Wiring harness - ground

[Sir Cusfreak]

Hi again folks. Hoping someone here can help me. I'm installing a stereo. I've got the wiring harness adapter all done, except I'm unsure about the ground(s). as you can see in the pics, and I'm sure some of you know from experience (I hope), the 1997 GMQ's factory harness has 2 clips, and on my adapter harness, there is a ground wire coming from each of them. The JVC Stereo pigtail has one ground wire. So...do I connect all 3 ground wires together? or, am I supposed to manually ground the JVC wire? I would assume the car's harness has grounds so I wouldn't need to do that, plus its not really long enough to reach the frame, which I'm taking as a clue. Or am I supposed to just hook the JVC ground to one of the adapter's ground and cap off the other?
Thanks in advance

PS, I'm assuming it's connect all 3, but I don't want to take chances. I've been searching google and youtube all day and havent found anything to confirm my suspicions.
-Cuss
Click image for larger version.




In these pics, the grey and green clips are the adapter, the black clip is the JVC. All 3 have ground leads.

[sly]

if the packaging for the adapter harness says all those blacks are grounds... hook them all together. Check the harness in the car to make sure at least one of the two connectors is populated on that pin.

[Sir Cusfreak]

Ok. Done that, thanks. There are grounds on both of the clips to the car. Unfortunately, the clip didn't fit. I have the factory amp. Urgh.
Whats weird is I bought the "premium" harness, says my make & model right on it, but does not fit.
Back to the drawing board, been looking for more info.
Thanks for the help.

[marquisman]

You probably need a by-pass kit. I had to use it for my '97 town car. Sucks because, it eliminated my factory sub woofer. Looks like I can run a factory amp, that was for a separate woofer, like what the explorer has. You probably dont have the woofer though.

I think this is the harness. It by-passes the amp.

http://www.scosche.com/car-audio/installation/harness/fd-oe-pwr-spk-hrs-oe-rad

[marquisman]

Looks like that harness might not be right. This is the part number for the harness I used metra 70-5601

[Sir Cusfreak]

Thanks! I appreciate the help. I'm still confused though. I wish I could get these things in my hand to check them, but local stock isn't looking promising. There's a shop here that says they might have what I need, but aren't sure, I'm gonna go by there tomorrow and see.

I've been doing as much research as I can, and getting mixed signals. The harness you linked is for JBL, but I have the Ford-branded amp unit - has the actual Ford blue oval on it. Now, some say the JBL harness works, and some say no...not sure. Crutchfield says it's the Metra 70-5008 and they'll send picture-laden step-by-step instructions for free...which tbh sounds appealing, but I sure don't want to order something and it not be the right one, and some of the reviewers had that happen, some say it fit fine. None of those reviewers list my model though. So still maybe yea, maybe nay.

Hopefully I will know more tomorrow and I will post the results, hopefully it can help someone later.





-Cheers!

[Sir Cusfreak]

Ok - I have done more homework.

There were 3 different factory amps placed into Ford's various vehicles from 1995-1998.
Two are branded as JBL, and one is not, it has the Ford logo only - but all three were in fact manufactured by the James B Lansing Co.
The Ford-branded and one of the JBL's use Metra 70-5601. The other JBL uses Metra 70-5008, which Crutchfield sells if you search any of these vehicles on their site.

I don't know how to tell the 2 JBL's apart. I assume there will be a serial nomenclature, but I don't have the resources to find that. I have a sneaky suspicion that the JBL that matches the Ford-branded unit went into a bunch of Mazdas, and the JBL that doesn't match it went into at least some Lincolns, which would explain why there are several Mazda owners complaining in Crutchfield reviews that the 70-5008 didn't fit, and a bunch of Lincoln owners giving 5-stars. but I'm just guessing. Manufacturing can be a tricky thing, and who knows, JBL could have shipped any of these 3 units at any given time.

In any case, there are definitely 2 different harnesses that fit these 'Premium Sound' cars, depending on the branding.

Aside from this, I also learned today how to reverse-engineer my car's interior
I spent all afternoon getting everything perfect, and at the end I looked upon my great works and declared "It is good." HaHa sorry, never taken an interior apart before, it was kinda cool.
But, it's in, it sounds good, and you would never know it wasn't installed by a pro. So I'm happy.

Thanks for the help, everyone. I do appreciate it, and I hope someone else finds this useful.

[marquisman]

Glad you were able to figure it out. Just to note, there are two JBL amps because, there were cars that had the optional sub-woofer. Mostly found in higher trim town cars.