The model of honeywell, thetmastat is pro series

SOURCE: Replaced thermostat on FA4ANF030 with Honeywell model rth3100c does not work

if you have a newer t-stat your heat pump reversing valve is either o or b depending on the type of system you have

SOURCE: Honeywell Programmable Eletronic Thermostat model RTH230B

There are so many products, we cannot help without the model no. Try typing 'Honeywell programmable electronic thermostat' into google and searching for an image of your thermostat, then get the model no. Then you might be able to get some help.

SOURCE: Manual Thermostat replcaement with Programmable Digital unit.

Hopefully there are markings on the old t-stat as to what terminal is what.
on the honeywell 8000 use the heat pump labeling and then the standard wiring would be
R- red
AUX-white
Y- yellow
B- O/B
C- black
G- green
There should not be a bare wire, it probably just has the insulation stripped back way too far.
You should probably open the furnace and compare the terminal label in the furnace to the wire color. normally yellow and blue pass through the furnace and are wire nutted to wires going to the outdoor unit. In the furnace the white wire will connect to the w or w1 terminal. also, you will need to set the Honeywell stat to have the following parameters.
170-7
190-1
200-0
other parameters that I did not specify, you may read the manual and make your own decision but I recommend factory settings for the other parameters

SOURCE: Manual for a Coleman Forced Air Furnace manual

If you haven't already tried Coleman customer support, try Google. You can find owner's manuals for all kinds of things. good luck, John

SOURCE: honeywell thermostat

I had the same problem and decided to take a chance and call honeywell customer support. I am shocked, they solved my problem! At least in my situation we found that the blue wire ran the compressor. Instead of hooking up to "blue" on the thermostat, we hooked it up to "white." It works wonderfully now.