Freightliner Columbia Radio Wiring Woes
 

I'm hoping someone browsing on here has access to the Freightliner service point website or has knowledge on where to get a wiring diagram for a 2005 Freightliner Columbia with the factory CD player. Mine decided to fry itself today, and oddly enough I had a replacement I intended on installing already - just been too lazy to take the dash apart.

Come to find out, Freightliner is no longer color coding the wires in the factory bundle *!* :shock: Or at least not in this truck - I had no problems in '05s over at Swift, and this is the first time I've taken a look at the guts on my newest ride.

Other than having to wait a day or two and deal with the hassle of getting a plug adapter from the dealership in Laredo, anyone got any ideas on how to identify all the wires?

Thanks in advance...

Re: Freightliner Columbia Radio Wiring Woes
 

Ever heard of a colorblind electrician?

Eggzackly.

Generally for 12 Volt DC systems: Black means Negative (-) or Ground. Red is Hot or Positive (+).

Get a cheap multitester, set it to read Voltage in Direct Current and first find your 12 VDC hot lead by placing one probe on a chassis bolt and the other through the insulation of a wire and into the braided conductor. You'll poke it a little bit so go over it with electrical tape a round or two afterwards.

If you see 12 Volts appear on your screen, you have found your Hot. There may also be a Hot that is switched by your ignition key (On or A.C.C. if you have it) and one that is on all the time (for your radio clock and memory). By turning the key you can determine if its switched or not.

To find the ground, switch over to the Ohm Meter on your multimeter and place one probe on a chassis bolt and the other one through the wire.

Hope this helps you out.

not really, but thanks for the reply. I know how to find the hot and ground wires - but I need an id on the rest for speakers. all the wires in the bundle on this truck are gray and unmarked. ideally I need a wiring diagram from freightliner showing the pin layout on the factory connector...or, as its seeming, find the closest freightliner in the morning and buy the stupid adaptor...heh

Drive the truck over to Best Buy and go around back to the install bay, show them what you have and they will have an adaptor (more than likely VW) so that you dont have to cut and splice or wait for the dealership.

Oh yeah, its a heck of alot cheaper than the dealr also!

If you just need to figure out the speakers just pick one speaker output pair of wires from your new radio. Take one of the gray wires and hook to one of the speaker output wires. Now take the the other wire output from the radio and start touching to each wire until you hear the music then label the wires as to which speaker it goes to.

There should be another wire that senses when power is turned on so the radio turns off when you turn the key off. Not important, just remember to turn the radio off if you can't figure which wire in the harness is the power sense wire.

Just in case anyone has a similar issue with an '05 or newer Columbia....there is no adapter available at this time. I was able to obtain a wiring diagram from Frieghtliner though that contained the wire coding. After that, it was a simple standard radio installation. If anyone needs the wire codes, PM me and I'll get back with you.

I just put a CD player in my 06 Columbia. I ordered a harness from this guy,

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZwishaun12

It worked perfectly!