Hello,

The DIAL button on our Z1 was grayed out and unavailable when I tried to make a call this morning. At the time, the car was parked and I had the emergency brake on. Does anyone have an idea why this might be happening?

Also, not to complicate things, but I had someone help me professionally with doing the parking brake ground wire modification in the hopes of being able to use more features while in motion. We are getting the parking brake warning message, nonetheless. Sometimes certain features work while in motion, and at other times, they don't. I can live with that, but help on the grayed out dialing button would be appreciated.

And I'm not even going to 'go there' with comments and questions about Bluetooth echo (that's for another post).

Thanks for any help, and thanks, too, to the people who run this Forum and make it available--it's sure appreciated.

David

1st, have you verified that the BT phone is connected?

2nd, you may still need to reset your avic unit. After you successfully complete the two wire bypass, you need to do a reset (not sure which one, but if you search for the bypass, it should be in that thread). This clears out one of the annoying messages and allows you to perform more of these functions.

Thanks much for the info. The grayed out button problem mysteriously went away a little later the same morning. Your point about making sure my Bluetooth was connected is well taken; I can't say for 100% sure it was connected successfully when I had the problem, but if it ever occurs again, I will definitely check for a valid BT connection.

Thanks, too, for the advice on the reset. By the way, does a manual reset clear out more than standard power on and off, as in, when the engine starts and shuts off? I've never manually reset the system, so maybe I need to do that. I will definitely look for the thread you mentioned.

I can't tell you how much we would like to be able to use so many of the features that are locked out while in motion. My wife and I travel together frequently on business (we are both Realtors, and the phone is in use constantly); often, whomever is in the passenger seat would like to be able to access certain controls (such as the dial feature). Apparently, Pioneer's designers never considered that someone other than the driver might be trying to use certain system features while the car is in motion--I'm assuming (and hoping) that having the restricted features successfully bypassed will make for a more functional/usable system...!

Thanks again.

David

Once successfully bypassed, it is pretty sweet. Phone, Map, DVD, settings, etc are all accessible. Most people have a problem w/ moving the 2nd wire not pushed in far enough. Hope you get it working, it definitely makes it a usable system.

Okay, one more question. Upon looking in the manual, I see four different methods of doing a reset for the Z1:

1: Reset button, clears almost all settings of audio function;

2: Restore factory settings, clears some items in Maps and Settings menus;

3: Reset on start-up, clears settings stored on hard drive; and

4: Clear user info from hard drive on start-up, clears all user data stored on the drive

Any idea which would be best for me to use, given that I've tried the motion modification and am still getting the warning screens mentioned in the previous post and still can't access some functions while in motion?

Thanks!

The full instructions are found at http://www.sminntech.com/z1flash.html, which say "If you are still getting the pop up message, the only way to get rid of it is to press the recessed button to the right of the eject button (the button the opens the face of the Avic-Z1). This will lose your AM/FM radio presets but not much else." This should clear up other function as well. Once I had everything working right and reset the unit, it has been nothing but smooth sailing.

This page also gives some good pics on which pin to ground (in addition to the parking brake wire). It talks about the flasher too, but more than likely you are interested in the two wire bypass...Much easier and any updates it will still work.

Hope this helps!

Mateojimmy, thanks for all your help on this.

By the way, I have a Z2 w/BT installed in a second vehicle. I've not done any mods to it, but am wondering if it, too, can be modified for in-motion use of its features.

But...one thing at a time. I'm going to try to get everything straight with the Z1 in the first car before moving on to the Z2.

I sure wouldn't know half the stuff I do without this Forum and folks like you helping.

Thanks again...

David

good news, Yes!! The Z1, Z2, and Z3 are all basically the same (w/ map updates). The Z1 you may have to add the firmware update or BT update to fully use the bypass, but both should work w/ the two wire bypass.