Radio Control Lights in 2008 Mustang V6 with Transplanted Radio

medic2586 · 08-05-2009

hey guys,

i am having a problem, probably of my own making but a problem none the less. My son has a 2008 Mustang v-6 which came with the single cd stereo. i have a 2006 f150 that came with a 6 disc/mp3 player. Idea:

Since i had replaced my stereo with a navigation unit, I would put the 6disc/mp3 in his car....yes....physically it fit perfectly but i noticed the lights in the controls are not working. I think I can make them work but i need to know if anyone can tell me the pinouts in the radio and factory harness. might be as little as switching a wire in the harness plug. Help if you can and thanks for this great site!

exospawn · 08-05-2009

are you not using a wire adapter harness? It is usually the orange wire in an aftermarket harness.

I'd have to pull my radio to see what the factory wire colors were though. I wanna say it was orange with a silver stripe, but don't quote me on that.

GeoStang · 08-05-2009

The Mustang uses the CAN Bus to control the dimming of the radio lights. The F150 probably still uses a variable voltage from the harness,

Muckerpuck · 08-05-2009

If you could look at or purchase a aftermarket cd player wiring harness for the truck the radio came out of. You could see witch pins are for the illumination there are normally 2. Then you could supply power to the radio from any 12v source to the proper pin on the radio.

exospawn · 08-05-2009

Come to think of it, I tapped into the 12v source for the power plug just above the radio for my dimming option.

GeoStang · 08-05-2009

J1 Pins 3 & 4 are for the variable voltage input from the dash dimmer. This is probably what the F150 uses, but these wires are likely not present on the Mustang.

J3 pins 15 & 16 are for the CAN Bus. This is what the Mustang uses to control the Radio Illumination. It is also the control bus for the Sirus Radio.

Muckerpuck · 08-05-2009

[quote=GeoStang;1656832]J1 Pins 3 & 4 are for the variable voltage input from the dash dimmer. This is probably what the F150 uses, but these wires are likely not present on the Mustang./quote]

And thats where you would just run a 12 v source into one of those pins and disconect the wire to the car side of the harness.

exospawn · 08-07-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by exospawn

Come to think of it, I tapped into the 12v source for the power plug just above the radio for my dimming option.

wow, was apparently having a bad day.

The power plug is what I tapped to hardwire my radar detector.

I tapped into the line that feeds the lights for the TCS and Airbag buttons for my radio dimmer.

medic2586 · 08-08-2009

thanks guys, i will try it out and let you know what happens!