1999 Ram radio wiring question

[spellman1989]

Ok so my cousin bought a 1999 Dodge Ram Laramie package with a magnum v8. It didn't come with a radio as it looks like someone took it out. In the process, they cut the wiring harness. He bought a new cd player with bluetooth and all that and when I went to install it I followed all wiring correctly it powers up fine it just has no sound at all. I've read online that it possibly has an infinity amp or something like that. I looked behind the glove box saw nothing back there. I spliced the black and blue wire to the ground wire on the stereo harness. I spliced the blue wire (amp wire) from the stereo to the yellow/black wire at first but then after reading online again, I saw that it needed to be connected to the lime green wire. Neither of those gives it any sound. My question is what do I check next? What wire powers the amp? Or am I going at this completely wrong? How do I know if it is the infinity edition? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[dudeman2009]

Do you have pillars on the front pillars? If yes, you have the infinity system.

If thats the case you need to energize the choke relay. To do so, connect the accessory power/antenna power from the radio to the light green wire on the truck. If that doesn't work, check the 10A fuses in the dash fuse block. Between the dash and driver door.

 

[spellman1989]

Yes there are speakers on the pillar. I hooked it up to the light green wire and still got no sound output. I checked the 10 amp fuse that goes to the pwr amp and it was fine I even replaced it and still nothing. What's next

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[dudeman2009]

just to make sure you hooked it up properly. Front left speaker positive (Dark Green) Negative (brown/ red). Front right speaker positive (violet) Negative (dark blue/red). Rear left speaker positive (brown/ yellow) Negative (brown/ light blue). Rear right speaker positive (dark blue/ white) Negative (dark blue/ orange)

The light green wire should be hooked to accessory power or antenna power.

Another thing to check is the radio choke relay itself. Its located under the dash behind the cigarette tray to the passenger side of the steering column.

 

[spellman1989]

What does the choke relay do? Thank you I will check that as soon as I get back to the truck

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[spellman1989]

Quick question if the relay is indeed bad where could I buy one? Or is the dealership the only option? Would AutoZone carry them?

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[spellman1989]

just to make sure you hooked it up properly. Front left speaker positive (Dark Green) Negative (brown/ red). Front right speaker positive (violet) Negative (dark blue/red). Rear left speaker positive (brown/ yellow) Negative (brown/ light blue). Rear right speaker positive (dark blue/ white) Negative (dark blue/ orange)

The light green wire should be hooked to accessory power or antenna power.

Another thing to check is the radio choke relay itself. Its located under the dash behind the cigarette tray to the passenger side of the steering column.

Lime green is hooked up to the blue wire as well as all others are hooked up as you said still no sound. Haven't checked the relay yet as I am at work

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[dudeman2009]

The Choke relay is just a method of providing power to the door speaker amps. The relay is standard, just get it to a parts store and they'll be able to match it up.

You have to test it if it's bad, but an easy way to check if it's something with the relay or it's control is to jump pins 30 and 87/87a

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[spellman1989]

Can the choke go bad or just the relay?

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[spellman1989]

The Choke relay is just a method of providing power to the door speaker amps. The relay is standard, just get it to a parts store and they'll be able to match it up.

You have to test it if it's bad, but an easy way to check if it's something with the relay or it's control is to jump pins 30 and 87/87a

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Ok so I replaced the relay but still the same problem. I checked behind the kick panel for the amp. Would it be there? I also noticed this truck has pioneers installed in the doors? I assume that's not factory. My question now is can install a aftermarket amp and just go that route or should I just go from radio directly to speakers? Which is easier?

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[dudeman2009]

The factory amp was on the front door speakers. If they replaced those front two speakers, everything is it the window. You'll likely have to take the front door panels off and inspect what they did.

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[spellman1989]

Ok so I finally checked everything out. I noticed that the previous owner put in new speakers. My question is it's only the front driver door wire that was broken. Would that keep all speakers from working if the driver door speaker wire was broken? Or is their more to the wiring?

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[spellman1989]

The factory amp was on the front door speakers. If they replaced those front two speakers, everything is it the window. You'll likely have to take the front door panels off and inspect what they did.

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Ok so I finally checked everything out. I noticed that the previous owner put in new speakers. My question is it's only the front driver door wire that was broken. Would that keep all speakers from working if the driver door speaker wire was broken? Or is their more to the wiring? I also tried hooking the wires straight to a speaker and still no sound.

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[dudeman2009]

Ok so I finally checked everything out. I noticed that the previous owner put in new speakers. My question is it's only the front driver door wire that was broken. Would that keep all speakers from working if the driver door speaker wire was broken? Or is their more to the wiring? I also tried hooking the wires straight to a speaker and still no sound.

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If you took new wires straight from the radio to the speaker and you still don't have any sound, either you're doing something wrong, or something is blown.

 

[spellman1989]

If you took new wires straight from the radio to the speaker and you still don't have any sound, either you're doing something wrong, or something is blown.

Could it be possible the gauge of the wire is too thin? He bought the smallest speaker wire from AZ. Trying a new head unit today

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[DodgeTx]

if radio has power and you hooked speakers up directly the head unit was not functioning correctly. had one DOA like that a year ago, really messed with me until I hooked up directly. You get what you pay for in a headunit If its under $20 stay away. I've had success with the $30-50 range. Keep in mind the watts per channel as well. Most hu are 45w x 4 minimum. anything lower than that imho is cheap and weak.

 

[Mm88swrt]

From what I saw the amps were mounted on the front 6x9s. And pioneers are not installed factory, they should be all infinity speakers. I just replaced all 6 of my speakers with kickers. Instead of messing with the factory amp and odd ball wiring I ran new leads to each speaker. It took a little bit of time, but in my mind it was easier than messing with those factory amps. Also read that it won't work right if the replacement speakers are not the same ohm rating as the stock ones. I did a ton of Google searching on this and it made my head spin. Which I why I by passed it all.

 

[spellman1989]

From what I saw the amps were mounted on the front 6x9s. And pioneers are not installed factory, they should be all infinity speakers. I just replaced all 6 of my speakers with kickers. Instead of messing with the factory amp and odd ball wiring I ran new leads to each speaker. It took a little bit of time, but in my mind it was easier than messing with those factory amps. Also read that it won't work right if the replacement speakers are not the same ohm rating as the stock ones. I did a ton of Google searching on this and it made my head spin. Which I why I by passed it all.

I believe the previous owner had already put in different speakers. Which is why I'm confused bas to the no sound when going directly from head unit to speakers

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[dudeman2009]

I believe the previous owner had already put in different speakers. Which is why I'm confused bas to the no sound when going directly from head unit to speakers

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Remove the head unit from the dash and have it hanging from the front or hold it. Get a speaker that you know works, either by testing it on another system or by grabbing a speaker from another system that works (home audio speakers will work despite them usually being 6/8ohm on the older ones and no matter what anyone says, testing the head unit with them wont cause any damage) and hook the known good speaker up to your head unit on each of the channels, that will tell you pretty quickly which part is damaged.

 

[spellman1989]

Remove the head unit from the dash and have it hanging from the front or hold it. Get a speaker that you know works, either by testing it on another system or by grabbing a speaker from another system that works (home audio speakers will work despite them usually being 6/8ohm on the older ones and no matter what anyone says, testing the head unit with them wont cause any damage) and hook the known good speaker up to your head unit on each of the channels, that will tell you pretty quickly which part is damaged.

Okay so I know it was the old head unit as I tried it with known working speakers I'll update when I have time to put in the new head unit

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