F355 Radio wiring help needed | FerrariChat

F355 Radio wiring help needed

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by DanRC30, Feb 1, 2025.

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  1. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    P/O did some hacking on the radio harness when he installed and aftermarket radio, and now I'm here to clean up the mess and put the OEM one back in. Figured I'd ask for some expert help before I dive in head first. Here's what I have...(See pics)

    One of the yellow wires is cut so short, I had to pull it out the back and show it from under the dash. That one is gonna be fun to splice.

    Anyway, who's willing to throw some assistance my way? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

    https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/media/albums/radio-wiring.2075/
     
  2. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    I've done plenty of head unit installs. What's your question exactly?

    Ray
     
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  3. virendra

    virendra Formula Junior

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    typical hifi units have 8 cables for speakers. blue/purple/white/green/. Then they have one sky blue for antenna trigger, one black for earth, yellow and red for positive. Not sure what your question is?
     
  4. RayJohns

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    I just wired up an ATOTO head unit into my girlfriend's Lexus... a lot of modern head units have pretty decent amps built in now. On the Lexus, I had to bypass the factory amp, but man oh man it sounded good with the ATOTO powering everything directly.

    Anyway, if you have questions, just ask. More than one of us around here has electrical wiring experience.

    Ray
     
  5. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    Thanks for the responses!

    I need to identify what wires go to what so I can reconnect them and figure out why there's a discrepancy between the wires in the radio harness clip and what's in the dash. The wires in the dash don't seem to match the wires on the radio harness clip for some reason. I'm not sure why I'd be missing wires under the dash or maybe I'm not? Maybe there's something that connects in between that I'm missing? The car is new to me (1.5 weeks) and I know nothing about how the radio connects to the car. So if you look at the pics in the link, that might better explain my problem... I see the antenna connector and the CD changer connectors as well. No problem there. :)

    I'm quite capable of fixing this myself as I'm very mechanical and I work on my on my cars and motorcycles myself. Instead of jumping in and possibly missing something, I figured I'd ask those with experience first to look at that I have, see if I'm missing anything, and go from there. A wiring diagram would be extremely helpful too. I searched online all last night for one but came up empty.
     
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  6. greyboxer

    greyboxer F1 World Champ

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  7. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    I think that would help if it were for my OEM radio. That doesn't look like my radio....
     
  8. RayJohns

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    Do you have some information on what radio you have? A model number would be handy.

    Generally if you have an aftermarket radio, you have to compare the wiring diagrams and pin-outs and then either buy an adapter harness that is already made, or make one yourself. Let's see some photos and information regarding the radio you are attempting to install into the car.

    Ray
     
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  9. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    #9 Qavion, Feb 2, 2025
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2025
    +1

    The wiring diagrams in the F355 workshop manual don't make a lot of sense. They only show a single connector with 7 pins on it. 4 wires are for L & R speakers, the other 3 wires are:

    red - antenna preamp
    black - ground
    grey/red - live battery.

    It doesn't show a key power wire, so it's unlikely the WSM diagrams match any radio installations at the car's point of sale. Do you have a Sony or something else?

    Here's an overhaul manual for the Sony:

    https://www.dropbox.com/t/Sb6iuet9H9s4ABBH

    Link expires in 6 days

    Here's a possible harness for the Sony (P/N taken from the Sony manual), although I'd need photos of the back of your OEM radio to be sure.

    https://www.tedss.com/2024000111?srsltid=AfmBOoplkM6azF4iNBo7vm5I82EiR3HahAjfZ8faJdHw_WAJkLLw1UHg

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  10. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    Attached Files:

  11. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    Sorry, FX-20 radio.
     
  12. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    I didn't really want to crawl under my dash and pull off the coverplate to compare mine with yours... I know there are are lots of unused connections. I don't think the gold plated audio jacks are used. Perhaps just the white rectangular plug and ??? But your photo is too blurry. I can't see how many pins there are on it. Is it the same as the diagram?
     
  13. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    Well, I crawled under my dash and removed the coverplate. The gold plated jacks with the grey lead are used.

    The wiring diagram in the WSM is correct. The Sony adaptor converts the 7 pins shown in the Ferrari diagrams to the Sony backplug.

    I started to pull the Sony backplug out of the Sony head unit, then started to worry that I'm not sure if I have my security code. I only pulled the plug out a couple of mm, and reinserted it. I turned on my ignition and the Sony unit was completely dead. I don't know if I caused it by pulling out the backplug (with power on it) or whether it was faulty before. I haven't used the radio for years.
     
  14. Qavion

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    Here's a somewhat blurry shot of the back of my Sony. My car is a LHD, so you may see harnesses in view that aren't on your car.
    The 7 pin plug is shown in the Ferrari OEM wiring diagrams. If you can find that 7 pin plug on your car, we can probably go forward with your rewiring exercise.

    Here's another shot, zoomed out a bit.

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    You can see the grey audio jack plugged into the car and the black circular plug in use also.
     
  15. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    #15 Qavion, Feb 3, 2025
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025
    Here's my wiring diagram showing the 7 pin plug, but not the Sony wiring:

    https://www.dropbox.com/t/wFtty3VR3kOMowVY

    (See connector 59014 at the bottom of the diagram)

    Link expires in 6 days.

    I don't know if you have a 2.7 or 5.2 car.
     
  16. DanRC30

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    #16 DanRC30, Feb 3, 2025
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025
    My car is a 98 6sp MT in the US, LHD.

    I don't have the 7 pin connector, unfortunately. I'm guessing the P/O cut it out and discarded it, or perhaps left it on the aftermarket radio.... wait a second... you just gave me a thought.....

    (got off couch and went to bin full of stuff that came with the car)

    AH!!!! I found a bag of wires and found the cut off plugs in that bag! Now we're getting somewhere!!! Your pictures are VERY HELPFUL. At lease now I know what side goes to the radio and what goes to the car! Take a look at this pic and let me know your thoughts...

    Oh, a code? I need a code for the radio? Uh oh.... where would I get that?
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  17. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    Also, take a look at this wire. It looks like a single speaker wire with a clear coating and I have no idea where it goes.


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  18. Qavion

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    Thanks. At least my car is a 98 MT, too.

    I've been trying to create a wiring diagram, but it's tough going. I think I need to re-number the Sony wiring diagram pinout for the Sony backplug. The plug has 18 holes, rather than 15

    Something like this:

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    So, no pins on 5, 12, 13 & 16.

    Some of the wires have circumferal stripes. Ignore these.

    Here is a diagram showing part of the adaptor harness

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    I have 6 wires still to figure out where they come from (going to the Sony unit).

    Standby on the other stuff
     
  19. Qavion

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    The code usually comes with the car's documentation. I don't know if this was tossed when the radio wiring was modified.
     
  20. RayJohns

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    I've kind of lost track of what's going on here.. but from what I can see all 3 of these are the same plug. Is that the general consensus with you guys as well?

    Let me go fix lunch and start over and re-read everything.

    Ray

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  21. Qavion

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    Looks like you've found the original harness. The lower plug is the important one. The upper one is not used.


    Correct. The 7 pin plug in the photo in this message is found in the WSM for the F355. The Sony stuff has to be wired to that plug AND into the rest of the car. e.g. accessory power for the Sony comes in on a different harness.
     
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  22. RayJohns

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    From what I can make sense of here...

    Dan, I think someone cut back the factory harness that goes to that 15 pin connector. Are you able to find the harness that originally went to it? From what I can see, they connector is there (the one you in hanging with the hack job done to it)... are you able to find the other end of that leg of the harness lurking around the dash some place?

    If you are simply attempting to re-install the original OEM radio, this should be a fairly simple job of finding the other side of the factory harness and just bridging wires back to that plug you show. Then plug everything in. The RCA stuff you show is probably for stuff like external amps.

    Ray
     
  23. RayJohns

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  24. DanRC30

    DanRC30 Karting

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    Yes, that white clip goes in the back of the radio. It was connected when I pulled the head unit out, so I'm good there.

    Next I think those wires from that white connector get split between the 7 pin plug and the other plug that's not used. Then I need to solder the wires in the other side of the 7 pin plug back to the wires behind the dash in the car. With your pictures and guidance, this is what I'm coming up with.

    2 big mysteries:
    1) What is that speaker looking wire for?
    2) What is the yellow wire for? There are actually two of them, BUT I'm thinking/wondering if that's the wire that goes to the annoying buzzer everyone talks about, and it was just cut to stop the noise. I bought the car from a friend and he mentioned something about the buzzer wire being cut. He's going through some stuff right now (which is why he sold me the car) so I don't want to bother him. The owner before him did this hack job on the radio...

    Also, where is the antenna?
     
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  25. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    #25 Qavion, Feb 3, 2025
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025
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    @DanRC30 See if you can find wires under the dash with the same colours as the ones on the LH side of connector 59014.

    i.e red, grey, black, grey, purple/black, grey/red, green, purple.

    You have two options. Hookup the chopped off wiring directly to the Sony plug or hook up the wiring to the proper Sony adaptor harness with your old connector 59014. The Sony adaptor is still for sale (see earlier messages/ links).

    Remember, 4 of the wires on connector 59014 are the only speaker wires on the standard car. They go directly to the speakers (with splices at the speakers). No amplifier is fitted to the car.

    The antenna plugs directly into the Sony unit... via a dedicated amplifier buried in the dash. The red wire on connector 59014 powers the antenna amplifier.

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