Here's how to wire an aftermarket stereo in a 97 Tahoe without using a wire harness adapter

This is a Dual XDM17BT, the cheapest Bluetooth enabled head unit from Walmart, going into a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe, replacing the OEM radio, using no wire adapters, only splicing the wires together. save a few bucks and splice the wires together yourself. It was difficult to find a guide online but after lots of testing and trial and error, I finally figured it out.

(It's confusing because the Tahoe has multiple wires that are the same color, which I only realized after I had cut. There are two grays, two dark greens, and two yellows. One will connect to its corresponding wire and the other can be capped, going to nothing. You just have to guess, through trial and error, until everything starts working. Thankfully, connecting the wrong same-color wire to its counterpart doesn't cause any fuses to blow or anything to short.)

Here's how the wires connect:

Car orange - stereo yellow
car yellow - stereo red
car yellow - stereo green with black stripe
car pink - stereo blue
car gray - nothing
car gray - stereo white with black stripe
car purple with white stripe - nothing (illumination)
car black - stereo black
car light green - stereo gray
car dark green - nothing
car dark green - stereo gray with black stripe
car brown - stereo green with black stripe
car dark blue stereo purple
car light blue - stereo purple with black stripe
car dark green with white stripe - nothing

(Apparently on some stereo models, the gray wire connects to an orange wire on the head unit and controls illumination. I guess it's supposed to dim at night when the lights are on and be brighter during the day. Whatever, this one just stays on bright all the time I guess)

Good job, I guess?
This is what I would consider a hackjob, imo. If anyone wants to swap it in the future, it'll be a nightmare.
At least use some crimp butt connectors, preferably the heat shrink variety....

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79jasper said:

Good job, I guess?
This is what I would consider a hackjob, imo. If anyone wants to swap it in the future, it'll be a nightmare.
At least use some crimp butt connectors, preferably the heat shrink variety....

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That's the way I used to do it as a kid--before they came out with those nice wiring adaptors. Me personally--I wouldn't do it like this. I remember one with my 85 Z28, I had just finished installing a nice Sony--wired it the same way--started the car and it sounded great. Shut the car off--key out--radio stayed on lol. Obvious now, what I did, but those wiring harness adaptors makes it just about idiot proof. No offense to anyone.

Keep a fire extinguisher in the truck.

79jasper said:

Good job, I guess?
This is what I would consider a hackjob, imo. If anyone wants to swap it in the future, it'll be a nightmare.

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This is a 1997 with 200k+ miles, I plan on being the last owner. But if someone wanted to swap it, they could just take the wire harness out of the new Dual brand head unit and use that - or get an adapter for that one if needed.

"At least use some crimp butt connectors, preferably the heat shrink variety...."

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Keep a fire extinguisher in the truck

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Wire nuts, twisted tight and tucked away, are perfectly safe. OSHA/building codes allow them behind the fixtures in your home, I don't see how they would be any less safe in an automobile. This wiring job would be perfectly legal on a light fixture above a baby's crib. Heat shrink or permanent crimping wasn't an option because I had to do so much testing and trial and error.

Hopefully somebody finds this helpful who is unable to procure a wiring harness adapter.

wire nuts are great inside a home but a home doesn't vibrate and move under its own power. so you saved yourself 10 bucks i geuss?? i geuss i can say i have actually seen worse but its still definitely not the way it should have been done.

I'm all for saving money, but for less than $20 CDN, Crutchfield has wiring harnesses for just about anything. No need to chop up the factory wiring at all. And using marettes for install in a vehicle? Although I suppose it works, there are so many other inexpensive ways to do this job that would give better results. Butt connectors with some heat shrink, twist connectors designed for automotive use, etc.

I'm no wiring expert, but I was able to take half an hour and solder the Sony headunit in my 99 Tahoe. Harness from Crutchfield, Sony harness, solder together on the bench, easy plug & play in the truck. And that 30 minutes includes stopping a few times and saying "WTF am I doing?" and taking a beer break.

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

And, thank you for sharing the results of your diagnostic and conversion work. Our collective knowledge base has been increased.

You should be proud of what you were able to accomplish in a trial and error method, particularly without frying anything in the process.

As you can see here, we have lots of 'seasoned', knowledgeable folks here, who have gone through what you just went through, only it was decades ago, before the cheap and convenient wiring harness converters were available in the aftermarket world. Sometimes, we tend to forget what we had to do back in the day, when we were young and without any extra money, and without the availability of aftermarket sub-components that routinely exist today.

I hope that you will continue to be a participating member in the Forum's discussions. Collective knowledge is power.

Joseph Garcia said:

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

And, thank you for sharing the results of your diagnostic and conversion work. Our collective knowledge base has been increased.

You should be proud of what you were able to accomplish in a trial and error method, particularly without frying anything in the process.

As you can see here, we have lots of 'seasoned', knowledgeable folks here, who have gone through what you just went through, only it was decades ago, before the cheap and convenient wiring harness converters were available in the aftermarket world. Sometimes, we tend to forget what we had to do back in the day, when we were young and without any extra money, and without the availability of aftermarket sub-components that routinely exist today.

I hope that you will continue to be a participating member in the Forum's discussions. Collective knowledge is power.

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Well said @Joseph Garcia .

drakon543 said:

wire nuts are great inside a home but a home doesn't vibrate and move under its own power. so you saved yourself 10 bucks i geuss?? i geuss i can say i have actually seen worse but its still definitely not the way it should have been done.

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And wire nuts must be in a junction box of some kind, not just there in the wall. In this vehicle, they should be taped to be safe and stop the nuts from vibrating off the wires. Hope that helps.