Aftermarket Radio install problems!

[1MiC]

Well today me and a friend aka my installer went to work on the radio and i ran into a couple problems. For reference i have a 03 with thx nav unit.

1. The dash kit is anything but flush! Its an "american international" kit sent from crutchfield. #1 its black and my interior is silver, but they dont offer a silver. #2 i cannot get the radio and the ac controls to sit flush. I wasnt concerned because all the other pics i found on the site looked good, however it seems most people are using the metra kit. So i ordered the silver metra kit just now, and i hold it arrives before or as soon as the wiring harness. Now this is just having it mounted but not installed because they also sent me the wiring harness for an 00-02. This i should have double checked first because i knew 03 uses both... but i didnt. and now im forced to wait another week.

However another interesting find is i still dont know, and havn't looked at what the hell this thing is!

Now when i bought the car he told me he THINKS its an AUX adapter. He said he was told that you plug in your aux and find the right radio station and it will play. Well he was never able to find the station and neither was I. I also had no aux option on my radio, just cd/fm/fm2 and whatever else was normal. i dont know where the wires go but im guessing to the glove? i might pull the glove out just cure my curiosity.

Anyways definantly a rookie misake on my part, connecting all the wires to the harness and then realizing its the wrong harness!

 

[1LoudLS]

first, for the dash kit, there are alignment nubs on the climate controls ("CC" from here on out) that make sure that the CC's and the radio line up right, the dash kit also has holes to do the same, but most of the time the nubs are too long and wont let the CC and the radio go together all the way. this can be fixed by cutting some of the nub off, dont cut the whole nub off just enough so that the kit and the CC fit together right.


as far as the harness, even when you get it, it still wont work, there is not a wire harness for the THX system, you will have to follow this thread to make it work
http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=73639&highlight=avic


that does look like a AUX input, if it was to be used on a FM channel, there would be a switch somewhere to turn the modulator on before you can find out what channel it works on. follow the wires to find your answers




also you will not be able to use the illum wire in the harness, you will have to run the kenwood's illum wire down and tap into one of the light bulb wires at the ash tray so that your unit is not so damn bright at night.

 

[Elemino]

Goodluck with that THX system. I haven't worked on the LS yet (my 03 has THX as well), but I just finished my truck's system. Because it had THX I had to pull the entire system and replace everything.

Factory Radio Replacement Project - 2005 Navigator w/ THX

As for the Aux adapter. You'll have to find out where it goes. There's likely an FM modulator at the end of it. Typically it plugs inline with the factory antenna leading to the radio. The modulator will have to be set before you can tune your radio to the right frequency to pick it up. It's not the best way to go, FM has a limited frequency range. Your new radio will likely have some type of AUX input (RCA or mini plug), and it will be much better if you use it instead.

Goodluck!

 

[joegr]

Be warned that the harness for the THX nav is different than the harnesses for the non-nav units. AFAIK, no one has 100% correct adapters for this. Also note that the door speakers do not run to the back of the head unit. Instead they run to a factory amp in the trunk. You will have to make an adapter to feed line level signals to the factory amp, or you will have to rewire the car to bring the speaker wring to the back of the head unit. Either way, the normal harness adapters aren't going to help you that much.

Edit: The other responses weren't there when I started mine...

 

[1MiC]

Yeah i have andrizzle's write up as well as Mr. Howies' write up printed out for reference. I personally have not installed a stereo and im not personally doing this one. a much more experienced friend is doing all the dirty work for me.

Now with andrizzle's write up i was wondering if maybe i wont have the exact same problems since he is using a avic harness and mine is kenwood? I let my installer know ahead of time that from everything ive read this isnt gonna be plug and play as far as the harness i hadnt decided if i was going to bypass the speaker amps or keep them in use, i figuired when we got to the wiring i would let him decide which route he would be more comfortable with. Andrizzle bypassed and said he didnt notice much of a difference where as mr. howie took full advantage of the stock system.

Im actually not too upset this happened because for 1, its the wrong color kit and i went and ordered the correct one. 2 i forgot to order the steering wheel adapter and now it should be coming in the same day.

 

[1LoudLS]

if i where you, i would keep the factory amplification if the HU is the only thing you are changing and everything else is stock, the factory sub alone will make a big difference. however if youy are planing to replace all of the speakers, then i would go with an amp bypass

 

[1MiC]

first, for the dash kit, there are alignment nubs on the climate controls ("CC" from here on out) that make sure that the CC's and the radio line up right, the dash kit also has holes to do the same, but most of the time the nubs are too long and wont let the CC and the radio go together all the way. this can be fixed by cutting some of the nub off, dont cut the whole nub off just enough so that the kit and the CC fit together right.

Well... the nubs are already gone! :/ they were def too long, but i guess cutting them down wasnt thought of.

that does look like a AUX input, if it was to be used on a FM channel, there would be a switch somewhere to turn the modulator on before you can find out what channel it works on. follow the wires to find your answers

Ok well there is a round/oval flush switch to the left of the cupholders. Now i didnt think till now, while i was searching these forums as much as i did when i first joined to see if that switch was in anyone else's car. When i bought it he said it had heated cupholders, which i never gave a f#ck about and i assumed that was the switch for them.

also you will not be able to use the illum wire in the harness, you will have to run the kenwood's illum wire down and tap into one of the light bulb wires at the ash tray so that your unit is not so damn bright at night.

Ok good to know!

if i where you, i would keep the factory amplification if the HU is the only thing you are changing and everything else is stock, the factory sub alone will make a big difference. however if youy are planing to replace all of the speakers, then i would go with an amp bypass

Well the speakers and sub amps i wanted to keep, but again i was open to either option for the speaker amp.I have infinity speakers on my wishlisht but only after i have a full system installed. However i know i want to keep the amp for the subs active because i dont think i will be able to afford a system till well after the summer.

Anyways thanks for the advice, all the reading ive done i know your one of a few people who i dont doubt to know whats what.

 

[1LoudLS]

thanks for the advice, all the reading ive done i know your one of a few people who i dont doubt to know whats what.

thank you, and good luck! let us know how it turns out!

 

[1LoudLS]

also, definitely not heated cup holders! unless somebody felt the need to add it aftermarket (which i doubt if you still have the factory plastic cup holder)

 

[BlackLS06]

Why are you not using the stock THX double din trim??

 

[Elemino]

also you will not be able to use the illum wire in the harness, you will have to run the kenwood's illum wire down and tap into one of the light bulb wires at the ash tray so that your unit is not so damn bright at night.

Why is that? I had no problems with the illumination working on my AVIC in the Navigator. It switches to night mode using the stock wire.

Why are you not using the stock THX double din trim??

Excellent Question, as I have not done the LS yet.

 

[joegr]

Why is that? I had no problems with the illumination working on my AVIC in the Navigator. It switches to night mode using the stock wire.

Excellent Question, as I have not done the LS yet.

We are talking about an LS, not a Navigator. The two don't even look similar on the outside. The LS does not bring a dash illumination signal to the stock radio. Instead, the dash lighting (on/off and level) is indicated to the stock head unit via messages on the car's data bus.

 

[1LoudLS]

Why is that? I had no problems with the illumination working on my AVIC in the Navigator. It switches to night mode using the stock wire.

simple, an LS is not a Navigator.

for starters, one of them is based off of a ford truck platform.

the other is a European car with plastic and aluminum surgery.

 

[Elemino]

A simple answer would have sufficed guys.

I've done many installs of car audio, but I've never replaced anything as complex as these two THX systems before. It's a bit odd they're different considering they use similar connectors and nearly identical radios. But I'll just do as you say and run a wire.

 

[1LoudLS]

the problem is that, even though they do use the same connectors, they are pinned a lot differently, and nobody makes a simple plug and play harness for this system because there is so little need for it. 9 out of 10 of the guys on here with the THX never have the desire to change out any part of an option they paid so much for, or it really is good enough for them (which as OEMs go, its up there!)

 

[1MiC]

Im replacing because my cd player went out and the radio stations here suck! also since my cd player went out my fm reception went to sh!t (Does anyone know why that is?) So i either had to drive around listening to a sorry radio station with bad reception, or put my headphones in. I usually chose the latter. Im gonna be a little sad if i find out out it had an aux adapter installed as i mentioned above (i havn't had time to get back in there yet). I was perfectly happy with the stock system, and i would have waited on a new head unit if it had the aux.

 

[03LsGirl]

Hi I'm new. I have an 03 Ls v8 with the Navi radio that reads cd error. I'm thinking seriously about replacing this with Kenwood DNX570HD. But I have a series of questions. 1. Is it a good radio? 2. Will it work with my iphone 5? 3. HOW DO I FIND SOMEONE THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING to install this? 4. Is a removable face a smarter choice? 5. What brand speakers are good? I've goto more but these are major to me. I've read some threads and I'm all nervous about changing the unit. I don't want my car tore up. HELP!

 

[1LoudLS]

1. Is it a good radio?

yes

2. Will it work with my iphone 5?

yes*

3. HOW DO I FIND SOMEONE THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING to install this?

call around and talk to people, read the thread that i linked to, and ask the installers that you talk to if they have ever done this before or things like it. do you trust them, do they have experience with it, how would they interface with the amp...

print out the instructions from that thread and give it to the installer that you choose.

4. Is a removable face a smarter choice? no, units with moving faces are more prone to breaking that radios with out moving faces, removable face radios also fail more than non moving face radios.

5. What brand speakers are good?

there are a lot of good brands, we can all list all the best sounding brands but they might not be affordable, you should always go in and listen to everything with your own music if possible and see what you think sounds good, what sounds good to one person may sound bad to another.





* the iphone 5 will work through BT, but as of now, kenwood does not offer a cable with the new connector. http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/ipod/ but it works if you use a the cable it came with or their single wire cable with a lightning adapter, but you wont get video.

from crutchfields website:
Note: If you have an iPod nano (7th gen), iPod touch (5th gen), or iPhone 5; use the Lighting-to-USB cable that came with your Apple device to connect to the head unit. These Apple devices only support audio playback (no video output).