Radio replacement problem
 

Sorry I couldnt find a thread like it. I had an aftermarket radio put in in place of my old one and then it got stolen. They cut the wires so the wiring harness is gone. I have the OEM radio and want to put it in but I wanted to know if I could join the wires or if i had to replace the whole wires. Obviously not the most skilled with cars but want to learn how. Btw its a 2002.

I attached a pic so you can see what it looks like.
I really appreciate your guys help in advance.


Patrick

Well that sucks...

Just double-checking, but is the wire bundle that you show in the pic of the OEM wiring, or possibly the aftermarket harness? Reason being, that sometimes the wire colors are slightly different. As long as you're referencing the wire color from the original Mazda harness, you could technically rewire it.

The link you want is at miata.fosketts.net. If you were electrically saavy, you could probably pin and wire up each individual wire back to the pinout on the radio on the cheap. Otherwise, follow the site's links to get the 2 connectors again and resplice them.

I want to get rid of my stock radio, but hesitant due to the possibility of break-ins. I've been looking at the lower-value Alpine units. They're almost matte black and visually understated.

How could you tell if it's the oem wiring or not. I looked for a connector but they go into a bundle and looks like it goes into the black box under the hood. Seems like it would be a pain to have to get the wires out of there unless they just plug in. Thanks for the help

Well, you have the schematic so you know what color does what and you know where the other end is, and you know you need to connect them. It looks like soldering or butt connectors and some auto parts store wire are all you really need.

What SixShooter said.

If you want to know if the wiring is OEM or the aftermarket: When a new radio is installed it comes with an aftermarket harness that's about 6-8" long, and is then crimped into the stock wiring. Based on what's cut, you'd just want to pull back some of the black electrical tape and follow it down a few inches. If you see any soldering, cuts or crimps, it'll be the wiring after that. If you don't see anything, then likely it was cut right where the aftermarket wires begin, so what you're looking at are the stock wires.

A stock wiring harness from someone like Parts Group shouldn't cost too much. With the harness in hand it should be simple to determine where it plugs in. That may be over simplified, but that's the way I'd attack the problem. You could always take the harness to an auto radio shop and get them to plug it in correctly