So I have a 98 xj sport that I have been disassembling and swapping parts over to my 00 xj classic I’ve now tried to swap out my aftermarket radio from my 98 into my 00 and for unknown reasons everything works except for there is no audio.

Ive checked and rechecked my wiring but everything matches to where it is suppose to be, I thought maybe the harnesses didn’t match but it was pretty much plug and play because I had already wired the harness on the old jeep (so I just had to unplug it and plug it into the new jeep)

Any troubleshooting ideas?

 

Hey, Thomas. Welcome!

Do you know for sure that you had audio before? Maybe the 98's radio is bad, or maybe the 00's speakers are bad? I would verify both of those before tearing into any wiring issues.

If that checks okay, maybe the plugs are the same but the pin-outs are different, meaning, the wires go different places. Crutchfield.com is a good resource for vehilce sterio info. It's possible they'd have a wiring diagram.


That said, I tried to send you a Private Message (PM) but I guess newbies don't' have access to that feature. I have a 98 and I'm looking for the plastic trim piece that goes across the back of the cargo area, preferably in gray, but I'd take black. Any chance you have one for sale?

 

Appreciate the reply you were right the prongs inside the harness aren’t in the same order, put in the old radio and audio works mint, as for the plastic trim piece I do have the upper trim piece that goes across the trunk but the lower piece where the latch meets the body I don’t have sadly

This being the lower trim

And this being the upper

 

Yep, that's the one I need.

Glad you got the radio sorted out!


EDIT to add pic of the missing piece:

 

As promised.
Agate from a '99 and up.

 

One of the reasons I would guess that there's no audio is that your '00 may have the factory Infinity sound system. If you see small "tweeter" speakers in the upper corners of the front doors, then you have the factory Infinity system. There are little amplifiers attached to the backs of both factory front door speakers (the left side front door speaker amplifier powers the left side speakers in the front and rear, and the right side front door speaker amplifier powers the right side speakers in the front and rear). I would assume that, like any other amplified sound system, you have to connect a wire in the aftermarket radio's wiring harness that sends the "turn-on" signal to the amplifier (or in the Cherokee's case, the 2 amplifiers in both front doors). Your '98 may have just had the more common standard system (no "tweeter" speakers in the upper corners of the front doors, and no amplifiers), and therefore, that wire wasn't connected in the aftermarket radio's wiring harness. I'd try connecting that wire in the harness before troubleshooting anything else. That's the simplest possible fix. Jeep used the same gray-and-black, two-plug factory radio wiring harness setup on all 1997-2001 Cherokee XJ's. You'll also find a black ground spade that needs to be spliced into the aftermarket radio's wiring harness, as that is your ground for the radio. You'll need to cut off the ground spade (after disconnecting the Jeep's battery of course, so nothing will be "live", and connect that black ground wire to the ground wire in the aftermarket radio's wiring harness (which is usually straight black with no stripes on it).

-Vince