upgrading oem 2001 LS radio to 2002 alpine. help

[bootlegpass]

HI, I am installing the better alpine system from my Lincoln ls into my brothers 2001 Lincoln ls with a base system. The rear subs and amp is a 2002 going into his 2001. There were no subs in his trunk, I am not sure but I don't think it ever had them. It may have, but if so they are gone. I pulled his radio and it only has 2 plugins on the back for connecters. My 2002 has 3 and the third is for the subwoofer amp. The problem is, I found the wire harness already there in his trunk in the 2001 Lincoln ls, but I cannot find the other end where the radio is. When I had radio out I looked and couldn't see a 3rd plug. Is it tucked away somewhere?. If it is in the trunk it has to go somewhere up front. Can someone shed some light on this? Am I just overlooking it? Please help if you can. I have radio installed and subs installed with amp mounted. I wired the trunk harness to the 2002 amp and it is all wired correctly there but again I cannot find the other end of the harness at the radio! As stated 2 connectors on his old 2001 head unit and my 2002 has 3. I assumed the 3rd connector would be there somewhere! help

 

[immusicman]

Hi Bootlegpass, I looked on my alldata account and could only find a diagram for the premium system. For some reason the base system diagram isn't available there. If anyone here is willing to provide the base non premium diagram, it should shed some light on whether that harness from the rear is tied into one of the two connectors for the base radio. If it is, you can cut those wires free and get a female 8 pin connector from junk yard and finish the job. If they are not, maybe someone can tell you where that harness is hiding in the center dash. Good luck, sounds like you will get it done.

 

[LS4me]

HI, I am installing the better alpine system from my Lincoln ls into my brothers 2001 Lincoln ls with a base system. The rear subs and amp is a 2002 going into his 2001. There were no subs in his trunk, I am not sure but I don't think it ever had them. It may have, but if so they are gone. I pulled his radio and it only has 2 plugins on the back for connecters. My 2002 has 3 and the third is for the subwoofer amp. The problem is, I found the wire harness already there in his trunk in the 2001 Lincoln ls, but I cannot find the other end where the radio is. When I had radio out I looked and couldn't see a 3rd plug. Is it tucked away somewhere?. If it is in the trunk it has to go somewhere up front. Can someone shed some light on this? Am I just overlooking it? Please help if you can. I have radio installed and subs installed with amp mounted. I wired the trunk harness to the 2002 amp and it is all wired correctly there but again I cannot find the other end of the harness at the radio! As stated 2 connectors on his old 2001 head unit and my 2002 has 3. I assumed the 3rd connector would be there somewhere! help

The radios are NOT interchangeable. They have different wiring harness' and amp set-ups. You would be better off installing an aftermarket head unit or do what I did and install an amp and upgrade the speakers.

 

[bootlegpass]

The radios are NOT interchangeable. They have different wiring harness' and amp set-ups. You would be better off installing an aftermarket head unit or do what I did and install an amp and upgrade the speakers.

They are interchangeable as far as the head units. I did it. The speakers in the doors sound better than before. Everything works. I have to install the subs to complete the setup and I have a harness for them in the trunk but cannot find where it goes up front. It is there and it plugs right into the amp in trunk. I will trace the wires down and find them. I have the 8 pin plug I harvested from a junk yard. So I can connect them up. It really is a plug and play except for the subs.

 

[joegr]

I don't have good wiring diagrams for gen I, like I do for gen II. That makes this a guess, but I think that you may find the other end of the wiring to the sub amp in the trunk under the carpet behind the driver's kick panel, under or behind the FEM. There should be a connector there that would have connected to the harness that would go behind the radio.

 

[LS4me]

They are interchangeable as far as the head units. I did it. The speakers in the doors sound better than before. Everything works. I have to install the subs to complete the setup and I have a harness for them in the trunk but cannot find where it goes up front. It is there and it plugs right into the amp in trunk. I will trace the wires down and find them. I have the 8 pin plug I harvested from a junk yard. So I can connect them up. It really is a plug and play except for the subs.

Then you're the first and that makes this good news! Did you change the speakers? How did you get the plugs to work? The harness for my 2000 was different between the Alpine and the base.

 

[bootlegpass]

Then you're the first and that makes this good news! Did you change the speakers? How did you get the plugs to work? The harness for my 2000 was different between the Alpine and the base.

Ok, DONE! I finally found the wires that run from the trunk up to the front of the vehicle. I decided to trace the harness until I found them and as one member suggested, I removed the kick panel on drivers side. There is a blue connector there that contains the wires from the back but they stop there. I made a trip to the local junk yard and got the 8 pin connector this morning and then made a small short harness to connect to the blue connector. I have it all up and running except I have not mounted the rear subs yet. The door speakers sound hideous as I would expect from non premium speakers. I have 4 door speakers to install, component Rockford fosgates. I had the premium system from my brothers car and so it was no expense to upgrade, just some work and I added a usb port and stereo jack so it should serve the purpose. Thanks for the comments.