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Factory Amp Bypass (How-To)

28850 Views 48 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  dethrok
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After scouring the web, I couldn't find a great How-To on bypassing the factory amp :banghead: . There are about 6 threads that cover all of it in sections, but it was a little annoying hopping back and forth trying to figure out everything. SO I'm gonna throw all of this stuff into one thread. (I'm sure as soon as I post this, someone is going to post a link to some great instructions, but whatever)

This instruction is to replace factory Delco stereo that you don't want anymore considering you haven't owned a CD since Brittany Spear's was #1 on TRL.

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I've wired in a Kenwood BT958HD. Bluetooth, AUX, 2x USB. I'm not going tell you anything about installing the Head Unit, considering there are a billion how-to's online, this write-up is going to focus on our special amp.

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Why bypass the amp? Well, everyone that's installed an aftermarket Head unit, has found that the rear door speakers stop working. The factory amp ONLY powers the two rears, so you should already have the two 6x4" tweeters on each tower working before this process. And pretty much every In-Dash stereo sold nowadays has a built in amp that should have no problem powering all of your speakers.

First off: Locating the amp:

The amp is sitting behind the kick panel just behind the driver' seat. It's easiest if you remove the first row seat so that you have room to work. It should pop right off without any tools, besides one small phillips just inside the drivers door panel. You'll have to unplug the little running light for the drivers door jam. You'll find the Amp in between the Gas Fill, and the rear wheel well.

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You can unplug the wiring harness and toss the amp out, You won't be needing it anymore.

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Step Two: Splicing the wires

This is the scary part. Use your wire cutter, and snip off every wire but the Orange and Black. These are what you'll be splicing together. You're essentially powering your rear doors and tower with the same channel from your head unit.

You'll be splicing these wires together:

Left Speaker:
+ Brown --- Dark Blue w/ White
- Yellow --- Light Green w/ Black

Right Speaker
+ Dark Blue --- Dark Green
- Light Blue --- Light Blue w/ Black

This Diagram will help you if you don't trust me:
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After splicing, snip off the orange (Amp Turn-on) and Black (Ground) and close them off. You No longer need these (Unless you want an aftermarket amp, these could be used for that (I think).

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Step three: Put everything back together.

It's as simple as that, I'm sure someone here that knows more than my *Extremely Limited* knowledge of electrical, has a better solution, but this seems to work. SO have at it!

P.S. I'm not responsible for someone blowing up their van while following my instructions. :banana:
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Thank you for the post ! This fixed my problem after many hours of tracing wires and searching the net.
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