Bypassing stock amplifier

[Silvax11]

I have a 2000 k2500 crew cab. I’ve installed a deck and replaced the front and rear speakers. I found on this site that the rear speakers won’t work unless you bypass the amp. I’ve read posts for a while without finding a picture of what the amp looks like or a location for the newer model gmt400 trucks. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Silvax11]

I’ve found pictures of the amp for suburbans. Says there should be a 10 wire connector above the brake pedal. I don’t have that. Looking for a little assistance before I run my own wires back.

 

[df2x4]

I don't think the crew cabs have the factory outboard amp... Pretty sure that was just the Tahoe/Suburbans, and it only ran the middle two speakers in the rear passenger doors.

The solution for those is to run the head unit's remote wire to the power-on wire for that amp in the harness, you don't have to bypass it.

 

[Silvax11]

That makes sense. This truck already had an aftermarket radio before I upgraded it. Do you know which wire is the power on for the amp?

 

[df2x4]

Do you know which wire is the power on for the amp?

Like I said, I'm pretty sure you won't have one in a crew cab. All four speakers should be run directly off of the radio. 99% sure you've got something else going on.

The radio harness adapters you can buy from Metra, Scosche etc. should have the turn on wire labeled in the diagram on the package if you have one. When I installed an aftermarket radio in my Suburban it was as simple as connecting that wire to the remote wire. Been many years so I don't remember the colors, sorry.

 

[Silvax11]

I see power coming through the connector. Must be a break to both the speakers. Next question is do you know where the harness runs? I I can use my power prob to find the break if know where the harness runs

 

[df2x4]

Before you dive too deep into troubleshooting, have you read the instruction manual for your radio? Some of them will have options in the menus to enable/disable certain speakers or pre-outs. Ran into this once before on a friend's vehicle that wouldn't play anything through his subwoofers, had to turn them on in the radio.

 

[Silvax11]

I double checked the radio fader/balancer and audio settings. No luck.

 

[Silvax11]

It’s one thing to have a speakers out. It’s odd to have two speakers out but I normally have bad luck so we’ll see

 

[df2x4]

Do you have a multimeter? If so you can test the speakers' resistance at the harness adapter behind the radio to see if the rears look the same as the fronts. If they all test similar I'd be suspicious of the radio. If they don't, wiring or speakers.