I recently installed a new stereo in my 89 tbird. During the process I discovered I had the premium sound system. I installed the new stereo with the proper Metra connectors. The Stereo sounds great but I am driving without any instruments. I am guessing it is a ground wire. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Don't ya' just love electronics? Yeah anyway - ground wire, fuse or fuse link - possible. Also possible the electronic guages could've been regulated by the original radio (really - who would know?) - but seriously it's usually not that bad. If you can backtrace how you unhooked the old stereo and put in the new one (good to write it down before ever pulling wires) you may have half the problem fixed. Also an electrical wiring diagram would come in very handy (they are available). Unfortunately some people find it hard to use logic to read the diagrams and figure out that ylw is short for yellow and that the tracer is a colored stripe on the wire casing but I'm sure you'll catch on if you can read. I gotta' say though I'd much rather replace a malfunctioning light bulb than a dead LED. I hope most of these "new and improved?" deals remain in the recent past. It's just an unneeded annoyance to deal with. Nice thought though. This is the classic split between looking pretty and being functional (which entails easy repair). My '77 still beats the hell out of my '90 and I hate the thought that I may ever be too old to repair my vehicles and end up in something newer (and undoubtedly even more a pain in the a** to fix). By the way - electronic dash clusters are regulated so as not to overpower and short them out so you will need to have proper power in and grounding to not fry them out. I would recommend NOT jumping extra power wires to it. Highly recommend wiring diagram that covers this particular cluster. Also there is a company that deals specifically with dash cluster repair - it's slipping my mind at after 1 AM but it is in USA. If you need you may want to search online and drive it in to them. Of course that costs. Also keep care that any metal mounting brackets aren't a grounding route for the radio itself where aone of the wires grounds to the case internally. If so that wire will have to come out of the harness plug or be spliced to a suitable ground depending on the new stereo and it's electrical needs.