1997 Explorer radio upgrade
Today I bit the bullet. The radio power button in my 1997 Explorer has been driving me crazy. The darned thing wouldn't shut off. I would have to fight with it for a minute or two every time I drive it to try to get it to turn off, and today was my revenge. I got a radio from a 2002 and spent the afternoon putting it in (I took a vacation day as I was feeling LOUSY last night, coughing and hacking, but I feel better now, maybe it was just the need for sleep, who knows).
The radio fits in the stock enclosure fine, even though its full-height all the way to the rear, but the major hurdle was the harness. 1997 was the last year for the old-style 8-pin and 16-pin harness, and in 1998 Ford introduced a 16-pin and 20-pin harness, with another 8-pin for certain radios that supported a subwoofer (which the new one doesn't, and I don't have one anyway). I spent the afternoon putting together a harness adapter so I wouldn't have to hack my car harness apart.
The day seemed destined for failure, but I persevered and eventually succeeded, though it wasn't for lack of problems. I have the wiring diagrams for a 1997 Explorer and 2000 Expedition, and I double-checked with Internet sources for good measure. *Every* Internet source (and even the printing on the 1998 harness itself) disagreed with the 2000 speaker polarity so I assumed the book was wrong, and opinions appeared to be split on where the dimmer pin was on the 1997 -- pin 4 or pin 5. I made a call and picked pin 5. I lucked out; when I looked at my car I didn't even have a wire in pin 4, so that was okay.
The major gotcha was the amp-on wire. 1997 and earlier vehicles have external amps, and the radio puts out a +5V signal to turn the amp on. It's called a remote wire, it has a standard blue color, and every aftermarket radio has one. No amp-on, no sound! *However*, 1998 and newer radios don't have this, which the diagram bears out, and I can only presume that they have internal amps. So how do I turn the amp on???
I was never so glad to be a packrat. I dug into my Radio Shack parts box and pulled out a 5V regulator, wire, small perfboard, and my soldering kit. I used a new-in-the-cellophane dinosaur plastic 25-pin RS232 cable end for the enclosure. A little soldering and taping and I had my 12V-to-5V converter.
Lots of cutting, crimping, and taping, and I was nearly done, with one other hurdle. The 1997 harness I bought that plugs into my car was incomplete! It had pins for power, ground, speakers, etc., but nothing for the CD changer. A quick run to Pep Boys and I lucked out again. I couldn't find a 1997 harness, but I found a newer 1998 one where the pins inside were the same (or close enough). I cannibalized the 1998 harness to complete the 1997 one, had to play with the pins just a bit to get them all to plug into the car plug, but in the end everything would up being hooked up.
So it *is* possible, with some pain in the process. I didn't lose a single feature, I have a radio I can turn off now, and I gained in-dash CD to boot. The green LED's in the radio don't match my 1997 aqua LED dash, but I can live with that. I only wish I could have bought a complete adapter rather than make one myself!
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