stereo installation problem 1986 ford f150
 

Im attempting to replace the stock AM/FM stereo with a different CD player out of another car. I have done a stereo swap in the past, and it went without a hitch. This time im having a little more difficulty. what ive completed so far.

1. located wiring diagrams for both the CD player and the stock AM/FM stereo.
2. stripped all wires
3. connected front left and front right, negative and positive to their respective match
4. connected power and ground likewise (used a test light here, so im sure of the right match)
5. turned on key and tested stereo.

this is where im having my problem. the issue is, nothing shows up on the face of the stereo. no lights, no display, no sound, nothing. i know the unit is recieving power because it accepts and ejects CDs. Is it possible i am overlooking a small detail? any suggestions? thank you.

Many factory radios have a seperate wire that needs power for them to illuminate. Do you have a wire that is not currently connected?

yes i do. i have a 3 unconnected wires (aside from the antenna), two of them were unstripped when i got the unit. i suppose those two are out of the picture. the remaining wire is stripped, it looks like it was attatched somewhere previously. i assume that is the illumination wire. ill try to connect it to the main power source and see what happens. thank you

i just realized that i have two previously stripped wires, not one. using my test light with the alligator clip clipped on the power source, i get a light when i touch both of the ends of those two stripped wires.. should i attach both to the ground connection? or is this a bad idea?

Your best bet would be to find the wiring schematic for that particular radio. Do you know what the radio came out of? There should be an "Illum" wire that will more than likely need power to it not ground. I wouldn't recommend guessing if your wrong you could fry the radio.