caps on them as well and should be unplugged if upgrading the rear door speakers.

If you put new speakers in both dash and doors remember they are in parallel so the load will be doubled for your stereo. Dual 8 ohm speakers in parallel is 4 ohms, dual 4 ohm speakers will be 2 ohms so make sure your head unit can drive the load you are putting on it.

 

[ChaunceyBronson]

I'm not sure how close this is to the 97 wiring, but here is a breakdown. I don't think taking the dash out is going to help. There three connectors behind the stereo.

R1A - Gray 10 pins - Connections to speakers Front Left +/-, Front Right +/-. The door and dash speaker wires are in parallel, so both lefts and both rights are connected together. All speaker connections are also connected to the OUTPUT from the factory amp. If using this 10 pin connector, amp must be unplugged or removed (as you have done).
R3B - Gray 6 pins - Connections to Speakers Rear left +/- and Rear Right +/-. The left and right door speakers are also connected to the left and right roof mounted rears if your vehicle is equipped with them. If your vehicle was equipped with the rear mounted sub woofer, these speaker connections are also connected to the rear subwoofer amp INPUT.
R2 - White? 15 pins - Runs to factory amp connector at pass side dash area, expects line level signals. No connections to speakers.

To wire and bypass the factory amp, you need a Metra 70-1761 harness.

To test the speaker wiring, unplug your stereo and any existing modified metra harness. Unplug all the speakers. Make sure the factory amp is unplugged. Make sure the factory rear mounted sub amp is unplugged (if equipped). Plug in a fresh metra harness that has not been wired up yet to R1A and R3B. With the vehicle key turned off, start at any speaker and put your meter on the 'tone' setting for continuity. First check that there is NO continuity from + to -. Then check + to the body (ground) and - to the body. Assuming none of those have continuity, then see which speaker you are connected to and check it from the speaker wire + and - to the appropriate metra harness speaker + or -. Each wire should go to one of them and one of them only. You can do this for all 8 speakers, when testing front door and dash speakers, remember they are connected together. If you've left the rear sub amp plugged in or left the roof speakers hooked up while testing, or left any other speaker hooked up or the factory amp hooked up you will not get valid test results.

Factory speakers have some crossover caps mounted to them that can cause issues. If you are replacing door speakers, dash speakers should also be replaced or unplugged. Same with rear doors, if you have the roof mounted speakers they have some crossover caps on them as well and should be unplugged if upgrading the rear door speakers.

If you put new speakers in both dash and doors remember they are in parallel so the load will be doubled for your stereo. Dual 8 ohm speakers in parallel is 4 ohms, dual 4 ohm speakers will be 2 ohms so make sure your head unit can drive the load you are putting on it.

This is perfect; thank you so much for taking the time to put so succinctly. The dash would have been some desperate move, and desperation as we know; is a stinky cologne. I do need to make those critical decisions along the way also. Wiring the amp will be a whole thing and this is a great accompaniment for the overall project. Seems just on load that it may behoove me to unplug the 4” ones in the dash…. If the speakers are component is that an extra extra consideration? At this point it seems getting a new deck that isn’t a cheap short term cop out (like it is) might be in order.

Beyond this, I only want to do another small amp to power a sub that’ll prob be 10” at best.

At any rate getting a HU that can handle the load (if present one cannot handle it) is a great note.

I would love to get to the set it and forget it phase of this job.

I really appreciate the time you took here for my issue, thank you so much. I’ll follow up bc it’ll be relevant to someone in 6 years or whatever
timeline. Thanks again this is great to work from.

 

[sbman]

This is perfect; thank you so much for taking the time to put so succinctly. The dash would have been some desperate move, and desperation as we know; is a stinky cologne. I do need to make those critical decisions along the way also. Wiring the amp will be a whole thing and this is a great accompaniment for the overall project. Seems just on load that it may behoove me to unplug the 4” ones in the dash…. If the speakers are component is that an extra extra consideration? At this point it seems getting a new deck that isn’t a cheap short term cop out (like it is) might be in order.

Beyond this, I only want to do another small amp to power a sub that’ll prob be 10” at best.

At any rate getting a HU that can handle the load (if present one cannot handle it) is a great note.

I would love to get to the set it and forget it phase of this job.

I really appreciate the time you took here for my issue, thank you so much. I’ll follow up bc it’ll be relevant to someone in 6 years or whatever
timeline. Thanks again this is great to work from.

I installed an 8" Rockford Fosgate 'Punch' shallow mount sub under the passenger seat in a custom box I made to hold it. I took the seat apart to make sure the box and sub would clear and fit OK, used every bit of space available under there. It's powered with a Soundstream Stealth Single Shot ST1.500D 150W amp that sits under the center console, the thing is tiny and pretty cheap.

It sounds great, is plenty of bass for my liking.