I have a question regarding after-market stereos in a 1989 Volvo 740:

I just picked up a nice JVC stereo, I have the proper faceplace for the car, I bought the "proper" wiring harness, and I thought I was set to go. I have installed many a stereo before, but I am stumped on this one.

The harness is the correct block, and the number of wires is the same, but they are in different locations! There is also a DIN plug coming out of the back of the Volvo stereo.

Has anyone encountered this, and what wires are carried in the DIN plug? I am assuming the speaker wires? The harness has 7 wires, and the DIN has 6 pins.

HELP!!!!

 

the DIN plug was preamp output to the factory amplifier, which is usually over near the left of the steering column, above where the clutch pedal might be. if you have an amp there, your rear speakers will be connected to the amp, and not to the harness that goes into the dash stereo.

you want to bypass that factory amp, its weak sauce by today's standards. I took it out entirely.

i've got a wiring diagram somewhere on how I did mine (1992 745T). i'm going AFK right now, but will try and dig it up later.

 

Thanks! That would be great! I am anxious to hear my CD's and MP3's soon!

I have a 1989 745 Turbo I am restoring.

 

here's mine...







and these are my notes on wiring a 1992 stereo. note, I used from speakers with separate crossovers, so I have the tweeters in the dash positions and the woofers in the front doors, the stereo is wired to the crossovers. connectors D, E refer to the car wiring harness connectors that were plugged into the stereo and amplifier respectively. my car had rear door speakers and front dash speakers, but no front door speakers, but the front door wiring was present anyways. its possible another year will have different color codes, so I highly recommend verifying EVERYthing. I check speaker polarity with a AA battery, and whichever side makes the speaker pop 'out' is the + side as far as I'm concerned (polarity only has to be consistent, it doesn't have to be correct, as long as its consistently wrong, hahaahah)

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color - aftermarket stereo wire colors
(color) - volvo wiring

notes: Dash speakers on connector D to radio
Door speakers on connector E to amplifier under driver side dash
I used component speakers with crossovers, tweeters in dash, woofers in front doors

Left front crossover:
1 front left stereo + white
2 front left stereo - white-black
3 front left door + (blue-yellow E2)
4 front left door - (white E6)
5 front left dash + (brown-white D1)
6 front left dash - (brown D3)

Right front crossover:
1 front right stereo + grey
2 front right stereo - grey-black
3 front right door + (grey-white E3)
4 front right door - (grey E7)
5 front right dash + (grey-red D2)
6 front right dash - (grey D4)

left rear
+ green - (yellow-brown E8)
- green-black - (yellow-grey E12)

right rear
+violet - (green-brown E9)
- violet-black - (green E13)

power etc on main stereo connector D
ground: Black (black pin D10)
switched power from fuse 14: Red (orange pin D11)
batt power from fuse 5: Yellow (green-red pin D9)
antenna: Blue (green-grey pin D12)
dashboard lights: Varies or NC (yellow-white pin D6)
rheostat + (white pin D7) **
rheostat - (black pin D8) **

** don’t connect these, they are for the factory dashboard light dimmer, and no stereo I’ve ever installed can use these correctly

 

Wow! This is great stuff - thanks. I just have door speakers front and rear, so I will work this out. The new stereo is supposed to tell you on the screen if it is not wired correctly. This could be a big help!

BTW - nice ride you got there!