1997 Dodge Ram 1500 van 3.9 (Need Stereo Help - pin out)

[BayouBill]

Hi guys,
My stock radio is having issues(no FM) so I decided to replace it with a Kenwood KDC-X492
The only question I have is - I need the pin-out for the stock radio.
Here are the wire colors coming out of the dash unit:
Black/Yellow
Black/Blue
Brown/Yellow
Brown/Red
Brown/Blue
Blue/Orange
Blue/White
Green/Red
Green
Purple
Red
Pink
Orange

The colors on the Kenwood are:
White/Black Front Left (-)
White Front Left (+)
Gray/Black Front Right (-)
Gray Front Right (+)
Green/Black Rear Left (-)
Green Rear Left (+)
Purple/Black Rear Right (-)
Purple Rear Right (+)
Red Switched 12VDC
Yellow Constant 12VDC
Black Ground

Thanks for your suggestions ...

 

[woojyee]

This section is for the 5th gen rams but I'd just get a harness for plug and play ease.

Metra 70-1817 Receiver Wiring Harness

Connect a new car stereo in select 1984-2005 vehicles

www.crutchfield.com

 

[pacofortacos]

https://portal-diagnostov.com/images2/dodge/wiring-diagrams/105642/599fc0e332bda8e3349e15d4e125a42e.svg?v=%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B0=234&%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%83%D1%86%D0%B0=23423fjl

 

[pacofortacos]

Black/Yellow = Park lamp
Black/Blue =
Brown/Yellow = left rear speaker +
Brown/Red - left front door speaker -
Brown/Blue = left rear speaker -
Blue/Orange = Right rear speaker +
Blue/White = Right rear speaker -
Green/Red
Green = left front speaker +
Purple = Right front speaker +
Red = switched fuse hot, ignition
Pink = fuse hot all of the time, battery
Orange = headlights dimmer
OR
black/ light green = ground
dark green = left front spkr +
purple = right front spkr +
blue/white = right rear spkr -
brown/blue = left rear spkr -
brown/yellow = left rear spkr +
blue/orange = right rear spkr +
black/yellow = park lamps
brown/red = left front spkr -
orange = dimmer signal
pink = fused battery +
green/red = radio choke relay
red/white = fused ignition
blue/red = right front spkr -

Can't find any reference to a Black/blue

 

[BayouBill]

In your top suggestion I don't see a Right Front Speaker (-)
In your bottom suggestion you indicate Right Front Speaker (-) is Blue/Red (stock harness doesn't have Blue/Red)
Can't find a match for these stock colors:
Black/Blue and Green/Red

 

[BayouBill]

In the link you provided it indicates Left Rear (+) is Brown/Yellow, but if you follow that wire to the speaker it indicates the wire color is Blue/White ?? It's the only connection in the diagram that changes color from the harness to the speaker (that's weird) but after further review I think it's a miss print(mistake). It should read Brown/Yellow from harness to speaker Left Rear (+)

I double checked the stock harness colors and here's the updated color chart:
Pink-------------Constant Hot
Red--------------Switched Hot
Black/Yellow----Parking Lamp
Violet------------**Right Front (+)
Blue/Red------- **Right Front (-)
Brown/Red------**Left Front (-)
Green------------**Left Front (+)
Brown/Yellow----Left Rear (+)
Brown/Blue------Left Rear (-)
Blue/Orange-----Right Rear (-)
Blue/White-------Right Rear (+)
Black/Green
Green/Red

**=I verified these colors by removing the front door panels.
Based on your link I filled in the rest of the connections.
Two wires are unaccounted for in the link Vs the stock harness colors - Black/Green and Green/Red

Again THANKS for your help ...

 

[pacofortacos]

Green/red might be power antenna.
Black/green might be some light on sense or something with the lights.

In some charts, some of the wires do change color between the radio and the speaker.

THE GOOD NEWS IS that you don't need several of those wires!

A lot of the older radios used a braided ground on a bolt on the back of the radio - your new radio should just have the ground wire taken to a good chassis ground.

 

[BayouBill]

I used the last pin-out from above and the Kenwood wouldn't power up. so after lots of testing with my DVOM I discovered the only way to get the unit to power up was to attach the 12VDC constant Hot to the 12VDC switched Hot and I attached those to a 12VDC line I ran from the van's battery(also ran a ground from the battery to the unit)

All is working OK now.

With this set-up the unit stays powered up so I had to install a toggle switch to turn the unit off/on.

Kinda weird but it works great ...

 

[BayouBill]

Ran into an issue:
Drove the van at night and I have no Dash lights nor horn.
I reviewed the diagram you posted and it indicates the Orange wire from the stock harness goes to the dimmer and horn. I applied 12VDC to the Orange wire and still no dimmers or horn????
Horn had one wire attached but another one not attached and no place on the horn to attach it.
Only one horn present.