Radio wiring and oem amp

[savannah996]

I have a 1987 325e auto.
Completely stock stereo system except for replaced rear speakers.
The PO just had the headunit unhooked laying in the dash.
So im trying to get some ANY tunes back.
The radio fires up and will play a speaker wired directly to the unit.

My problem is it will not play anything when hooked to the 2 yellow/blue wires coming out of the dash. The fader switch has been completely cut and im hooking the headunit directly to the wires. I looked by the power antenne for a oem amp but nothing there. Shouldnt I have more than 4 wires going to speakers in this setup? I see in the ETM the non amp system uses 2 wires to ea speaker from the radio. But there are only 4.

Im thinking maybe the amp is in a different spot?
Maybe the amp was removed and the wires pushed back in the rear fender somewhere?

[dogsbark26]

Oh my. Ummm

Look at your speakers. Are there not two wires connected to each of them? Follow those wires back to the radio. Connect them to the radio. Tunes!

By the way, your stereo system is NOT completely stock except for replaced rear speakers if the fader switch has been completely removed. The wires from your speakers probably went to that fader switch and are now dangling somewhere behind the dash. Good luck.

[hendrixvodu]

Make sure you have a good ground one wire goes to speaker from head unit the other should be grounded. so say you look at your speaker wire I believe yellow and blue color wires are your sound input the other brownish ones need to be grounded or you wont get any sound from your speakers. Also check your amp mine was full of moisture and needed to be replaced

[savannah996]

Make sure you have a good ground one wire goes to speaker from head unit the other should be grounded. so say you look at your speaker wire I believe yellow and blue color wires are your sound input the other brownish ones need to be grounded or you wont get any sound from your speakers. Also check your amp mine was full of moisture and needed to be replaced

Sounds like a good plan. I have the same problem. All stock and I have 4 speaker wires behind the oem head unit. No continuity between either 4. No sound. The ETM DOES show 2 wires to each speaker, and they come back to the head unit. ???

Btw I dont think any ETA's came stock with factory amp.

[savannah996]

Oh and these 4 are the wires after the fader has been cut out. (PO)

[Todd Black 88]

Post some pictures of the wiring, and the cut out fader.

If the fader plug has been cut, you won't get any sound, as the 2 outputs from the deck go into the fader and split into four, with the grounds there.

[dogsbark26]

Yes, yes. Four positive wires go from radio to fader. Fader harness though has all eight wires. Surely they are there. Just find the cut ends of the wire bundle that went to the fader.

[savannah996]

Yes, yes. Four positive wires go from radio to fader. Fader harness though has all eight wires. Surely they are there. Just find the cut ends of the wire bundle that went to the fader.

AH HA! that is probably the problem. I will check it out. Thanks!

[StereoInstaller1]

Yeesh.


Look, do yourself a favor and read the "amp bypass tutorial" and the "killer $500 stereo" thread, you will see how to deal with this mess...it ain't that bad,

First find out of you have the factory amp or not. Post results here, I will check back

Luke