[Douglystyles]

douglystyles Says: 01:41 AM


I have searched High and low, but can not find an answer to this question

I recently bought a new deck, and removed the stock 6 disk changer on my 2003 Forester (its the premium sound set up with stock under the seat sub). I also bought a wire harness that allowed me to connect my new deck to the stock harness no problems, all wires matched up.

When i pulled the original deck, there were 4 main "connections", 2 of which are easily identifiable. 1st, the stock harness plugged into the deck, duh. 2nd the plug in for the antenna, again, duh.

There are two lone wires that i have been struggling to figure out what they are. First is a black wire with a yellow stripe that plugs into the lower left part of the stock unit. The second is a grey wire that was screwed in (via an "o" connector) to the mounting bracket on the side of the stock unit.

The main question is, the black wire I assumed would be ground, as it usually is, but if thats the case, its it a ground wire for something else (because there is a ground wire on the wire harness for the stereo). If it is a ground, should I just spice it into the radios ground?

And what the hell is that grey wire for? And why is it connected to the outside of the stereo?

Does the description make sense or should i try to put up some pics?

Thanks a bunch for any info!!

 

[dave5358]

I recently bought a new deck, and removed the stock 6 disk changer on my 2003 Forester (its the premium sound set up with stock under the seat sub). I also bought a wire harness that allowed me to connect my new deck to the stock harness no problems, all wires matched up.

So far, so good.

When i pulled the original deck, there were 4 main "connections", 2 of which are easily identifiable. 1st, the stock harness plugged into the deck, duh. 2nd the plug in for the antenna, again, duh.

Again, right on target.

There are two lone wires that i have been struggling to figure out what they are. First is a black wire with a yellow stripe that plugs into the lower left part of the stock unit. The second is a grey wire that was screwed in (via an "o" connector) to the mounting bracket on the side of the stock unit.[

The main question is, the black wire I assumed would be ground, as it usually is, but if thats the case, its it a ground wire for something else (because there is a ground wire on the wire harness for the stereo). If it is a ground, should I just spice it into the radios ground? And what the hell is that grey wire for? And why is it connected to the outside of the stereo?

The black wire is probably ground - sort of a chassis ground. On my 05 X, it plugged onto a spade connector stamped as part of the mounting bracket. For whatever reasons, it was absolutely he** to get this ground wire disconnected.

The gray wire is probably used to turn on other devices - e.g. a powered sub woofer or maybe raise a power antenna. In the Metra harnesses, this wire is usually blue/white as I recall. It would be easy to test this - just put a meter across the wire and turn on the OEM radio.

 

[Douglystyles]

The black wire is probably ground - sort of a chassis ground. On my 05 X, it plugged onto a spade connector stamped as part of the mounting bracket. For whatever reasons, it was absolutely he** to get this ground wire disconnected.

The gray wire is probably used to turn on other devices - e.g. a powered sub woofer or maybe raise a power antenna. In the Metra harnesses, this wire is usually blue/white as I recall. It would be easy to test this - just put a meter across the wire and turn on the OEM radio.

So if I understand correctly, I can just splice the lone Black/Yellow wire into the black ground wire from the wire harness? Currently its not connected to anything :huh: But i havent noticed any issues with electrical systems.

The Grey wire could be for the sub, i just screwed it in on the new unit where it was on the stock unit, and nothing has blown up haha. I read all over that after-market stereos wont utalize the stock sub. Well... My sub AND the tweeters in the front doors (by the mirrors) both work! :Banane35:

In a somewhat unrelated situation (as it had been happening since before the stereo replacement), both the rear passanger speaker AND mechanical door lock dont work. Meaning, when using keyless lock/unlock, or the lock button on the drivers side door, all doors will lock/unlock EXCEPT the rear passanger door. However, the mechanical window DOES work. Is it (hopefully) possible, that the speaker and mechanical door lock run off the same harness? And if i pop off the pannel I will find that there is a bad connection and all will be solved?! Or... Could it be two completely unrelated electrical issues that will be an absolute pain to figure out?

 

[dave5358]

So if I understand correctly, I can just splice the lone Black/Yellow wire into the black ground wire from the wire harness? Currently its not connected to anything :huh: But i havent noticed any issues with electrical systems.

You could do that. Or, you could use the wire to ensure the radio mounting frame is well grounded to the vehicle chassis. It probably doesn't matter, but Subaru went to some minor expense to include that wire so why not use it?

The Grey wire could be for the sub, i just screwed it in on the new unit where it was on the stock unit, and nothing has blown up haha. I read all over that after-market stereos wont utalize the stock sub. Well... My sub AND the tweeters in the front doors (by the mirrors) both work!

Tweeters, yes. Sub, no. You may want to check the sub. It connects to the OEM head unit by a special connector (black in color?). Your aftermarket head doesn't even have a socket for that plug.

 

[Douglystyles]

Maybe i did something amazing, because the under the seat sub is deffinately working haha.

As far as the black wire, it has a rubber insolated female type connection that plugged into the back of the OEM unit. Are you thinking I should clip that end and connect it too, maybe, the cross bar where the radio mounting bracket screws in?

 

[dave5358]

Maybe i did something amazing, because the under the seat sub is deffinately working haha.

This is puzzling. You might want to pull the sub out from under the seat and be sure it is an OEM sub. . . or something else. Subaru's come with a wiring harness installed for the OEM sub. The dealer can then slip in the sub, hook it up and be done in just a few minutes. But, it requires the OEM head unit to work.

While you are poking around behind the head unit, is there an extra, unused plug? It's probably black in color - 8-10 pins or so - maybe 12. That should be the radio-end of the wire harness that goes to the sub. The other end is under the passenger seat.

As far as the black wire, it has a rubber insolated female type connection that plugged into the back of the OEM unit. Are you thinking I should clip that end and connect it too, maybe, the cross bar where the radio mounting bracket screws in?

I would check it with an ohm meter first - it should be 'ground' or close to it. If so, you could clip the end and attach it to a mounting screw on the radio. Or, leave the female spade end on the wire and buy a male spade connector with mounting hole - put that on one the mounting screws.

 

[Douglystyles]

First of all, i want to thank you for all your help on this! I really appreciate it!

I recently ordered a DIN Pocket for the space under the new radio, and it should be in today. I think the best thing for me to do is, when I pop open the counsel to install the DIN, I will pull out the radio and snap some pics of the wires im talking about, which should clear a lot of this up :Banane35:

I will try to post them up by the end of the day today. Again, thanks for your help!

I did find this pic while digging around. If you look at the far left, Im pretty sure thats the grey wire im talking about with the "O" connector (dont know the proper name for that connector.).

Pic:
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/4152/2005subharness2annotmn2.jpg
Thread from where the pic came from:
stock sub w/ aftermarket hu - NASIOC

While you are poking around behind the head unit, is there an extra, unused plug? It's probably black in color - 8-10 pins or so - maybe 12. That should be the radio-end of the wire harness that goes to the sub. The other end is under the passenger seat.
.

I do not remember seeing any unused plugs, but i will definately do some more digging and post up pics of what i find

 

[Douglystyles]

Ok! I got me some pics! I'm using the iPhone app for this forum, so lets see if this works:

Although I have the new stereo in, this is a pic of where the grey wire was found and I just re-screwed (heh heh) it in:

Here are some other randoms that have the stock harness, and the black wire with the "cap". I'm most concerned on where to put the black wire... It was plugged into the oem 6 disk changer in the back

Thanks again!!



Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[SVXdc]

The single-pin "harness" (with the BLACK/YELLOW wire) is a redundant chassis ground. Subarus have had those for many years. As you discovered, the radio power/speaker harness includes another ground, which was adequate for both the OEM and your new HU.

Later model years have a similar lug on the left hand mounting bracket. When you change to an aftermarket HU, you can clip the factory ground harness onto that lug. Picture from a 2009 Forester:

​

Does your 2003's bracket have that? If not, you can just tie down the ground harness to prevent rattling.

Or if you really like the idea of grounding your new HU's chassis, you could make a short adapter wire with a ring terminal at one end and a male quick disconnect terminal at the other end (same size as the OEM HU's ground lug). Then attach the ring terminal with one of the mounting screws (like that gray wire).

The gray wire with ring terminal is a redundant ground lead from the OEM under-seat subwoofer's T-harness. That harness also grabs the ground from the radio harness.

dave5358 was confused about which subwoofer you have. Some Foresters have a sub speaker (really a 6x9 woofer) in the side panel near the rear hatch. The OEM HUs in those models have a 5th-channel powered speaker output which drives that sub. When you remove one of those HUs to install an aftermarket, that sub will stop working (unless you add a small mono amp, but that's not worth the expense and effort, IMO). More info here.

 

[Douglystyles]

The single-pin "harness" (with the BLACK/YELLOW wire) is a redundant chassis ground. Subarus have had those for many years. As you discovered, the radio power/speaker harness includes another ground, which was adequate for both the OEM and your new HU.

Later model years have a similar lug on the left hand mounting bracket. When you change to an aftermarket HU, you can clip the the factory ground harness onto that lug. Picture from a 2009 Forester:

View attachment 93610​

Does your 2003's bracket have that? If not, you can just tie down the ground harness to prevent rattling.

Or if you really like the idea of grounding your new HU's chassis, you could make a short adapter wire with a ring terminal at one end and a male quick disconnect terminal at the other end (same size as the OEM HU's ground lug). Then attach the ring terminal with one of the mounting screws (like that gray wire).

The gray wire with ring terminal is a redundant ground lead from the OEM under-seat subwoofer's T-harness. That harness also grabs the ground from the radio harness.

dave5358 was confused about which subwoofer you have. Some Foresters have a sub speaker (really a 6x9 woofer) in the side panel near the rear hatch. The OEM HUs in those models have a 5th-channel powered speaker output which drives that sub. When you remove one of those HUs to install an aftermarket, that sub will stop working (unless you add a small mono amp, but that's not worth the expense and effort, IMO). More info here.

OUTSTANDING! Thank you :Banane35:

On a side note... Sorry for posting this up in the wrong section (SVXdc let me know there was a more appropriate section to post this up... not sure if its able to be moved to that section?)

Thanks again everyone! Consider this issue solved.

 

[dave5358]

dave5358 was confused about which subwoofer you have. Some Foresters have a sub speaker (really a 6x9 woofer) in the side panel near the rear hatch. The OEM HUs in those models have a 5th-channel powered speaker output which drives that sub. When you remove one of those HUs to install an aftermarket, that sub will stop working (unless you add a small mono amp, but that's not worth the expense and effort, IMO). More info here.

Clearly, I am confused on this. I have a 2006 XT with the trunk area speaker - presently disconnected. I have a JVC aftermarket head unit which, among other things, has several extra 'high level' speaker outputs. Why not simply connect the trunk speaker to the extra speaker outputs?

My original understanding of this was that there was an additional amp built into the trunk speaker - that the output from the factory HU was designed to feed into this additional amp. But from what is written above, the trunk unit is nothing but a speaker - nothing else - two wires - plug it in - good to go.

----

And one more thought: why add a small amp in the path to the rear cargo area speaker, as others have suggested? Shouldn't the speaker level outputs from the after-market head unit be enough?

 

[Douglystyles]

Later model years have a similar lug on the left hand mounting bracket. When you change to an aftermarket HU, you can clip the factory ground harness onto that lug. Picture from a 2009 Forester:

View attachment 93610​

Does your 2003's bracket have that? If not, you can just tie down the ground harness to prevent rattling.

It does not have that lug, but there are some little pieces on the back of the new unit that i may be able to plug the wire into (now that i know i can). Ill let you know how it goes!

Thanks again!