Whether you've certain it's interval to receive a contemporary van stereo, complete yourself a favour and install it yourself. Not particular Testament you save chicamin, you'll and admit the fulfilment of awake you took interest of it personally. Installing a radio may sound intimidating at ahead, on the contrary the mechanics are in fact in reality facile, and in the foot it's able-bodied fee your chronology.
Instructions
Getting Started
1. Obtain your stereo. Check that it comes with a wiring harness and a dash kit that fit your car. A wiring harness is simply a connector that bundles all your wires together, and a dash kit is the casing that fits into the hole where the radio will go. If the harness and dash kit that come with the radio don't fit your car, you'll need to buy an adapter kit.
2. Turn off your car alarm. You may need a code from the company that installed it.
3. Disconnect the ground cable from your car battery. This is the black cable, not the red one.
4. Take off any dash panels surrounding the radio inside your car. The way to do this differs with every vehicle, and some are more complicated than others. The owner's manual for your vehicle should contain instructions on take the dash apart.
5. Remove the old stereo from the dash but don't disconnect it yet.
Connecting the Stereo
6. Inspect the back of the old stereo. Look at how it's hooked up to get an idea of what you're working with. The most simple connection is when the wiring harness just plugs straight into the back of the stereo. It's also possible there's an adapter involved. In some cases, a former owner might have jerry-rigged the stereo and left you with a tangle of individual wires, with no harness keeping them together.
7. Unplug the old stereo and set it aside. Inspect the wiring harness on your new stereo and see if you can plug it into the dash connection. If not, you can purchase a wire harness adapter kit from most electronics stores or online for around $15. If you're dealing with individual wires sticking out of the dash, bundle them together and tape them. Leave at least 2 inches of play at the top as this will make the wires easier to work with.
8. Match the old wires in the dash to the wires from your new stereo by color. Even with slight variations between manufacturers, the wires should be the same colors or at least close enough to match.
9. Line up the matched wires. Stereo wires either supply power to the radio, or they connect to the speakers. There will be one positive wire and one negative wire going to each speaker. Positive wires will be solid-colored or colored with a white stripe, and negatives will be colored with a black stripe.
10. Connect the wires by twisting together the copper wire sticking out of the ends. If there is not enough exposed copper, trim away some of the rubber insulation with a set of wire cutters. Once the copper tips are twisted together, secure them with electrical tape.12. Turn on the car and play with your new stereo. Test all the buttons and listen to a few songs.
Make sure to completely cover all exposed copper.
Finishing Up
11. Set the new stereo in the dash and reconnect the battery cable. Make sure all the speakers work.13. Push the stereo all the way into the dash. Secure it there. If your stereo does not fit in the dash, you need to buy a dash adapter kit.
14. Replace the dash panels.
