Hello Everyone,
First post here. My daughter (16yo) has a 2003 Ford Ranger Edge. We have been installing a new after market Dual double din car stereo in her truck. The wire colors did not match the wire harness in the truck so we had to figure out what wire goes to what. Here is our problem: The Stereo diagram is attached along with the original Ford wire diagram. We cut the original wire harness off and started connecting the corresponding wires based on the diagrams. At first we thought everything was working but now when we push in the clutch the starter activates but not when we turn the key. When you turn the key to start the car nothing happens until the clutch is pushed in. What did we do wrong.

If you refer to the diagrams we connected the Red/blk and the Yellow/blk wires together with the Yellow wire from the radio. the purple/ltgrn wire we connected to the red wire from the radio. There are two blk/lt green wires that are grounds we did not connect to anything.

 

Welcome to the forum.
RangerDad, first, if you still have the factory plug you cut off from the original harness, hopefully you left some wire. If so, unplug / detach all the wires you have tried to adapt to the new radio, and reattach the original plug.
Then at your local auto parts store or even WalMart, get a Scosche FD16B radio wiring harness adapter...about $7.00.
The wires from your new stereo are color-coded and are the same for any aftermarket radio. The Scosche adapters are vehicle specific, and the plug end plugs right into the original factory wiring plug.
The wires from the new Scosche

plug are the same colors as the new wires from the new stereo plug. You simply solder each radio wire to its corresponding Scosche plug wire. This little adapter eliminates all the problems with having to install a new aftermarket radio.

 

Disconnect red/black wire and tape the end of it, it's not used on the new stereo.

 

+1 ^^^

Welcome to the forum

Red/black wire was used to MUTE the Ford radio when starting the engine, its not a "power wire" for radio operation("hot in START")

The "HOT at all times" wire, green/purple, is for keeping clock and radio presets "in memory", so also NOT to power the radio or your battery will go dead when truck is parked
Your new radio should have a "full time power" wire, which looks to be the YELLOW B+ wire, that's its "Memory" Power

The "HOT in ACC or RUN" wire, yellow/black, is the Power wire for radio operation when key is on
New radios RED ACC B+ looks to be radio on operation power


And just a heads up, there is no Reverse wire in the cab of a Ranger, for back up camera use, have to run a wire from the rear, along with camera wire, to use that feature

 

I will forever struggle to understand why people refuse to spend the <$10 to buy the specific adapter for these trucks. Absolutely blows my mind. When I put my very first head unit in my truck when I was 19, I searched around on the forums on how to do it correctly, and that's how I found out about the specific adapters. I have never had a single issue with wiring a head unit into any of my vehicles. All it took was ten minutes of research.



End

 

Or the ones that do hardwire them in by cutting the plug off, cut the wires so close to the plug that there is no chance of re-using it.

 

Lets give the OP the benefit of doubt....he may be new to working on vehicles and unaware of all the little bits n pieces available to make working on vehicles easier. I've been working / playing with vehicles since 1964 when I got my first car and thru the years learned what is out there.
But newbies just may not know how easy an intimidating job can be when using the right parts that are available.
To the OP...many knowledgeable members here, and lots of good info....when in doubt about something your going to do, ask away....there is no such thing as a silly question, and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches completing your project.
Before you cut, remove, add, modify, patch, or buy, if unsure, just ask. Some member here has probably already gone thru the same thing .

 

Yes, +1^^^

There are no dumb or silly question.
But there are many dumb or silly answers, I know I have written a few

 

Hey guys so what’s this connector for? I have the adapter for my new stereo..was there supposed to be one for this plug as well? scratching my head lol

 

It's probably for a premium audio option that your truck doesn't have. You don't need to do anything with it.

 

What do you do with the 2 light green / black ground cables? They are no where to be found on the new harness.