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Wiring Harness for factory tape decks

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Old 04-23-2005, 01:10 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305 T.B.I. (Vin tag "E" = LO3)
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Wiring Harness for factory tape decks

I have a question about the wiring harness for my factory tape deck (its the tape deck WITHOUT the graphic equalizer) I swapped my factory deck with another deck bc the original's amp was shot. while i was there i noticed a small wiring harness that was not hooked into anything. It was dark when i did the swap but i believe the wiring harness was blue, about 1 inch long and about 1/4 of an inch wide. it had only two wires going to it, a black one and an orange one. If anyone could tell me what this wiring harness was for i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Derek
Old 04-23-2005, 02:00 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
There's a flat two pin that comes in stock mating kits with one yellow wire in a white male connect. This doesn't mate well with all GM radios of late vintage that use more then one. I suspect you might mean this one. Check my late model Delco thread. I have undue drain as that unit required multiple 12v feeds. Delcos for Cadillacs use a 16v VF display wire going thru the radio, I'm no expert but leaving some of these wires unmated can cause problems.

Check that other thread for my pics, it's recent and this is another PC w/o the new camera pics

BILL
Old 04-23-2005, 02:10 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
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Transmission: THM-700-R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi 3.23
well, when i pulled my original radio out, it was never hooked up to begin with
Old 04-23-2005, 02:57 PM
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I have the exact same thing on my '89 Formula. It seems that there is no where to hook that one up to. So i just shoved it back there and left it alone.
Old 04-23-2005, 02:58 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
Mine was a theft recovery, and was rewired even with the factory radio, so check the back of your radio, If you have pics, they help.. There is a slot commonly used, it normally wires up different. There are three colored harnesses used pre 1991/2, they are blue, white and black.
Two are for all four speakers, the rest for antenna, power, ground and dash/radio lighting
Bill
Old 04-23-2005, 03:09 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
I'll try a pic link to the thread, see if that helps, but I noticed it down the page. My other PC is freezing up accessing pages, so I can't grab the new pics of the RDS radio, but it's over in the convertible section of the site, listed in the Tonneau and other... thread I made.

I need to possibly consider a bigger alternator to use this power hungry thing, though I tested it on a 12v DC adapter!
Anyway, I had problems with memory /constant voltage and I'd messed with the radios in all my cars and have several aftermarket and factory units sitting around, but I got a bit mystified as well, considering the differences I encountered. I'll be asking a stereo installer for some insight on swapping the GM headunits. How is the memory and what headunit/s are you using. Any problems leaving it unplugged?
I note things I've encountered (like Bose swapping) in the past in the threads mentioned
Bill
Old 04-23-2005, 04:08 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305 T.B.I. (Vin tag "E" = LO3)
Transmission: THM-700-R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi 3.23
yea i jus tucked that wire back in and put the radio in. unfortionatly, i do not have a camera, or a scanner so pictures are out of the question for me
Old 04-23-2005, 04:12 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305 T.B.I. (Vin tag "E" = LO3)
Transmission: THM-700-R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi 3.23
Bill, my car has the original harness, nothing was cut or sodered, and the harness that goes into the radio is blue, with 2 other smaller black harnesses that go into the radio as well, these harness go into my radio just as they would yours, but i just have no idea as to what that other two wire harness is for, so i jus tucked it back and put the radio in
Old 04-24-2005, 04:57 PM
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Originally posted by Derek The Great
Bill, my car has the original harness, nothing was cut or sodered, and the harness that goes into the radio is blue, with 2 other smaller black harnesses that go into the radio as well, these harness go into my radio just as they would yours, but i just have no idea as to what that other two wire harness is for, so i jus tucked it back and put the radio in
same here
Old 04-24-2005, 07:03 PM
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I'm not sure what the wire connects to, but it is a 12 volt battery supply. In the regular connector, there is a 12 volt supply that is connected to the ignition, not the battery.
Old 04-24-2005, 09:29 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305 T.B.I. (Vin tag "E" = LO3)
Transmission: THM-700-R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi 3.23
FastElectrics looked in the gm service manual and believes that to be a wiring provison for the Bose amp, i think that is the best explanation for that thing, pretty cool bc if there is enough space it would make a perfect mounting location for an aftermarket amp...

Last edited by Derek The Great; 04-26-2005 at 07:21 PM.
Old 04-25-2005, 01:08 AM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
Recently, I'd been checking eBay prices, but at the same time I found I had a charging or Batt problem with my Pontiac. The gauge reads under 13v while running and the dash lights are dim, Prior to two days ago, it was registering above, so I pulled the power (black) harness while the car is off or on Batt alone.

Oddly enough, JUST tonight I saw this auction where the harness I came up with, though probably better assembled, is being offered!

I am looking for earlier Delco CDs as possible contenders, and maybe moving to the new MagicGate Memory Stick capable aftermarket units. [Sony has MD changers too] (my new camera uses these cards, so they would work well)
BILL

Oops, the link I hastily forgot!:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=38636
Old 04-25-2005, 01:33 AM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
Bose

Bose does not mate well unless it is replaced, so a GM Bose, or other car make (now associating with Bose as well) should, if anything like cars past, incorporate the amp, speaker, and Bose's trademark chambering (Wave radio is a prime example of Bose's claim to fame, though I have never been impressed)

The desc sounds odd to me, as the harness following [gen wise]the three seperate ones(left side of radio, facing unit) is combined into one plug, typically all black. It sounds like the one in my photo that is separate, but I don't have my manuals handy right now. I was gonna check the specific schematic. Cad's 88 schematic for ETR stereo radio w/ digital clock lists 16volt input (org/blk), VF vacuum fluorecent display DIM input, panel light (gray C1), GND, clock mem, Battery power (orange), power input (on.off/ yel~black), and ANT coax lead, pink Pwr antenna lead.
Bill
Old 04-25-2005, 07:52 AM
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One thing at a time:

The orange and Black connector I have found it on some vehicles that had an extra AMP... THe interesting thing was it seemed like the radios it connected to simply had an extra pair of wires that the connector cliped to the back of the radio.

BOSE radios are not impossible to install in cars that did not come with a BOSE. The connectors are usually the same on the back of the radio. In my 90 RIV, matter of fact the only difference between the BOSE and standard harness' is the addition of 2 relays that turned on the speaker mounted AMPS, and the speaker wires had a shielding to help with noise.

I installed the BOSE into my 95 Riviera, from my 90.

HOWEVER if your going to try to attempt a Frankenstein conversion beware that not all BOSE systems are equal. I am not sure if each model was different, or if it was year specific, or if there were groups of years. The Ohm impedance on the speakers will vary, some of them were 2 Ohm, others are 1 OHm . Other things I have found is some speaker amps have more gain. If you do a swap, or are looking for parts, try and find a car and get the entire system, you can use standard "59" or now more common "6" 75 Ohm Cable Coax cable, its cheeper than finding the oringinal style wire shielding and it works well.

Matter of fact I actually put the pre-amp in place of the amplifier in my 95, so on the outside of the radio it still appers to be the same factory "Concert Sound II" system. I wanted to retain my steering wheel controls, and it worked out fine.

John
Old 04-26-2005, 06:27 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305 T.B.I. (Vin tag "E" = LO3)
Transmission: THM-700-R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi 3.23
well i wasnt actually going to put the bose stuff in, partly because i cant even find the delco cd players, but i was actually planning on putting an aftermarket amp in to power the stock headunit, possibly the GT-40 model from BA. in the area where the bose amp would be
Old 05-01-2005, 10:55 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
Well, I was at the junk yard and looking on eBay. got a rear view mirror and EQ Delco cassette for $10 total, quite the deal
The Bose units are in demand as they are limited production and specific to applications. If you use a Bose type headunit as I found in this> (Toyota? model PN 9661H, made in Phillippines, has Dolby NR and FM Deversity tuner) used car tape deck I have (non GM) it was wired specifically to a GM mating recepticle and works perfect, aside from the fact it has no amplifier[!], only a preamp built in. You can have this one for cheap if interested. I'll be using a Kenwood 4 channel I picked up a while back on eBay, and the stock unit for now
I did worry about theft with the CD player and my top being down
That aside, I now have to work with adapting the early 1990s recepticle. I picked up the mid to late 80s plugs from the junkyard to redo my own factory patch job (I'm guessing occured after the theft recovery... I can only assume what was done when
Bill
Old 05-01-2005, 11:20 PM
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Here is a good site for Radio wire diagrams.

Radio Wire Diagrams
Old 05-01-2005, 11:40 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
On the second page here, my Delco 2000 thread also presents a link. It's a very cool resource, but they do charge for services above and beyond.
Bill
Old 05-01-2005, 11:44 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
...is there a relay or fuse link causing this problem?
To amend this, see subject I am referring to I mentioned below, Still trying to solve, but at the same time, working on deck repairs ;:~)
TIA, BILL

Last edited by Bill Speed; 05-03-2005 at 02:58 PM.
Old 05-02-2005, 07:10 AM
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If I remember right the Orange wire is always hot. THe Yellow is the switched power. coming out of the deck the pink wire controlls things like auxilary Amps and power antennas. Some aftermarket head units have 2 power outs, one for the Antenna, and one for amplifier control.

If your cigarette lighter works, and your head unit is pluged in correctly then it should work.

John
Old 05-03-2005, 01:40 PM
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Car: 1982 Trans Am & 1982 Corvette
Engine: L-98 with LO-3 induction. 350 CFI
Transmission: 5 speed and vette has 700r4
Axle/Gears: 373's in T/A .. vette unknown
I think that flat connector is for radio memory, my 82 has that terminal and it doesn't have bose or anything, I also dont have any memory type presets on my radio, however it does have a digital clock, and in my radio harness that plug is the only one that stay hot after the key is off.
Old 05-03-2005, 02:52 PM
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Car: 1989 Formy droptop/88 Deville
Engine: L98 350 TPI
Transmission: factory RWD, WS6 susp
I'm thinking it is, however, my factory radio hooked into both harnesses is still losing mem after a door is opened and the key is out
If the engine and key are in or on, power thru the Switched connection, then it is not a problem and I can open and close doors w/o radio disrupt. Not sure why as it wasn't a past problem I'm aware of.
I'm just now refurbishing the factory Delco cassette unit from another EQ Delco deck to swap to the Firebird's orig. deck. To pull the older module, I had to cut and bend the top left side to get at the mini-screw that holds it. I could then fit a wrench in there. Now I only hope I can bend it back enough to seal up the unit and refit it. .. I'm sure they make the right size tool, at GM dealers!
Old 01-26-2010, 12:49 PM
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Re: Wiring Harness for factory tape decks

do you know where the factory bose amp is located on a 89 iroc by chance or is there seprite ones on every speaker
Old 01-26-2010, 01:13 PM
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Re: Wiring Harness for factory tape decks

The front amps are in the kick panels of the drivers and passengers side. The rear amps should be under the lockable cover in the rear. Each speaker has it's own amp.
Old 01-27-2010, 12:18 PM
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Re: Wiring Harness for factory tape decks

I've since sold all my Cadillacs, in the recession, not that I wanted to. I had to remove my own Firebird stereo as thieves broke in and nearly stole it! They stole an Alpine I used to have in it.
Bose was in my Cadillac with swapped Pioneer headunit. They tried some make-shift repair I likely went over, in those BOSE factory speakers, the cases that are Echo-Chamber designs that they patent, the amps are wired into the speakers themselves. I think they do maintain them amp-per-speaker
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