iPod adapter installation (2001 SE) w/lotsa pix

[hawkjet]

Originally posted on Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:53 pm on the old BC forum

To install the PAC iPAC-OEM, I need to have a CD Changer harness. But I don't. So I needed to add something similar. Since I have no intention of having an actual CD Changer in the trunk, I don't need the harness to go back there. I only want the iPod and will keep it in the glove box or console, so I just wired up a short harness in the dash.

You need to get access to connector C215 and add three wires, Audio (R), Audio (L) and Audio (Common). These are the conductors that would normally have the audio signal from the CD Changer.


But to get to it, you need to take apart the dashboard. It may look ominous, but it really doesn't take long (the second time you do it, you can do it in 15 to 20 mins.). First remove the fascia from around the instrument panel and radio.

There are two plastic rivets going up into the fascia above the instrument cluster. Press the center of the rivets upward (pics 1 & 2) and then carefully pry the rivets out (pic 3).




Pry the trim ring off the ignition switch (pic 4) notice I put electrical tape around the screwdriver blade to avoid marring the trim. Then pull out the 'cubby hole' on the left of the wheel (pic 5). Tilt the wheel all the way down and pull the panel off the dash (pic 6).




Reach behind the right side and disconnect the connector(pic7). Carefully tweek the panel to get it around the wheel and out of the way.

Next remove the defroster grille. Pry under the corner and begin pulling it up (Pic 8 ). Before you can remove the grille you need to disconnect or remove the Twilight Sentinel sensor. This is a real bear. It is supposed to untwist a quarter turn but I disconnected the connector instead - it still wasn't easy (pic 9).




Now remove the caps on the ends of the dash that but against the doors when they are closed. Grab as shown and pull (pic 10). They will pivot as shown (pics 11 & 12). Remove 8 screws. There is one on the passenger side where you just removed the end cap (pic 13).




There are 5 along the base of the windshield (pics 14 & 15). Be careful not to drop your tool or the screws down the defroster duct ! (Guess how I know about this ). The last two are above the instrument cluster on each side (pics 16 & 17).




Pry the top of the A Pillar trim and pull off then slide back (pics 18, 19 & 20).




Pry up the dash pad and remove (pics 21, 22 & 23).




Now connector C215 is accessible.




A cable is added and these contacts get installed.




This is the cable that is added (pic 24). The blue retainer on the connector, needs to be removed (pic 25). With a small screwdriver, unhook the latch on each side and then pull it out between all the wires. The connections then slip into the appropriate holes and snap in place. I had my hands full at this point and didn't get a photo. The Class 2 Serial Bus wire gets spliced in now too. It gets spliced with a purple wire. You can see it and the green wire from the new cable.




After the pins are in place, the blue retainer gets reassembled. This is a small wrestling match because of the short harness, the limited room with the windshield and having to reach over the dash and steering wheel. The first time I tried to put it in upside down. This is what it looks like in place (pics 26 & 27).

This cable and Class 2 Serial Bus wire are the main pieces that are missing if there is no CD Changer harness. All that is left is power and ground.

The PAC iPAC-OEM will now connect to this cable (plus power and ground). It is available with an adapter harness that plugs into the connector that normally plugs into the changer. I wired mine directly and didn't use the adapter harness (because I don't have the changer connector anyway).

[velvetdreams21]

good write up

[drdivo]

Doesn't that adapter permanently disable the XM radio (if equipped?)

[hawkjet]

Doesn't that adapter permanently disable the XM radio (if equipped?)

I don't see why it has to but yes it does

[GoldenBullet]

*dang* dude, awesome write up!

[velvetdreams21]

Doesn't that adapter permanently disable the XM radio (if equipped?)

I don't see why it has to but yes it does

Oh ouch

[JBMark33]

So, if I buy this: http://www.pfyc.com/pc/GN8002/GPOTHER/P ... rface.html

Then I have to do what you did above?

I sure hope not...

[hawkjet]

So, if I buy this: http://www.pfyc.com/pc/GN8002/GPOTHER/P ... rface.html

Then I have to do what you did above?

I sure hope not...

That is for an aftermarket head unit. It has nothing to do with this post.

[lewis26]

HERES HOW TO GET XM AND IPOD IN YOUR CAR.

Now hawkjet and I had figured out a solution to keep both XM and an aux input on the old forum. Ill try to explain it here, and then post some pics later.

First thing you'll need is a headphone extension cable, about a 25ft. I got a panel mount one online, so that i could make it look almost factory. You'll need to remove interior pieces from where you plan to mount the jack, along with the back seat and trunk carpet on the left side.

Basically you'll need to run the cable from your mounting location (mine is in the ashtray), all the way through the car to the trunk XM module. This ran through the dash, along the floorboards, under the back seat, etc. Then when you get the end of the cable near the XM box, cut it off.

You'll then wire the cable in parallel with 3 wires from the XM stuff. The red wire goes to the Brown/white wire. The white wire goes to the green/white wire. The silver braided wire goes to the black/white common audio wire. This is all i had to do. I put the car back together and tested it out.

How it works:
So I turn my car on, and put it on XM radio. It finds a channel, and starts to play. Then when i plug in my ipod, for some reason the car senses the impedance change or something, because it lowers the volume of the XM channel, but you can still here it during quiet parts of your song. So you need to go to XM channel 0, the radio ID channel. BUT you can only get there using the seek buttons, not the tune dial. I dont know why but when getting there with the tune dial, it mutes the channel. So what i do is I have the number 6 preset to channel 1, and then seek down from there. And then if you wanna listen to normal XM, just unplug the ipod, and the Xm goes to normal volume.

It works like a dream. Beautiful quality, and sounds like a CD. Ill try to post a pic or 2 of the jack, but everything else is buried deep in the car. Please feel free to ask any questions.

[93 SSE 4 ME]

This sounds exactly what I'm looking for. Sent you a PM. Where did you order your cable, jack, etc online?

Thanks,

Mark

[93 SSE 4 ME]

Installed the cable today after work with no issues whatsoever. Pulled the driver's seat to aid in running / hiding the cable. Works great, and I can use either the rotary tuner knob or the seek button to get to XM channel "0". Everything else works as Mike (lewis26) described above. It looks like a factory installation, and is easier to access than the iPod / MP3 jack in my wife's Acura TL (mine's in the ashtray well, hers is buried in the console. I am truly appreciative of both his and hawkjet's efforts in this area. I bought the car and the iPod within a few weeks of each other, and have been looking for a solution which would allow me to have clear iPod reception as well as retain the XM. This is it, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Mark

[drdivo]

You guys are AWESOME. I'm about to go on a two week road trip, and .. wow. I just bought a Harmon Kardon Drive + Play 1 new in the box, but was still uncertain about the in-line FM modulator.

Now, I can either use the Drive + Play or NOT (it gives charging and easier control over playlists) but can have a good sound coming through. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.

Thanks!

[*B2*]

Unfortunately Hawkjet, I still haven't done this mod. I would still like to though. How do you search for songs on your Ipod? Do you have to search through the headunit or can you search on the Ipod? I have over 15gb of music now and searching for music with the headunit would be a real pain.

[drdivo]

I'm going to work on installing a Harmon/Kardon Drive + Play this weekend, and I wish to utilize your outstanding discovery on wiring in from the line out mini-plug to the XM radio -

This leads me to a question - since I don't know exactly WHERE my XM radio module is to find the appropriate plug to wire the cable to - could you gentlemen help me locate it?

[lewis26]

XM module is in the trunk, on the left side behind the carpet.

[drdivo]

So, I don't know if he did it correctly, but I had one of my "handy" friends (he does a lot of work with electronics) perform this mod. It worked, in terms of accessing the XM through Channel 0. However, my Harmon/Kardon drive+play sourcing through this accessory cable sounded like .. um .. poopoo. Horrible alternator whine and distortion.

I don't know whether it was the H/K unit creating the distortion, or whether it was the way he wired it into the XM module, ran the cable or what.

I'm waiting for the other guy here on the board to write up how he installed his 3sixty.1 and see if that's my solution. In the meantime, I'm iPodless.

Oh, the cassette adapter - she don't work so well in the high end non-Lux radios - the cassette deck just spits it back out.

[lewis26]

I get alternator whine in my stereo when the ipod is charging also. But when the ipod isnt charging, its crystal clear. Have you tried just plugging the ipod in directly, and removing the drive and play all together?

[drdivo]

I get alternator whine in my stereo when the ipod is charging also. But when the ipod isnt charging, its crystal clear. Have you tried just plugging the ipod in directly, and removing the drive and play all together?

Then, there is no line noise.

So - in my ongoing panic to have iPod integration in a car that isn't designed for it, I bought the Harmon/Kardon drive+play 1 and had it installed in my car.

It looks pretty cool, mounted on my Kuda USA pad, just above my Treo - and the rotary remote mirrors the operation of the iPod. Not the same as true iPod integration into the head unit, but ..

We tried connecting the H/K device through the inline, wired FM modulator. LOTS of line noise. Sucks. Then, we tried hard wiring it in through the XM Module, as described on another thread here - that was worse. When the H/K device was powered up, you couldn't even listen to the XM at all - when the H/K device was turned off, the XM sounded normal.

The H/K device draws its power off of the front console cigar lighter, so it's always powered up.

So, it's the cassette adapter or garbage sound. Bleh.

Today's question for the more electronically creative than I - where else could I tap into power? Is there another ground I could use? Is there a filter that would help? Am I tilting at windmills? HELP!

[lewis26]

It may get to the point where "integration" isnt possible, but at least having a direct in so you get high quality audio is possible.

Did you try plugging the ipod in without the drive and play plugged in, and listen to the direct in that way?

[93 SSE 4 ME]

I'm going to give this a try in my Duramax. I ordered a USA*SPEC iPod integration unit ($140)for the truck, but it won't function in the hybrid mode, which allows control from both the radio head unit as well as the iPod. It will only operate in the direct mode, which relies on using the iPod to control all functions, but not the head unit...

The USA*SPEC module will charge the iPod, but so will my five dollar cigarette lighter adapter. So I sent it back to Crutchfield. USA*SPEC states that if the iPod is current with the last few Apple updates, it defeats the hybrid mode.

I've got to take a look at the harness going into the XM module to make sure all the wires are color coded the same. Rather than use a panel-mount jack this time, I'm going to give an MP3 adapter cable a try, which will plug directly into the iPod's headphone jack.

Mark