Wiring Your New Car Stereo
If Metra or Scosche carries a wire harness for your vehicle, we highly recommend purchasing one along side the dash kit. Again, you can use the same link from Metra to find the one for your vehicle. In the case that you can’t find one, you’ll need to do a little research on the web to find a list of stereo wire colors on your harness and match them up with the corresponding ones on the car stereo harness. You can find a diagram here of aftermarket car stereo wires. This will help you match the aftermarket up with your factory ones.
If you find that there is a custom wire harness for your car, it’s very simple, just match up color for color the wires from your aftermarket head unit harness to your custom wire harness for your car.
Connecting the Wires
There’s two options for connecting the wires that you can use:
Learn How To Change Japanese Car Navigation To English Here
When you purchase a vehicle from an Asian country, especially Japan, you can expect the GPS to display everything in the Japanese language. If you are a native speaker and have good command over the language, then good luck. The issue comes with those who are not familiar with a navigation system functioning in another language.
However, we have some excellent news for you; all you need to do is follow specific steps to get your native language back to the GPS screen. We recommend you browse online to know about the latest car reviews for any car model.
Unbolt The Car Stereo
Lifewire / Jeremy Laukkonen;
With the head unit fasteners exposed, it’s time to remove the car radio from the dash.
Some head units are held in with screws, but others use bolts, Torx fasteners, or a proprietary fastening method. Remove the screws or fasteners, place them in a safe location, and then carefully pull the head unit free of the dash.
Recommended Reading: Where To Copy Car Key
How To Pull Out A Car Radio
Once youve prepared everything, pulling out the car radio [stereo} is next.
Car radios, in most cases, are held in place with a clip system which is behind the front mask.
Once you insert the car radio in the slot, the clips spread inside the mounting, holding the radio tightly in place.
On this part, youll need these:
Radio removal tools specially made for this task. There are different types, see which ones fit for your car radio.
Plastic trim tools: if the car has a factory radio, chances are that it will have plastic trimming around it. You have to remove them to gain access to the screws that hold the radio and mounting in place.
Patience . Take your time and dont lose your temper.
Now for the procedure:
1. Take out the car radio fuse and loosen the battery terminal.
2. Take off any plastic trimming around the radio . Use plastic trimming tools.
3. If you have an aftermarket one, take the display off and the plastic trim around it. This is for gaining access to push in the radio removal keys or to screws that hold the radio in place.
4. Insert the radio removal tools into both slots .
5. Insert both sides before pulling out the car radio as much as possible.
6. Use the radio removal keys as handles and pull the radio out. If possible, avoid pulling the radio by the front mask o avoid damage.
7. Pull out until the wiring appears. Disconnect the wiring harness connector, antenna connection, or any other connection that may be.
How To Make Your Own Car Radio Removal Tools
If by any chance you dont have the possibility of buying car radio removal tools, there is a solution.
This is also somewhat of a hack, but I think its worth sharing.
Goes for car radios that use the wire-like removal tools, not the flat, sheet-like, ones.
All you need is some wire. Preferably copper one as it is easily worked with. Steel wire will also do but is harder to bend.
Copper wires are easily found in home installation cables, find one that has full section wires in it.
Next, you should:
Perhaps they wont stick on the radio as the original tools do, but it should help do the job.
Also, adjust the width and length of the tool according to your car radio.
In the last picture, although done on an older type of radio, you can best see how it all works in practice.
Don’t Miss: How Much To Replace Brakes On Car
How To Install A Car Radio With Wiring Harness
The wire harness is essentially a plastic plug that consolidates all of the cables needed for the proper functioning of a car radio .
There can be one or multiple wiring harness connectors coming from the car installation.
The purpose of these connectors is to make the car radio a plug-in appliance making life easier when installing, removing, or replacing the car radio.
Also, thanks to standardizing, almost all wiring harnesses are compatible with every car radio.
For instance, if you buy any kind of aftermarket car radio, there is a good possibility that it will fit the installation on your car. How good is that?
Even if it doesnt , you can change the pins inside the harness and solve the problem.
To get back to the procedure:
;
1. Connect the new car radio. Take a look, just in case, that the harness is the same and that it fits into the slot of the radio. Dont worry, the plastic plug has such a shape that it can be connected in just one way so you cant make a mistake.
;2. Connect the other installation .
;3. Before inserting the radio back into place, return the power and try the radio out. See that everything works. This way, if somethings wrong, you can check it out and avoid another removal.
;4. Insert the wire harness into the hole in the console, sort of tuck in the wiring loom. Make sure that the harness will not be pinched or damaged.
;5. Insert the radio back in place.
;7. Turn on the car radio and see, again if everything is OK.
Tip : Bring Your Vehicle To A Service Center
If youve been pulling your hair out, trying to change the navigation systems language to English, then this is the best option for you. There are service centers that offer this service, and you can easily find one by performing a quick Google search. They should be able to offer you the appropriate software for your vehicle make and model. Once youve installed the SD card, all youll need to do is restart the system and it will be in English.
Don’t Miss: Car Making Grinding Noise When Accelerating
How To Change Car Battery And Not Lose Radio Codes : Aclk Sa L Ai Dchcsewix8evp7v3yahvnayskhesbds4yabagggjlzg Sig Aod64 2oqlzv9rv8o2td4inlengoywep6a Adurl Ctype 5
- Get link
When this happens, the first thing to check is the battery. It’s used to make a stolen head unit useless, but can be annoying if your battery dies. Either way, keeping up with your battery is a basic part of vehicle maintenance. We help you through the entire process of removing and replacing your car battery! Over time, the ignition switch can wear out.
Challenge : Add Bluetooth To An Aux Plug
Solution: Anker SoundSync Drive
The Clarion head unit in my boat dates to 2008, when auxiliary audio plugs were common, but Bluetooth was not. If I wanted to crank “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” from the captain’s chair, I’d have to physically plug in my phone, which meant removing the case and hoping it wouldn’t slide off the dash and into the sea’s merciless, icy clutches. Anker’s SoundSync Drive transmits Bluetooth audio into the AUX jack, so I can keep my phone pocketed. Excellent. But the Anker requires power, which is a problem, since a vehicle without Bluetooth almost certainly lacks a USB port. You can use a 12-volt USB adapter plugged into your car’s lighter, or do what I did and Velcro a cheap USB battery nearby.
Verdict: Power issue solved, and the old Clarion has new life.
Recommended Reading: How To Know If Car Battery Needs To Be Replaced
Should I Upgrade My Car Stereo Head Unit
Before you buy and install one of our recommended best car stereos;or gps navigation units, you need to ask yourself the following questions to determine IF you should upgrade or replace your stereo and what kind of stereo you should upgrade it with.
If, asking yourself all of these question, you still feel it’s necessary to buy and install a new head unit, here are the next steps!
How To Take Out The Old Stereo
Don’t Miss: Which Is The Fastest Car In The World
How To Install A Car Stereo
wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 55 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 1,044,823 times.Learn more…
Installing a new car stereo can often be simple enough to do yourself, and his article will provide you with a general guide on how to do it. Keep in mind that some cars and systems are more complicated than others and that every car and stereo system will be different, so some specifics may vary. Be sure to read any instructions that come with the new car stereo before attempting to install it.
Factory Amplifiers Subwoofers Speakers May Be Lost
The vehicle is a most common place for people to enjoy some tunes. Usually people prefer nice and clean audio from their speakers. The quality audio output comes from the fusion of all components involved: headunit, amplifier, subwoofer, wiring and speakers. To sound good, all these components should be compatible with each other and communicate in the same language. Most car manufacturers highly optimize their vehicles for quality sound. They customize all the components to fit and sound properly in a particular vehicle. By replacing the stereo with aftermarket, it might be impossible to regain the same audio quality. In many cases the custom made interfaces will be required to even allow factory amplifiers to work properly with an aftermarket radio .
Each branded audio system such as JBL, 7Logic, Bose, Mark Levinson etc are using proprietary protocols not supported by aftermarket manufacturers. Even if it is possible to enable factory amplifier to work, there still be issues related to the audio input/output levels and input/output impedance of the aftermarket stereo vs amplifier or speakers. The easiest way to make sure the audio system sounds right is to totally rework the whole audio system by installing an aftermarket amp/sub and speakers by the car audio professionals. Even though it may improve the audio quality significantly, the cost of that operation is prohibitive for an average user.
Don’t Miss: Does Car Insurance Cover Break Ins
Visual Aesthetics Will Suffer
Modern vehicles are not the same as they were 20 years ago with standardized dash designs and radio looks. Modern trends require vehicle manufactures to come up with innovative and great looking designs to win customers. These designs require custom made materials, lighting, textures and shapes. By incorporating a single or double DIN stereo you will see this as a downgrade. Add to that the way the stereo will be blended into the interior. Not matching dash panels, different texture and aftermarket stereo backlit colors that will be hard to match with the rest of the vehicle. There are some aftermarket stereos that are made for the specific vehicle, but usually it is from unknown brands with questionable reliability.
How To Repair A Pillar
New pillar-mount antennas come with the coaxial cables already attached. So after you unscrew and pull out the old unit, cut the old cable and use it to fish the new cable through the pillar to the radio. But be careful! If the splice comes apart inside the pillar, youll have to remove the pillar trim to fish the new cable. Form a hook in the old cable, loop a picture-hanging wire through it and then wrap it with tape for added insurance. Youll have to remove the car radio to hook up the new cable. For about $5, you can buy removal instructions from carstereoremoval.com.
Read Also: How To Get Paint Off A Car
The Biggest Pitfalls Of Diy Head Unit Installation
There are three main issues that you can run afoul of while replacing your own head unit:
- Difficult trim and dash components: Very few car radios pop out of the dash without at least a little finagling. Some are more difficult than others, and you may end up breaking delicate trim components if you aren’t very careful.
- Fit and mounting issues with the new head unit: If you buy a head unit that’s the wrong size, it won’t fit. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you buy the right size head unit, and also pick up the right mounting kit if one is available.
- Wiring confusion: There are some fairly standard wiring color combinations, but you can still run into situations where it isn’t clear what is suppose to connect to where. This is especially true if your radio has already been replaced in the past.
Tools For Installing A New Head Unit
Installing a head unit requires a few basic tools, like:
- Screwdrivers
- Wrenches or sockets
- Pry tool
If youre going to do your own wiring, including self-identification of the OEM wires, instead of using a harness, youll also need:
- Multimeter
- 1.5V battery
You’ll also need one of the following methods of connecting wires together, including the associated accessories and materials:
- Soldering supplies
Also Check: How To Find Car Keys
Remove Any Additional Brackets
Lifewire /;Jeremy Laukkonen
Factory car radios are often held in place with elaborate brackets, which you may or may not need to install your new head unit.
In the vehicle pictured above, the factory stereo is connected to a large bracket that includes a storage pocket. The bracket and the space in the dash are capable of holding a larger head unit. Since, in this example, we are replacing a single-DIN head unit with a new single-DIN head unit, we will reuse both the bracket and the storage pocket. If we were installing a larger head unit, we would remove the pocket and perhaps not use the bracket at all.
If your car has such a bracket, you’ll need to determine whether or not your new head unit requires it. You may be able to install a double-DIN head unit, or you may find that you have one of the few vehicles designed for a 1.5-DIN head unit.