I’ve been thinking about getting a new car stereo for one of my cars. It’s currently got an aftermarket Pioneer in it. If I get another Pioneer, will it be able to use the same wiring harness?
I’m no one’s idea of an electrician, so I don’t want to do any wiring or soldering, but I was hoping that if I stayed with the same make, that I would be able to save a few dollars and hook it up myself (if not, then I’ll bit the bullet and have someone reputable install a new one; it’s not that big a deal).
Thanks in advance!
It’s possible, depending on how old your current stereo is.
Check out Crutchfield, they show photos of the back side of the Pioneer stereos they carry ["]here](http://www.crutchfield.com/g_300/Car-Receivers.html?tp=5684#[%22FFBrand|Pioneer%22). They seem to be the same from unit to unit. You could always call to ask.
The car itself usually has all of its speaker and electrical wires gathered together in a wiring harness. When you buy a car stereo, you just get a bunch of wires that come out the back. Instead of paying attention to the brand of stereo, you actually should pay attention the make/model/year of your car. That’s what you will buy from a place like Crutchfield, a wiring harness that matches your car, not the stereo.
One new thing that’s become available in the last few years is the ability to buy another interface that lets your new car stereo use your car’s steering wheel controls.
Well, the car’s old (a '93t-bird), so it doesn’t have steering wheel controls. My concern is for getting a new stereo connected right and that it be able to “see” my RioCar (old tech, I know. But I’m very fond of it).
When you pull the old Pioneer out you’ll find the (original pioneer) plug going into it. This plug will have multiple wires running out of it which will be spliced or soldered to a new set of wires which run to another plug (an aftermarket wire harness). This plug is then plugged directly into the cars original car stereo plug.
You can reuse this aftermarket wire harness by clipping the wires on it and attaching them to whatever brand car stereo’s plug you want to. You may need a wiring diagram however.
If the diagram is unavailable you can always buy a new aftermarket wire harness for ~$15-$20.