i'm trying to install a new radio in my 88 245 and one problem i've had with the stock system is that one side (all left or all right) would cut out while driving. it's a real treat to have both sides working at the same time. sometimes bumps would trigger one side being off or on. any idea what part of the system is faulty?

 

It's a crap shoot...either speaker wire connections or internal to the radio itself. Three times out of three, in my personal cars, it was a flaw within the head unit itself. A new aftermarket unit fixed it in all 3 cases. Your results may vary of course. I also replaced the speakers. They're anemic when new and after a few decades, the cones on most had died and rattled horribly.

 

thanks for the reply...couple more questions:
1) are all the connections hooked up on the stock radio? there's a plug labelled "seek" off the radio for which i can't find the mate.
2) what size speakers work in front and back and how do you remove the back ones they seem glued to the brittle plastic area. Thanks!

 

I have a 244, but they're likely the same.

4 inch speakers in the rear, a 6x9 will fit with little modification
4 inch in the front as well, with a 2 inch mounting depth to clear the window.

Wiring these is TERRIBLE.

The front speakers connect, more or less directly to radio wiring harness. The main wiring harness is located in the drivers side foot well.

The rear speakers however, are not. They run into a seperate plug, with splits off further into the dash to a balance switch, and from the balance switch back into the wiring harness. It runs into a cross over.


ANY wiring harness you buy, will have the following
12V power
12v Switch
Left Front +, Front -
Right Front + Right Front -
Power Antenna
Don't worry about colour. They will be the same as your aftermarket head.

There is no connection for rear speakers. I traced the wiring from the speakers through the car, into that plug, and directly into my head unit, bypassing the harness.

After everything is connected down there, you need to pull it up through the dash

It's gonna be a mess. Your new radio is also going to be quite abit smaller. Meaning you will need to fabricate something to keep it in there steady.

For a nice clean proper installion of 4 speakers and a head unit, look at about a 4 hour job.

 

thanks for all the info...i kind of had the feeling this would be a pain...
i was able to pull an aftermarket radio mount from another car and figure i'll just cut the harness from the old radio and use that.

 

Provided it fits. I've done alot of stereos, and the 240 is very strange to me, usually the harness is right up near the radio followed by MAYBE 10 inchs of 18 gauge wire.

I've done it twice now on a 240, if your confused about anything, just ask.

 

hey again couple more questions...
so do you get rid of your speaker balance **** completely and just hook it up direct to the new radio?
is (+) two-colored wires and the (-) single colored wire?
there are three wires i haven't sourced yet, they are solid red, green and blue that go straight into the old radio...what do these do? my red one isn't hooked up to anything or else it got disconnected and i can't find the mate.
thx

 

oh nvm about the red green and blue wires, the wiring diagram made sense in those cases.
red = power antenna which i don't have, green and blue go to fuse box.

 

Power Antenna is blue actually. At least in the aftermarket harness, although most aftermarket like mine require a seperate hookup.

I deleted my balance ****, by simply cutting the rear speaker wires connected to it. Oddly enough, it still works. ALL aftermarket stereos include an electronic balance, the **** is totally unnecessary.

I can write a complete tut if you need it. How to connect everything.

It cost me 19.99 for a wiring harness. It prevented me from having to source anything (other then the noted rear speakers). Everything comes labeled with the proper colours that you need. Shaved hours off the job.

EIther way, good luck.

 

yeah, bypass the fader entirely. your new aftermarket stereo probably has 4 x 50 watts or something, and that fader would only let you use half that.

my 87 244 had no wiring or cutouts at all for rear speakers or a fader, so I just ran my own, and used oversized 6.5" round coaxial JL Audio in the package tray, with seperate crossovers. they kick enough butt that you can hear them loud and clear over the freeway wind noise in the 240. sadly, nothing i've been able to fit in the front doors can come close to the volume output of those 6.5's...

 

I have 2 sony 6.5's, and 2 pioneer 4 inch speakers, and it causes a fair racket on its own.

Most 4 inch speakers don't make alot of noise. But its worth replacing them. I paid 80 bucks for my pioneers, and it evens out the sound awesome. Only problem is mounting depth, for the 240 you have only 2 inchs, some 4 inch speakers will exceed that slightly.

 

a lot of speakers that are a little too deep, you can remove plastic cases from the magnets and such as that stuff is just cosmetic, and they'll fit. I have JL 4" coaxials in my fronts, and had to trim them a bit to fit behind the factory grill (dremel tool to the rescue!) but they did fit just fine, after removing a plastic basket from the back of the speaker...

the problem is, a 4" is just a mid-tweeter, its got zero bass, so if you have a powerful system, you need to put a 'bass blocker' capacitor in series to fade out anything below about 200Hz or you can't turn them up very loud without the bass that you can't hear causing distortion. about the only time I have the fronts cranked up in the 240 is when I have back seat passengers, and have turned the full range back speakers way down.

 

You're right about the bass. I usually don't use small speakers at all. The last car I had the door speakers were mounted low, so I removed the 4 inch and put a 6.5 in. Unless your super handy with upholstery that isnt an option on the 240 :-(

I'm not worried about SPL or perfect clarity. I just want good sound without distortion or too much vibration.

 

ok i got the wiring all done using the old harnesses and bypassing the fader ****.
here's a pic.


there's a "dimmer" wire off the radio i hooked up to the yellow wire labelled "dim" but doesn't seem to do anything when i adjust the dimmer ****.

now i have to work on the speakers...anyone have any suggestions? i went to the store and they recommended helix but looks like i'd have to mod it a little bit to make it fit.

 

the dimmer wire on most aftermarket stereos is treated as on/off. when your headlights are on, the stereo's display should dim to about half brightness.