Community Forums

Dacarter · 04-27-2021, 06:05 PM

I have a 1994 F53 chassis and I am updating the dash radio. I am just trying to locate color codes for wiring. if anyone can steer me in the right direction, this will be appreciated.

subford · 04-27-2021, 07:20 PM

The Radio feed should be labeled. All the rest of the Radio wires would be installed by the coach builder. You did not say who that was.

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John Hilley · 04-27-2021, 09:15 PM

Just cut the cable near the back of the old radio and then splice the cable that came with the new radio to the old cable color for color.

The chassis manual from Ford will show the radio fuse for the coach builder.

GypsyR · 04-28-2021, 08:45 AM

On my 1993 someone clipped the wiring when they yanked the radio. I had a heck of a time figuring out the wiring. Power and ground were easy enough but the speaker wiring is just completely arbitrary and follows no Ford or aftermarket convention at all.

If you have the pigtail with wire colors from the original aftermarket radio the wiring is easy. I even know it off the top of my head. Green and green/black=LR. Purple and purple/black RR. White and White/black LF. Gray and gray/black RF. Red is switch ignition power, yellow "clock" or battery power. Blue for an amp or power antenna positive lead. Some have more that you'd want to look up, like orange for dimming the lights along with the cluster.

I was able to find my speaker wires by trial and error. What really threw me is they used the very outdated common ground method for them. Each speaker wire had an individual wire to it but all shared the same ground. Iffy. Modern stuff all gives each speaker it's own separate ground. On the aftermarket stuff those wires are the colored ones with the black stripes.

Dacarter · 04-29-2021, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GypsyR

On my 1993 someone clipped the wiring when they yanked the radio. I had a heck of a time figuring out the wiring. Power and ground were easy enough but the speaker wiring is just completely arbitrary and follows no Ford or aftermarket convention at all.

If you have the pigtail with wire colors from the original aftermarket radio the wiring is easy. I even know it off the top of my head. Green and green/black=LR. Purple and purple/black RR. White and White/black LF. Gray and gray/black RF. Red is switch ignition power, yellow "clock" or battery power. Blue for an amp or power antenna positive lead. Some have more that you'd want to look up, like orange for dimming the lights along with the cluster.

I was able to find my speaker wires by trial and error. What really threw me is they used the very outdated common ground method for them. Each speaker wire had an individual wire to it but all shared the same ground. Iffy. Modern stuff all gives each speaker it's own separate ground. On the aftermarket stuff those wires are the colored ones with the black stripes.

This is pretty much how I did it. The rear speakers in the bedroom needed to be paired with the front ones for one leg. I really don't like that but is what it is for now. I got it done. Alpine deck installed with Bluetooth. Thanks all.

THenne1713 · 04-30-2021, 01:24 PM

BUY an adapter, leave OEM plug untouched, adapter labeled and radio plug labeled, easy match

THenne1713 · 04-30-2021, 11:03 PM

https://www.bing.com/search?q=1994-1...8B06AD9B4C8A83

GypsyR · 05-01-2021, 10:39 AM

Yeah, too late. He's already finished it.
There was no "OEM" plug on mine as it never had a "Ford" radio. Nor did the OP's. That info on using a wiring adapter might apply to a class C but not the F53's under discussion here. I do have to say that when such an adapter can be used it is indeed THE way to go. It's makes a tedious job ever so much more simple.