93 ranger 2wd five speed. has the low end stereo. I ordered a new head unit and was rigging up the plug. I plugged it in after double checking against the owners manual and the schematic that each wire was rigged properly. I even used a multimeter beforehand since the wire schematic seems to name different colors for the ranger radio plug. I verified which ones were ground, illumination, and constant/keyed hots. I got no power to unit! I left everything hooked and stuck a wire into the backside of the harness plug and started checking volts again. I get 12V all the time on the grn/yel wire that is supposed to be 12V constant. ok, good. I checked ground continuity, and it's good too. I checked the next wire which is the keyed hot to turn the unit on, and i get 0v key off, and like 1.9V key on. I checked the fuse in the block under the dash, fuse 11 according to the manual. The fuse is intact. However, i stuck my leads into each hole in fuse 11 slot and measured volts to ground. I couldn't find 12v with key in accessory or on. Where do i look next? I'm stuck mid job and have no clue what's left to do!

 

There are radio wiring diagrams here see if any fit your wiring: https://therangerstation.com/tech_li...diagrams.shtml

Constant(hot all the time) 12v is for holding/keeping presets and clock correct, radio would stay off if this is correctly wired
Ignition on 12v is to power up the radio, this wire should have 12v with key in RUN or ACC
Back light power should only have 12v with Park/head light switch on, and it can be less than 12v, its controlled by the Dimmer, same as dash board back lights


The ignition switch could be failing, it has 2 or 3 OUT wires that power up different fuses in the cab fuse panel

Was the Radio working before?

 

thanks. The old radio didnt work except for illumination. I followed the schematic from 1993. Yel/black keyed 12v has basically nothing with key on. Ground is grounded and 12v constant checks out at the harness. All fuses good

 

Reads like you may have failed fuse panel bus or wire to the bus
Have you noticed if any other electrics are not working?

Fuse 11 looks like it is also the dash light power, so they should not be working, but you are getting voltage on that radio wire?

You can use a dual fuse tap on a working key on fuse to power the radio if all else fails

 

everything else electrical works. Not a single thing is broken. And ive never had a symptom of a failed ignition switch either. I was thinking of tapping into a different keyed hot behind the radio. Any ideas?

 

You need to tap it at the fuse panel not add it to another circuit(fuse)

Any autoparts store will have fuse taps that will work for this, and you just need to run 1` wire to the radio

Not sure how the dash lights would be working with no power at fuse 11?

 

I looked up a fuse tap. Not sure how thats any different than what i proposed?

 

One like this: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....hL._SX466_.jpg

It plugs into working fuse slot and fuse removed is plugged back into 1st slot, then second fuse(for radio) is added and lead wire run to the radio

Needs to be plugged into fuse panel in the correct direction

 

Thanks, I ended up doing a parallel circuit and got the radio installed and working.

 

Good work