MegaMan X Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Ok, after what seems like an endless amount of searching, I can't find a stereo place that will help me install my in-dash navigation for cheap. So...time to DIY. Perhaps you guys can help me out here. My Vehicle: 2008 Scion xB Current Headunit: Factory Future Headunit: Avic F90BT Information that I have researched and gathered here: Here's a PDF on how to install the factory navigation (if I had bought it with my car) Here's a PDF on how to install the F90BT Information about my wiring that I found here on this forum: #513391: 2008 SCION XB 4DR SUV Audio/Mobile Video WIRE COLOR POLARITY LOCATION Battery LIGHT GREEN (+) RADIO HARNESS Accesory GRAY (+) RADIO HARNESS Ground BROWN (-) RADIO HARNESS Illumination GREEN (+) AT RADIO HARNESS Power Antenna ORANGE (+) RADIO HARNESS LF Speaker (+) PINK LF Speaker (-) VIOLET RF Speaker (+) LIGHT GREEN RF Speaker (-) BLUE LR Speaker (+) BLACK LR Speaker (-) YELLOW RR Speaker (+) RED RR Speaker (-) WHITE Speed Sense VIOLET (AC) AT RADIO HARNESS ALSO AT ECU MODULE PIN A8 Speed Sense purple ac radio harness Reverse Lights RED (+) AT INTERIOR FUSE BOX - TOP LEFT CORNER Reverse Light red + fuse box, top L, 30 pin plug, pin 30 "VSS Wire Behind Radio 20 pin plug PURPLE wire Pin 3" Accessories that I'm going to buy/bought already: Double DINN In-Dash Reciever (because according to research the F90BT is not wide enough to fit) http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120958202/ ... r-Kit.html Receiver Wire Harness http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120701761/ ... rness.html I've read the bypass threads: here, here, here, and here Ok, please, I have no experience in installing anything electrical...so... 1st. what's my first step? I don't know how to crimp OR solder wires....which of these products should I buy? I think these POSI-PRODUCTS (halfway down the site) listed here: http://www.crutchfield.com/g_820/Instal ... tml?tp=990 will help an amateur like me, but which one do i buy? I don't know what guage wire sizes i'm looking for to buy the right set. I also don't know how many I need. 2nd. I'm pretty sure i'm going to do the software bypass, the software bypass has very detailed answers about what to do with those files in the SD card and yada yada BUT There isn't much information along with PICTURES that tell me what to do with a light green parking wire that everyone mentions very vaguely before going on about the software side of the bypass again. What is going on with it? Please refer back to the top of the post and check out the PDF I've posted about installing the factory navigation. Is there something about the parking wire that I missed that I was supposed to do? 3rd. VSS wire, this is the information i've located about it: Speed Sense VIOLET (AC) AT RADIO HARNESS ALSO AT ECU MODULE PIN A8 Speed Sense purple ac radio harness Is this wire supposed to be crimped/solder onto something else? I thought the wiring harness I'm buying would have taken care of everything. Where does this wire go in relation to the harness? Does it plug directly into a headunit? 4th. Reverse wire. Same question as the VSS Wire Reverse Lights RED (+) AT INTERIOR FUSE BOX - TOP LEFT CORNER Reverse Light red + fuse box, top L, 30 pin plug, pin 30 "VSS Wire Behind Radio 20 pin plug PURPLE wire Pin 3" Is this wire supposed to be crimped/solder onto something else? I thought the wiring harness I'm buying would have taken care of everything. Where does this wire go in relation to the harness? Does it plug directly into a headunit? You can tell I've been researching everything, and I've provided as much information as I could, is there anything else I'm missing before I finish purchasing everything? Sadly, this will be the first time I've taken a car apart to install something, but I figured I'll learn from this experience. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CatchMeIfYouCan631 Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Buy a Wiring Harness and a Dash kit. Go on www.Metraonline.com , type in the year make model of your xB, and it will tell you what model number for the harness under "Harnesses - Into Car" and the Dash kit is under "Kits". All you need after that is the VSS and reverse wire locations, which you have. Soldering isn't too difficult, just buy a soldering gun and solder. Twist the connections together and solder them together permanently. Very simple install in that car, you don't have to worry about CAN or data wires like in German cars Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madsonp Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 If you've never done this before I would suggest finding a friend or someone who has experiance and might be willing to help you out. For the reason that if not done properly, it could possibly result in damage to your Pioneer. If you still plan on doing it here's my answers to your questions 1. Get one of these from radio shack, it comes with instructions for beginners. You may want to pickup some extra solder because this kit doesn't come with much. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MegaMan X Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Are you saying a person with no background information on soldering can solder wires together? What exactly is soldering? Sounds like i'm melting the two wires together? And what exactly is heat shrink tubing? Is soldering the best way to do thing? Even more then crimping? Which method would provide the best sound and clarity? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madsonp Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 In my opinion, I believe soldering and heat shrink tubing is the best way to connect wires, mainly because it gives the cleanest looking and in my opinion the most secure connection. I feel that following the instructions on the link below, you could solder with no problem. The second link explaines the heat shrink tubing. Instead of using a heat gun like they mention, a Bic lighter can achieve the same results, just make sure you don't over heat it. See this link: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-CV3fyPd8Qv ... b1808.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MegaMan X Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Forgot to ask, but are these POSI-Products, basically POS? haha http://www.crutchfield.com/p_669PP500/P ... tml?tp=990 http://www.crutchfield.com/p_669PP605/P ... tml?tp=990 The 2nd link actually comes in a variety of sizes and stuff, but I don't know how these products fare in the real world Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madsonp Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 They don't seem like they'd be as secure as soldering to me. Here's a link explaining what soldering is and how it works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldering Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MegaMan X Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 2. I did the hardwire bypass myself so someone else will have to answer that question. However I believe you don't need to hook it up at all. 3. There'll be a pink wire on your Pioneer wiring harness, connect this to the Violet wire on your vehicles radio harness like your post mentioned, most likely you'll just need to tap into it using these. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2104093 Generally the harness you buy doesn't account for the VSS wire so you just tap into it ahead of this harness. Can you elaborate on #3 please? I'm not sure what you mean by tapping into it? So I would just solder the Violet wire from my vehicle directly with the Pink wire from the Pioneer? I'm not even sure what that radioshack link thing is! for #2, didn't you have to do something with your light green parking wire when you do the bypass? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madsonp Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 When you tap into a wire it's usually a wire that doesn't have an end to easily connect to so you are tapping into the wire itself. So yes you would just tap into the violet wire (vehicles VSS signal wire) with the pink Pioneer VSS connection wire off the head unit's wiring harness. I suggest you visit your local Radio Shack and they can show you how the wire taps work. Or you could strip a small amount of insulation from the wire then solder the pink wire to it, then wrap it with some electrical tape. See the section "Tap Soldering" of this link. http://www.mmxpress.com/technical/connections.htm Either way would work. Like I mentioned earlier when it comes to the by-pass, I did the hard wire by-pass which requires relocating the yellow mute wire to a different pin location in the wiring harness, then grounding both the yellow mute and green parking brake wires. If you are doing the sofware bypass you don't need to be concerned about these wires. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MegaMan X Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Like I mentioned earlier when it comes to the by-pass, I did the hard wire by-pass which requires relocating the yellow mute wire to a different pin location in the wiring harness, then grounding both the yellow mute and green parking brake wires. If you are doing the sofware bypass you don't need to be concerned about these wires. Well, one of the bypass threads here: http://avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=141915#141915 The guy says the software bypass still requires the light green parking wire to be played with still. There's alot of conflicting information on here. I think its safe to say that no matter what, grounding the parking wire will have no negative consequences either way. But what does it mean to ground the parking wire in my particular install? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madsonp Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Like I mentioned at the begining of my replies, I did the hard wire by-pass so I'm not an expert on the software by-pass. If they say you need to ground the green parking brake wire then connect it to either a metal part of the body of your vehicle or to the black ground wire of your Pioneer wiring harness which in your wiring list connects to the Ground BROWN (-) RADIO HARNESS. I'm still thinking you should get someone with a little experiance to help you out with this, because I'm not sure you fully understand what you're getting into. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LawVol Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I had no experience installing anything like this either (although I did know how to solder), and I had no problem with it in my Titan. I just did a lot of research beforehand and went kind of slow. The wiring harness that you'll buy will be color coded the same as the harness that comes with the F90, so you'll just match up like-color wires. Couldn't be easier. There's videos on youtube that show you how to solder. And yes, if you do the software bypass, you still have to ground the parking brake wire. These forums are obviously a big help, but you should probably check out some vehicle-specific forums, too. That helped me out quite a bit with dash trim removal, running things like the mic and XM antenna, and finding the reverse wire. There's probably good info to be found on Xb forums. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TwlVoltz Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I always crack up reading these post . You dont want to pay to get it done right after you spent how much on your unit and car. Todays cars are no place for someone with no experience. Do you do your own surgery to save a trip to the hospital? Its actually good for us when one of you come in our install bay , we get to charge even more to fix all the things done wrong then start over and do it right. Now i know some of you will say i can do it myself and maybe some of you can but for someone that has no knowledge at all as stated they should not be doing this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CatchMeIfYouCan631 Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I always crack up reading these post . You dont want to pay to get it done right after you spent how much on your unit and car. Todays cars are no place for someone with no experience. Do you do your own surgery to save a trip to the hospital? Its actually good for us when one of you come in our install bay , we get to charge even more to fix all the things done wrong then start over and do it right. Now i know some of you will say i can do it myself and maybe some of you can but for someone that has no knowledge at all as stated they should not be doing this. Not all of today's vehicles require years of experience for the simplist of installs. He's not asking to put an autostarter in a Volvo, he's asking to put a radio in a Scion. With color coded wiring harnesses and all the information he needs, It's possible for someone with no experience to do this install. Every installer started out not knowing a thing.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MegaMan X Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I had no experience installing anything like this either (although I did know how to solder), and I had no problem with it in my Titan. I just did a lot of research beforehand and went kind of slow. The wiring harness that you'll buy will be color coded the same as the harness that comes with the F90, so you'll just match up like-color wires. Couldn't be easier. There's videos on youtube that show you how to solder. And yes, if you do the software bypass, you still have to ground the parking brake wire. These forums are obviously a big help, but you should probably check out some vehicle-specific forums, too. That helped me out quite a bit with dash trim removal, running things like the mic and XM antenna, and finding the reverse wire. There's probably good info to be found on Xb forums. Well, i'm pretty sure I can take apart the dash cause I have instructions on a PDF listed on the 1st post in this topic that I found on a scion forum =] Could specifically tell me what it means to ground the parking wire. This what I think it means... First I'll show you where my parking wires are exactly: So I know where it runs to. And this is what I think it means to ground the parking wire, and you tell me if I'm on the right track. The light green wire from headunit connects to the wiring harness. The wiring harness connects to the stock connection. From there, my parking brake wire in my case is red/white. Here's where i'm confused... I cut the red/white wire in half? The wire coming from the stereo, I strip off of the insulation to expose the copper. Wrap the copper around the top of a screw somewhere in the car, and screw it down. The wire come from the actual parking brake itself...Do I also screw it somewhere? Electrical tape the tip and leave it alone?? Strip it and then electrical tape it? Ok for the VSS Wire The Pioneer headunit VSS wire is pink, and specifically comes out of the power cord wires. The VSS wire in my car is violet, as stated multiple time. Is this what I do with said wire? That's what i'm doing, I'm searching, and posting only questions I need. Trying to be not too much of a noob I always crack up reading these post . You dont want to pay to get it done right after you spent how much on your unit and car. Todays cars are no place for someone with no experience. Do you do your own surgery to save a trip to the hospital? Its actually good for us when one of you come in our install bay , we get to charge even more to fix all the things done wrong then start over and do it right. Now i know some of you will say i can do it myself and maybe some of you can but for someone that has no knowledge at all as stated they should not be doing this. I don't want to pay to pull my pants down and bend over. I asked on this forum for good competitive priced places to go for installation here: http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142521 Don't think I didn't try, cause then you're just ignorant. The general consensus for installation here in Southern California is $300. That's just for the navigation, I haven't even added the cost of adding in the PAC Controller for Steering wheel capabilities. We're in a Recession right now remember? Alot of people are interested in DIY, so if they don't want to pay you $300 (which is all labor, which equals all $300 into your pocket). They rather save the $300 install, and paid their rent or buy groceries, and support their kids. You can go look for a new job if that's your attitude when you're working in the installation bays. Well, that's why I'm here, I'm learning to gain knowledge, and I think this is a good place to learn. That way, I can help my friends. Don't you help your friends out as well? Besides, I think I'm on the right track. And do I really know what an installation place is going to do/promises to do? Worst Case Scenario: http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/31/man- ... stall-gon/ Here's a short snippet: ...he bought a Pioneer AVIC Z2 GPS unit and some other components from Circuit City last July for more $3,000 and decided to let their installers do the installation work for him -- apparently after he was told that it'd slide into his Honda Civic without any modifications.The problems then allegedly began when the installer whipped out a heat gun, which was purportedly intended to be used to mold a mounting guide for the GPS unit but instead wound up melting one of the Civic's heating ducts. As if that wasn't enough, the installer apparently also used tape to hold the GPS unit in place, installed the antennae on the inside of the car instead of the outside, and used a glue gun to install the speakers instead of bolting them in place... I don't need that drama right now, you never know if they're going to have sex in your backseat, tag your car follow you home then steal your headunit, screw up the installation themselves by wiring the wrong thing (nobody's perfect), or something to that effect. Besides, I think the knowledge learned here will help me wire my car or future cars. Everyone has to start somewhere right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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