1987 AC Delco Radio Help please

[Gordonr1973]

Hi,

I'm trying to get my radio wired back into the truck following my Haynes manual.

I tried to hook it up to a power source first to make sure everything was working and it did except for the clock display.

Can someone let me know what wires do what in the back vs. what it says in my Haynes manual please?

I assume the knobs in the front control front vs back and left vs right so I did check those and they are working fine.

And second question is whether there is a clock light bulb that might burn out on these units or are they what I believe they are, LCD displays?

Thanks!

[tucsonjwt]

I would search Crutchfield's website for the harness for your truck. That harness should have the correct function for each color of wire. Crutchfield makes harnesses to adapt directly from the stock harness to the correct harness for the aftermarket stereo your are buying.

[Gordonr1973]

I actually am keeping the stock stereo but wiring it into a Painless harness....that's why I need to know what these wires activate.

[tucsonjwt]

So, the Crutchfield harness will identify which color wires connect to which color wires on the existing harness and what they both power - an indirect way of finding out which wire does what.

[76stepsidechevy]

I dont think theres a seperate wire for the display, I hate to say it but its probably burnt out. My buddy had an 82 caddy with that radio in it and the display would light for a few seconds when you first started the car or turned on the radio and then it would go out.

[kelsfine69]

Mine looks like Jibberish cause some of the Display is burnt out, but still works

[Gordonr1973]

Thanks guys, I was hoping it was something I was doing wrong and not a crapped out display!

[Jonboy]

The orange is constant power. That will need to be hooked up to have the display work. Yellow is switched 12V, black is ground, grey is for the dimmer, and the brown should be for the back lighting.

[Gordonr1973]

Thanks Jonboy....just had a thought, maybe the radio needs the dimmer hooked up through the lightswitch in order to get the display working (or the dimmer setting turned higher so it wil be brighter).

Will try it tomorrow again in the truck.

[Jonboy]

you need at least the constant and switched power wires hooked up. The dimmer may or may not have any effect. When you use a kit to put in an aftermarket radio, they usually disregard the brown (lights) wire.

[83GMCK2500]

I just installed THAT radio in my 83 a couple weeks ago. The factory harness and factory wiring for it take the orange wire to the fuse panel and the brown to the back of the headlight switch. Orange is constant hot and brown is the interior lighting/dimmable circuit. Without both of those plugged in the radio is totally dark.

[Gordonr1973]

Update: I found another radio at the wrecker and hooked it up....it worked and proved that my other radio's display is burnt out unfortunately.

Now I'm going to be rocking to my cassette tapes like it's 1989!

[vegas80step]

nothing like a bad part to make you think you have lost your mind... lol

I was cleaning out a few boxes last week and my 11 saw a cassette tap.. he picked it up and said, "what's this?"

I felt old...

[RandyP]

Call around, I got one of those radios for my '87 and the LCD's were burned out. Took it in to a radio repair shop and they fixed it up and put a new band in it for the cassette player. Was like $40 or something, cheap. Looked brand new when I got it back. Those are the best factory radios that fit the hole w/out modification of the dash.