1987 Bronco II radio question

[Smelly_Markers]

Okay I have a pretty puzzling problem here, I am installing a new radio head unit into my truck because the old one is pretty much shot but still has power and works just crackles and fades out of the stations a lot, besides that, I bought a radio harness adapter for the head unit and wired it all correctly according to AllData and the radio so I plug it in all happy that I'm going to be able to listen to a clean channel and lolno. No power at all to the unit, I rechecked everything and all checked out still didn't work. I went to the fuse and the fuse was okay took a volt meter out and checked for voltage and no power at all even at the fuse. plugged the old radio in to find that it didn't work now.. rechecked all connections and good took another swing at the volt meter and no power still.. one last attempt I looked and saw that the antenna lead was disconnected so I pluged it into the old radio and it started working again, took the old radio back out and put my new one in and nothing even with the antenna lead hooked up properly. The new radio was in my other vehicle where it worked just fine no problems, the fuse in the back of the head unit is good too? What am I missing? Please help!

Thanks, Tony

 

[kunar]

i bet you're missing a radio ground. the old one grounds through the frame, the new one probably has a plastic adapter that keeps it from grounding. there is no ground wire in the original harness. i ran my ground wire to an eye terminal and used one of the mounting screws to ground it. sometimes the antenna will act as a ground, but its best to actually have a ground wire.

also, this should be in the audio/video forum. ill move it for you. :icon_thumby:

 

[Smelly_Markers]

Thanks Kunar, I will wire up a ground, I kinda thought that I was missing something in the factory harness now I know what it was the ground, I'll probably just wait untill it warms up a bit to wire that up though. Thanks again Kunar and for moving the post, I didn't even know that there was a separate forum for audio/video

Tony

 

[stegomon]

every time i installed a radio in the gen ones. it would ground it self threw the antenna cable....or i was just lucky?

 

[kunar]

Thanks Kunar, I will wire up a ground, I kinda thought that I was missing something in the factory harness now I know what it was the ground, I'll probably just wait untill it warms up a bit to wire that up though. Thanks again Kunar and for moving the post, I didn't even know that there was a separate forum for audio/video

Tony

no problem, hope it helps.

every time i installed a radio in the gen ones. it would ground it self threw the antenna cable....or i was just lucky?

i cant say for sure honestly. once i figured out that the original harness didnt have a ground, i put my own on. maybe it depends on the radio