1997 Lincoln Town car Factory CD Changer

[porschpow]

Hey guys!

I got a Factory OEM CD changer and the correct CD stereo (with CD button) to compliment it for my 97 Lincoln town car executive. It was pulled from either a 97 signature series. What else do I need to hook it up?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

The headunit in the dash needs to be switched to a unit that supports the CD player (which you have). In the trunk, you need the harness that runs from the CD changed to the rear control unit. The CD changer harness should just plug into the unused port on the RCU.

[porschpow]

Right by the switch for the air springs in the trunk, there looks to be a wire harness hanging out. Would that be it?

[86VickyLX]

The Crown Vics and grand marquis that didn't have the CD changer from the factory, but had the plugs on the back. There would be a connector on the drivers side behind the kick panel. Which would plug into the harness for the cd changer. All of the high end cars and non police cars were pre wired for the sub amp wiring..That's normally a 6 pin gray connector.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Right by the switch for the air springs in the trunk, there looks to be a wire harness hanging out. Would that be it?

That’s likely the diag connector for the RAS.

Look for the silver box mounted to the backseat frame. You may need to move the spare tire to see it. There should be an unused female plug on the box.

I added a CD changer to my car and that’s all I did.

[porschpow]

What's the RAS?

oh is that silver box the amp?

When you just added the CD changer to your car, what car was it?

[porschpow]

[Kodachrome Wolf]

What's the RAS?

oh is that silver box the amp?

When you just added the CD changer to your car, what car was it?

RAS is Ride Air Suspension. The connector you took pictures of is the diagnostic connector for that system.

The silver box is the RCU. Essentially the head unit on these cars is nothing more than an input device. All the radio presets and other functions are handled in that box.

I added the CD changer to my ‘97. I overhauled the entire system and went from Premium Sound to JBL.

[porschpow]

my townie (executive series), i don't know if I have the JBL system. I would hope that the cd changer and the JBL CD compatible head unit is enough. Is this what you went through?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

my townie (executive series), i don't know if I have the JBL system. I would hope that the cd changer and the JBL CD compatible head unit is enough. Is this what you went through?

I changed everything in my car at one time.

IIRC, ‘95-‘97 Town Cars should have had Premium Sound standard. You should be able to use that JBL head unit and CD Changer with the Premium Sound RCU. All the hookups are present since you’re only plugging the CD changer into the unused plug on the RCU.

The biggest difference between the Premium and JBL RCU is the JBL unit had a plug for a subwoofer and could drive the tweeter and mid speakers those cars had. The Premium cars just use a standard cone speaker and no subwoofer.

[porschpow]

Interesting. Thank you. I will check out the rcu

[porschpow]

Is there a picture of the cable that is needed to go from the RCU to the CD changer assuming that is all I need?

[Pvt.Hudson]

A long long time ago I added a aftermarket CD changer that could read MP3's to my 95 TC.

It was called Neochanger. How it worked:



Thing wasn't very good as I think it was very very temperature sensitive. Sometimes it would take 10 minutes to begin to work.

There is one on eBay for $60 right now but I really wouldn't recommend it but it does play MP3's which the factory one won't. You can stuff quite a few MP3s on a CD-R. The track would max out at 99 then keep going iirc.

[gadget73]

If someone makes an adapter module to get a line input, I'd probably be inclined to go that route and just pair it with my ipod. Those are rather less moody.

[Pvt.Hudson]

Or skip CDs all together and have many many albums/songs on a micro SD card/USB drive!