Replacing my 04 Mach 460 with an 03 head unit

twogts4us · Mar 2, 2012

The volume control on my 04 Mach 460 head unit is trashed. I have very little control over the volume, having to spin the knob repeatedly to get it to react. So I found a friend with an 03 Mach 460 unit, thinking it would swap right in. WRONG. The main plug on the rear is completely different. Is there an adapter / harness I can buy to make this plug and play? I DO NOT want to cut a bunch of wires to make this work. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
Chris

EnderChance · Jun 20, 2012

I cheated when it came to my mach one Stereo. I put in a Din one head unit by JVC for Blutooth streaming ran RCA cables to the upgraded 4 channel Kicker amp and ran hi-performance audio cable in place of the factory cables. THe reason for my madness at doing that is needing to hear good sound with the top down on the GT. Course I also threw in a 1000 watt amp with a rheostat so I could turn down the bass when needed.

So the easiest way to me was to forget about trying to figure out the Mach 460 wiring.

Gearbanger 101 · Jun 20, 2012

Can you just not buy the harness through your local Ford Dealer....or at the very least, local stereo shop?

N8Dogg98 · Jun 20, 2012

Gearbanger 101 said:
Can you just not buy the harness through your local Ford Dealer....or at the very least, local stereo shop?

They don't work that way. The harness from the stereo shop will not contain the male adapter that plugs into the radio... rather it will contain the female adapter that plugs into the car. Somehow he needs to either cut the wires off before the harness in the car and hand wire them to another compatible harness or cut the harness hanging off of the newer radio and hard wire it into an aftermarket harness made for his vehicle.

EnderChance · Jun 20, 2012

All the speaker wires run to the Amplifier in the 03 and then Mach460 located in the trunk area of the car and then run to the door speakers. the head unit doesn't really handle much output. AS for the GT I had replaced the speakers with Kicker Comps to up the performance that was anothre reason for the rework

velociamator · Oct 2, 2012

Wow, this would be simple--at least it was for me. You would need some tiny Torx wrenches. You have to disassemble the head unit (carefully!) down to where you can get at that potentiometer (volume control). Then, simply shpritz the inside of the pot with some Electronics Cleaner (Radio Shack has it) rotate the pot a few times, and reassemble and reinstall the unit.

velociamator · Oct 2, 2012

As to the aftermarket head unit install issues, I put in a JVC double-DIN unit from ebay, and Crutchfield sent me the interface harness and the parts to physically install the unit at a nice price. Works great with the Mach 460 amps & speakers! and I can reinstall the factory unit anytime. Also, the factory 6-disc '04 unit is adaptable to a 1/8" stereo input for ipod etc. (Another vendor).

Replacing my 04 Mach 460 with an 03 head unit

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