Radio Harness - Radio side are different . . what now?
 

So about 8 years ago I had Circuit City put a Pioneer head unit in my 98 4Runner.

Fast forward to now, and I bought another pioneer to replace the old one.

I was hoping the harnesses would match, but the connector on the back of the radio are different. They are pretty much a mirror image of each other.

So the little pigtail that goes between the radio and I assume the Toyota (or Metra?) harness (unless its a secondary aftermarket harness that then plugs into the Toyota harness) doesnt work.

What Im trying to figure out is where I can buy a new one that will fit my new Pioneer and not have to cut and solder a bunch of wires.

Im betting what I have was a Metra universal harness, but I cant find any info on them on the interwebs.

You guys know what I might be needing?

Go to your local stereo store and tell them what you are installing and they can sell you an adapter.

Didn't your new Pioneer come with a pigtail connector--a plug with wires coming out of it? All new units do. Then those wired have to be spliced up with wires coming out of the truck. Usually, an installer will use an adapter to tie in to the harness plug that went into the stock radio. If you change radios, you have to cut off the old plug that went into the old radio and splice in the new one.

If the previous installer was a klutz and hacked into the trucks wiring by cutting off the factory plug, you will have to do the same thing.

If you can remove the old radio plug and the harness adapter plug that ties into the truck, you can take that and the pigtail that came with the new radio to a shop and they can do the swap.

But somebody will have to do some splicing. You can't buy a Pioneer>>Toyota adapter off a shelf.

To answer your question in bold, look for the splices in your existing wiring. There will be some. Then look for a plug connection downstream from those. The truckside plug will be original. If there is no connector downstream from the splices, then they cut it off.

Post pics and we can help you better.

Yes the radio came with a splice-in pigtail, but I dont want to use it.

That's the thing with the current harness. There are no spliced wires. They are premade connectors.
That is why I think it is a Metra harness adapter.
The pigtail plugs into the radio on one end and into a white (2 row - maybe 20 pin) connector on the other side.

I think that is a secondary pigtail that plugs into the Toyota harness.

That's not a pigtail. A pigtail is a plug with loose wires.

You are right. Metra does make a Pioneer to Toyota adapter harness:

http://www.metraonline.com/part/PR01-1761

That appears to be the ONLY one in their catalog to go from a receiver to a specific car. I had no idea, sorry. If that is not the one you have, then maybe it would work. But if that one doesn't work, then you will have to build one, or have it built, just like everybody else. Scosche, the other major connector manufacturer, also makes about 20 "Direct Connection" harnesses, but none for Toyota/Pioneer. I had no idea these even existed, but they cover only a small percentage of the receiver/car pairs that are possible. I can whip one up in <5 minutes with two pigtails so I never even bothered looking.

http://www.scosche.com/ecom/images/p...TA02ALP16B.jpg

I wish they would show a picture of the entire harness so you can actually see what you're getting.

That is probably what I have now. . . between the pioneer side, and other side, there is a plug, which I assume makes it more universal.
It looks like this: http://www.metraonline.com/part/Afte...ness_PR12-0001

I assumed the pioneer side is probably interchangable but I'll swing by Best Buy and see if their auto sound dept has anything.

The white 2 row 20 pin connector is the stock radio harness. TheDurk is correct if the harness you have won't work, you'll half to build your own. You don't half to solder connections, you can use crimp connectors. Although I prefer solder and heat shrink, just my 2 cents.

go to this site
the12volt.com

Or since your 4runner obviously doesn't plug into that head unit, just give your truck to me, and I'm suuuure you'll find another rig that will fit your stereo! Just pm me, I'll take delivery...

I've done both--my own cars I solder, too. But there are crimp jobs I did twenty years ago that outlasted the cars they were in. Crimps work fine if you use the right size for the wire.