Question regarding radio wire harness

[--Wolf--]

Trying to install a headunit into my 86.5, had no previous headunit there, only a bunch of cut wires that are a complete mess. Anyway, bought two wire harnesses today, one for headunit and one for the Supra (was for a 87 Toyota but I'm guessing it'll be the same)

Anyway, the Toyota one has the two white plugs that plug in where the existing wires lead to. Question is, where is that? They go back then up and I don't want to be pulling everything apart just to find out where they go. Any help on where they go and what to take off to get to it will be appreciated.

 

[ForcedTorque]

Stereo plugs did change between 86.5 and 87.

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out why you need two different harnesses though. I'm pretty sure that the stereo wiring is just a part of the dash harness, that unplugs when you remove the dash.

 

[--Wolf--]

The earliest Toyota harness they had was 87.

Harness for the headunit, with two plugs coming off it.

Harness for the car, again with two plugs that plug into the headunit ones, as well as two plugs that plug into the car (loom?).

Where exactly does the car end of the harness start, ie where I'd take them out and swap with what I have.

The wires in the car atm have all been cut and are a mess, so I'd have to join each individual wire to connect up.

 

[Hmong_1G]

Pictures says alot. So on the smaller factory harness (usually 5 wire plug) do you have the colors (black,yellow,red,white) all in that harness?

 

[dumbo]

Theres really no point in wiring in the harness for your car, then plugging it into the harness for your deck, when someone allready took the liberty of cutting your plugs off the car harness...Hope that makes sense.

Buy a multi meter, find your 12volt constant, 12 volt switched, ect and wire in your deck. For you speakers just use long leads and check for continuity.

You can also use a schematic if you got one for your year/car.

Hope that helps.

 

[--Wolf--]

Yes all the wires are there, but they are all cut short and simply a mess.

Is it not a hell of a lot easier to take a couple of plugs out, get rid of the mess of wires, put a new plug in then simply plug it into my headunit.

Both the headunit and the toyota harness I have just connect together, so I don't see the logic in "when someone allready took the liberty of cutting your plugs off the car harness". Is it not a lot easier to plug together two plugs rather than checking colours, voltages etc then taping/chocolate boxing together a bunch of messy wires?

 

[MKIIISupraGuy]

Trying to install a headunit into my 86.5, had no previous headunit there, only a bunch of cut wires that are a complete mess. Anyway, bought two wire harnesses today, one for headunit and one for the Supra (was for a 87 Toyota but I'm guessing it'll be the same)

Anyway, the Toyota one has the two white plugs that plug in where the existing wires lead to. Question is, where is that? They go back then up and I don't want to be pulling everything apart just to find out where they go. Any help on where they go and what to take off to get to it will be appreciated.

a OEM headunit, or aftermarket ? If its OEM, you only need the 1 harness...but for a 86.5...not a 87. If aftermarket, well thats a different story. Basic aftermarket radio wire harness colors:

Red - power
yellow - ignition (key)
black - ground
orange - illumination
blue - amplifier remote turn-on

the Green, Purple, Gray, and White wires each have a matching twin with a black stripe. The black stripe version of these particular wires are the grounds. They are speaker wires, 1 set for each speaker. Front left, front right, rear left, and rear right.

There will probably be a couple other wire colors in your harness, and depending on what brand radio, will depend on what you got. Brown, pink, and a violet color with hash marks, are common colors for the other remaining wires that are usually left unused. They are used for things like power antennae, light dimmers, etc.

Hope this gives you some direction to go. GL to ya :icon_bigg

 

[ForcedTorque]

The earliest Toyota harness they had was 87.

Check to be sure the stereo plugs work with these plugs before doing anything. If they don't work, you could get a newer radio to fit the new wiring for only a few dollars.

Harness for the headunit, with two plugs coming off it.

You could match wire colors to the cut wires, and attach with butt connectors.

Harness for the car, again with two plugs that plug into the headunit ones, as well as two plugs that plug into the car (loom?).

This sounds like it is the entire dash loom. Does this harness have the 6-7 big plugs the would plug into the instrument panel? You will need to pull the dash to change that. It is screwed into the dash from behind. Pulling the dash is very easy, I could help with that if need be. I would probably return this harness, and use the butt connector method.

Where exactly does the car end of the harness start, ie where I'd take them out and swap with what I have.

When you pull the dash, you will see. That harness starts on the driver's end of the dash, and you have to disconnect that plug to get the dash out.

The wires in the car atm have all been cut and are a mess, so I'd have to join each individual wire to connect up.

The harness with stereo plugs only should have enough wiring to make up for what was cut off with your old connectors.

Pictures says alot.

 

[dumbo]

Yes all the wires are there, but they are all cut short and simply a mess.

Is it not a hell of a lot easier to take a couple of plugs out, get rid of the mess of wires, put a new plug in then simply plug it into my headunit.

Both the headunit and the toyota harness I have just connect together, so I don't see the logic in "when someone allready took the liberty of cutting your plugs off the car harness". Is it not a lot easier to plug together two plugs rather than checking colours, voltages etc then taping/chocolate boxing together a bunch of messy wires?

You missed my sarcasm..but since there allready cut off, just wire them directly to your deck. Thats what I would do neways.

 

[--Wolf--]

Check to be sure the stereo plugs work with these plugs before doing anything. If they don't work, you could get a newer radio to fit the new wiring for only a few dollars.

Not sure what you mean. The headunit (AFTERMARKET) harness plugs into the harness I bought for a 87, the problem is if the 87 harness will fit my 86.5 Supra.

You could match wire colors to the cut wires, and attach with butt connectors.

That's what I'm trying to avoid doing when all I have to do is plug a couple of plugs together. Already tried the other day and was not having much luck (couldn't find any wires with power, ended up connecting to cigarette lighter but then couldn't get any sound through speakers)

This sounds like it is the entire dash loom. Does this harness have the 6-7 big plugs the would plug into the instrument panel? You will need to pull the dash to change that. It is screwed into the dash from behind. Pulling the dash is very easy, I could help with that if need be. I would probably return this harness, and use the butt connector method.

Does not have 6 - 7 big plugs, see pic below.

When you pull the dash, you will see. That harness starts on the driver's end of the dash, and you have to disconnect that plug to get the dash out.
The harness with stereo plugs only should have enough wiring to make up for what was cut off with your old connectors.

Will try.

PICS (closest I could find on Google, look almost identical anyway)

HEADUNIT wire harness

TOYOTA wire harness

And just another question, do the rear speaker wires run down the middle of the car? The white/black and white/grey wires I found coming from the back (no speakers in back, only the holes/grills where they used to be) seemed to run down the middle of the car?

 

[dumbo]

Ok, I thought you said you had no plugs on the car side, someone cut them plugs off.

So instead of wiring in the the jumper harness and plugging the cd deck harness into it, just wire in the cd deck harness and be done with it.

I went throught the same BS because the PO did the same and cut off the OEM plugs. That jumper harness is desigened to plug into the OEM plugs, if you don't have them your gonna have to cut and solder.(Or butt connect)

Take a picture of your car side and we can go from there.

 

[GrimJack]

The OP is hoping that the factory radio harness is separate from the dash harness, which would mean he could unplug the massacred radio harness and plug in a new one from Toyota - if he could find where the factory radio harness plugs into the dash harness.

Unfortunately, I'm reasonably certain that he bought 86203 from this page: http://www.cygnusx1.net/Supra/Library/EPC/291410/catalog.aspx?F=8601&P=1 while in reality his harness is cut before where it joined to this.

 

[ForcedTorque]

Thanks for posting the pics you did. Now we can all speak with a little bit more information. Neither of those are the complete dash harness. You would connect 86203 to the plugs that were cut off of your harness, if they were there. I would think that the wires from 86203 would match up to the cut wires. If so, you will need to cut the end that would plug into the car off, and either solder or butt connect them on. Put the but connector onto the dash wiring first, and then connect the stereo end last. It's easier if you do all of the wiring into the dash side before connecting any of the other end.

For you if you are unfamiliar (as I was), or anyone else searching for info later, here is a picture of what you need. The butt connectors are the straight barrel looking connector at the bottom in yellow. You would want the smaller red ones though. Then you use either the crimper tool (all black) or the sorry wire stripper (black/silver) to strip about 3/8" of wire to put into one end, and crimp that end. Then do the same for the wire mating to it. Always be sure you have a good crimp before moving on. Or, you could do everything the same way, but solder them together.


I have a couple of sets of stock stereo plugs in my shed, but I'm unsure which ones you need. I'd sell them pretty cheap. However, you would have to do all of the same work to attach them. Then you would just plug the 86203 to the stock plugs and the stereo.

 

[--Wolf--]

Thank you GrimJack, thought I was never gonna make any sense, you got it spot on. And yea I'm pretty sure that's what I have.

ForcedTorque, firstly thanks for your help. So what you're suggesting is, cut the plugs off the car end of the Toyota harness, and connect them to the wires I already have there, and then connect radio end of Toyota harness to the radio harness? So would this be easier than completely swapping out the 86203 with my new one? Haven't taken the dash out yet (digital if it makes any difference) but surely the 86203 doesn't go that far back that I simply can't just swap them over?