Gen 1 radio question

David Griffith 2 · Feb 22, 2010

After replacing my alternator, and battery, I learned that my radio got toasted somewhere in the process. I had the Pioneer 6 disc. like this:

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It originally came with the Ford sub/amp combo as well. My friend had the Head unit from his '03 laying around so I plugged it up to see if it was the radio (not a fuse or something). The new radio worked, but I lost my aftermarket sub and amp. The aftermarket sub and amp is wired into the existing factory amp because my original Pioneer did not have pre amp outputs. I thought I had an adrenalin radio setup until I noticed the Adrenalin HU's (like the one for sell in the swap n sell) are different.

-First off, why did I lose the amp and sub when I hooked up the other radio?

-To fix it can I buy one of the Adrenalin HU's, or do I need to look for a Pioneer 6 disc like I had for it to get my aftermarket audio going again?

-Are the Adrenalin HU's able to direct plug into an ipod?

Thanks in advance.

TrainTrac · Feb 22, 2010

Are the Adrenalin HU's able to direct plug into an ipod?

I can't answer your first two questions, but I can answer this one from personal experience with my '04 Adrenalin: No. The only way to interface an iPod is via an FM modulator. That's what I ended up doing with mine.

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More pics in my library. Feel free to contact me directly if you go this route and have more questions, Griff.

David Griffith 2 · Feb 22, 2010

Thanks Andy. I knew that was the case with mine. Wasn't sure if they fixed it in the later models. Thanks for clarifying.

TrainTrac · Feb 22, 2010

Sure thing! Aux audio inputs didn't show up until the Gen 2 in 2007, Then SYNC became a standard option in 2008.

David Griffith 2 · Feb 22, 2010

Kevin Lang · Feb 22, 2010

I had all the same problems you had with my 02 stock 6-disc radio.

So I bought a 6-Disc MP3 capable stock radio from an 05 XLS from this site.

With a pre-fabbed cable to adapt the old-school plug to the modern CANBUS, everything worked.

This cable also comes with a cord to hook up an aftermarket sub, pre-amp IIRC. As I only have the 02 stock sub (haven't gone aftermarket yet), I just spliced 4 wires off of an adapter, but the prefabbed aftermarket amp plug I got has 2 wires and 2 RCA female plugs to go to your aftermarket amp. I don't recall where I put the plug ATM.

Oh, and the 05 radio will allow you to have auxiliary input without having to use an RF modulator, there's a prefabbed cord to allow a standard headphone jack interface (and the radio comes with an Aux button, to confirm...but I've been too cheap to buy this prefab'd cord...I keep forgetting)

As to why you lost your amp, which as I read your post, is daisy-chained off of the stock amp (??), I do not know, the wiring should be the same since during my conversion process everyone here told me that 01-03 were 100% the same in radio connections.

I'm 100% satisfied with my 05 radio, it does all that you're asking, and it looks like it belongs in the truck, which was a HUGE deciding factor for me. The consensus from when I did this was that the adrenalin radio is 100% different from the stock non-adren setup, and that it is better to stay away from it.