I bought a used 1998 4x4 V8 Durango a month ago. Everything is perfect except for one thing: no radio. I think it may have been stolen at some point prior to my purchasing it, cause not only is there no radio, there also isnt an adapter for the radio - only a wire cluster.

So I had my brother-in-law work on it for me. This is what we did: Bought an aftermarket, a harness adapter replacement for the car, and hooked up the aftermarket harness to the replacement durango adapter using simply crimping and electrical tape (for attaching the adapter to the car's wire cluster.

Not so good. The radio powered on, but didnt produce any sound. I checked fuses, and the dimmer and radio fuse were both blown - turns out my bro-in-law hooked up the wires wrong. The internal car lights now also wont go on. So I replaced the fuses and hooked up the wires using the correct wire diagram. But now the radio doesnt even turn on.

Any thoughts? Loose connections that could be fixed be soldering wires? Misplaced ground wire? I know little/nothing about Durangos, so ANY input would be awesome.

 

first, always solder wires, and seal the connections with either shrink wrap of liquid electrical tape (my fav method) to prevent shorts.

second, here is the wire diagram, match it up with the on that SHOULD have come with the truck and you should be fine

 

i have the same issue and was wondering if i had to use the illumination dimmer wire and if so where does it go to on an aftermarket radio. i hooked up all of the other wires that i would normaly use and the headset will eject a cd and display the time if i hit the button but it will not stay lit up or turn on, any ideas?