ISO Connectors. Stumped.

[Matt Wright]

Hi all

My 80 series has had a rough time with radios in the past it seems. The factory fitted ISO connectors are all but cut off and the last radio that was in there was wired up (somehow?!) to a strip connector.
The tricky part is that the wires coming out of the loom are very short and don't move even half way through the space where the radio goes so tracing them is hard - crimping them back to a new ISO connector with wires is even tougher.

I was wondering if anyone else had been through this same issue before and had any hints. I've researched the Toyota manual and it wasn't that helpful [elthough I may have not understood it?!]. Also tried various websites but they all speak of more perfect, simpler scenarios ie a +, -, ignition on the one ISO connector and the speakers on the other..

I am trying to fit a radio that has the "standard" connector set. It's the most common one found online, follows the international std's - and it's what Halfords sell! It fits my radio perfectly so if I can connect it to the wires correctly, it'll be a cinch to fit!

What I have researched says the Toyota wiring loom wiring legend is
- Does this look correct? The wires in my loom look different........

P o w e r
Memory (+12v Constant) Blue/Yellow
Ignition (+12v Switched) Gray
Ground (-) Brown
Illumination Green
Dimmer White/Green
Power Antenna Black/Red

S p e a k e r s
Right Front (+) Light Green
Right Front (-) Blue
Left Front (+) Pink
Left Front (-) Violet
Right Rear (+) Red
Right Rear (-) White
Left Rear (+) Black
Left Rear (-) Yellow

The ISO connectors are :
Green, White, Grey and Purple for the 4 speakers, each has a counterpart that has a stripe.
Bought from Halfords.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_180394_langId_-1_categoryId_165626

What I have :
http://www.africaaboveandbelow.com/ELCO/radio/iso1.jpg
http://www.africaaboveandbelow.com/ELCO/radio/iso2.jpg

What my dash looks like
Photo 1 shows the wires literally crimped right after they exit the loom
http://www.africaaboveandbelow.com/ELCO ... wires1.jpg

Photo 2 shows the ISO blocks almost all cut off and the bigger picture / mess
http://www.africaaboveandbelow.com/ELCO ... wires2.jpg

The way suggested to test (apart from plugging the radio in is):

To check hot, ignition, lights, dimmer, use a test light or voltmeter
To check speakers use test radio
To check speaker polarity (assuming you don't have a polarity tester): Touch (for a very short period of time) one wire to the positive side of a 1.5-volt battery (any size), and the other wire to the negative side. If speaker "pops out", then polarity is correct. If speaker "pops in" then polarity is reversed. Make sure that the wires you are going to check for speakers do not have any power.

So, in summary :
Has anyone done something very similar to this before (short hard ot get to wires)
And anyone know if the colours above are correct / what the correct ones should be?
And finally, what the mapping should be?

Thanks! (driving me nuts! )

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

It would be much easier if you had the ISO converter that has the Toyota connectors on the end instead of bare wires. Then you could cross reference more easily using the remnants on the connectors in your dash to identify which ISO wire to connect to ...

 

[Matt Wright]

That's good thinking John.. I've googled image searched for one but nothing came up
I might have a look at the Toyota / Bury cable in the mean time It's got the "big n small combo" connectors
The new ISO's are the same size with the special clip on the side to differentiate the 2
PS, I decided to fit the Bury in the Silver cruiser as it's become Lorien's and she likes it..

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

It can be worked out from what you have Matt I'm just saying if you want to make life easier go back to Halfrauds and get the connector with the plugs on both ends I will have a look at the EWD and see if I can make any more sense of it than you though

 

[Matt Wright]

OK gotcha. MY real problem is space. It's tight in there
But I will prevail! I want the fancy radio in!!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The colours you listed for the Toyota wiring look correct checking the FSM. What is different about the wires you have?

 

[Matt Wright]

The colours you listed for the Toyota wiring look correct checking the FSM. What is different about the wires you have?

They must be the same - the loom is definitely original Toyota. I think it's the pale white bands on the wires that don't match 101%. It's easy when it's GREEN or BLUE, not lilac and mauve I'm home tonight so am not leaving hte garage till it's deciphered..
Thanks for checking

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Not sure what the bands are for, possibly something to do with the way they're made? Just ignore them.

 

[Matt Wright]

Eurica!! It's done. One working radio.
I'll post a step by step suggestion once I've got all the face plates etc on..
Thanks for the help Jon

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Were you in the garage all that time Matt?

 

[Matt Wright]

Lol might as well have been. Cables were short
But got all new fancy DAB rock tunes now.. Good call Chris!

 

[Cptsideways]

I've got several oddball Toyota loom ends in my shed, I'll have a rummage tomorrow for you

 

[Matt Wright]

Aah thanks but I got it sorted now - the main problem was that the cables exiting the place where the tape / wrapping end were cut very short. 6 down to 2cm!

For interest, this is the order I tackled the wires. I'm not sure if it's the textbook way or not but it worked with no blown fuses or worse a blown radio!

Started by looking at the wire colours and getting a high level idea of which were speaker and which were power. All sounds really simple cause the Toyota manual has the colours in it. Short wires was the problem.

I tested each wire to find the positive coming off the battery. Crimped that on to the new loom. Used a volt meter..
Then the earth, using the colour diagram
Then ignition. The odd one out! Then attach radio and switch on ignition
Radio came on
Then it's just a case of matching the Toyota colours with the universal ISO ones for the speakers and testing each one
One thing I found rather odd was that regardless of threat I had the wires around for a particular speaker, it sounded the same!?

Anyway it works so I'll move on to the of my 500 jobs

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

One thing I found rather odd was that regardless of threat I had the wires around for a particular speaker, it sounded the same!?

It's only really when you can hear more than one speaker at the same time that the phase matters. Out of phase you get a lot of cancellation of some frequencies, mainly mid base ones so the sound will lack 'punch' when out of phase. The 1.5v battery on the wires and watch the speaker cone for a polarity test is best to be sure. If gaining access to the speaker cone is a PITA then sometimes you can poke a straw, lollipop stick, blunt toothpick etc through the cover to make contact with the cone and see if it gets pushed out.

 

[Matt Wright]

OK thanks Jon, so far it really all sounds good - maybe a hefty dose of dumb luck but I'll check it more closely when I get new speakers
It's much much easier working in there now that the wires ar extended