ok, seems like everyone here know how to modify electronics, i dont. i have been reading all of the threads here, and have come away impressed with everyone's abilities.

i just purchased the z1 for my fj cruiser that is on order. for the record, i got it for $1615 at the actual ABT store which is authorized. online price at ABT is 2200.

the bulid date is july, so i was going to do the 06/07 mod.

here are my questions:
1. when ou say to connect the wire to ground, how exactly is this done in lay terms?
2. this is a big, reputeable install shop. how do i get them to do this for me? will slipping some cash to the installer under the table get it done?
3. i asked the salesman, and he said its a liablitiy for the shop. he said they would leave the wires exposed and i can do it. but the wires are in the back of the z1, so wont i have to pull the unit out of the dash? and how easy is that

thanks for anyone who can help a less experienced, but interested z1 buyer.

Belosh said:

here are my questions:
1. when ou say to connect the wire to ground, how exactly is this done in lay terms?

There is a black wire on the wiring harness from your car, you want to connect the parking brake light green wire and the "secret" connector 2 wire to that black wire.

Belosh said:

2. this is a big, reputeable install shop. how do i get them to do this for me? will slipping some cash to the installer under the table get it done?

It's possible, someone there might do it "after hours" for a $50 or something.

Belosh said:

3. i asked the salesman, and he said its a liablitiy for the shop. he said they would leave the wires exposed and i can do it. but the wires are in the back of the z1, so wont i have to pull the unit out of the dash? and how easy is that?

This could be easy for you, have them pull out a black ground wire and the light green parking brake wire and what ever they use for the connector 2 wire and bring them out from behind the Z1 and out under the dash, they can dangle at your feet if need be, then just expose the wire (strip the insulation off the wire) and twist them all together, put some good electrical tape on that and tuck it up under your dash and you are good to go!

thanks for your help. i am capable of doing that. i guess my only obsticle will be putting the wire into the secret slot before they put it in the dash.

My guess is they might do that for you.... they might not ground the wire, and leave that up to you, but you might be able to talk them into sticking that wire into the harness, not connecting it to anything and just bringing out the wire down under the dash with ground and the parking brake and just strip the wires and twist them all together. Tape them up with GOOD 3M electrical tape.

Just give them the picture on the bottom of this page:
http://www.sminntech.com/z1flash.html
And tell them to stick an unused wire from another harness into it and bring it out for you with ground and the parking brake.

This is something you can do in the parking lot if you take wire stippers and some electrical tape with you and they do bring out the wires under the dash for you.

they exposed the parking brake wire and the secret wire. they instructed me to cut the parking wire then attach both to a bolt nearby which is grounding it. i have done this, and i think it is working. what is the easiest way to know if you have full functioning?

Just drive around for a little while and hit the Menu button. If PIO search, Vacinity seach, Address seach, etc. are available (you can click on them) it worked. You can also simply play a DVD while driving.

i am good to go, and very happy

I read over your articale and I am in the same situation. I feel exactly the way you did. :?
The situation I'm in is that my Z1 is already installed. I didn't know ahead of time that all of these features were disabled prior to my install. Although I did know the DVD wouldn't work. Just never knew the features for the Navi would be disabled. Now I would like to have them enabled.
I have the July 2006 model installed in my 2001 Honda Accord EX. If I pull out the Z1 to make these connections, how hard is it going to be for me to utilize this Bypass? Will the wires that I need to connect to be there as noted for you? This question is more so geared towards the ones that helped you out.
Also, I've read about how there's all these programing steps or turning light on and off. Am I going to have to do all that for this bypass to work??

Now that I know about this Forum...I'll probably have a lot more questions when it comes to adding more options later. :)

comopr2, problem is that you have a July 06 unit. You could need to flash your headlights every time you start your car or you might need to ground 2 wires. Follow the link I posted above to know for sure.... or at least get a good idea.

The programming was for people who needed to flash their lights and wanted to use an off the shelf device called a Pac TR7, that needs to be programmed to bypass an older Z1. My circuit was designed so that people could put something in without programming, and just attach 4 wires.

Good afternoon!

After reading tons of posts, both here and at VWV, AND after having received my AVIC-D1, I am about ready to install the whole shebang into my 2003 Jetta. But first I want to double check a few things, so if you could just say "Yup" or "Hell No!" I'd greatly appreciate it.

1.) For the bypass I took the cell mute wire out of the plug and inserted it into the empty corner sport. I then connected the other end of that wire with the parking break and reverse wires from the pioneer plug and conected the three of them with the black ground wire that came from my 70-9003 harness that's connected to the existing harness in my Jetta. Is this correct as far as the bypass goes?

2.) I connected the yellow 12v constant (memory) wire from the pioneer plug to the yellow wire coming from the 70-9003. The instructions from the 70-9003 say that this is the 12v memory wire. The original stock radio says labels that pin as KI.30. Is this correct?

3.) Should I run the red wire from the pioneer plug (switched power) to #31 in the fuse box, the actual connector with the yellow/black wire near the OBDII, or the red/brown keysense wire near the ignition? (There is no switched power in the harness for that year/model VW.)

4.) The pioneer plug has two ground wires coming out of it that join together (came that way). Should I run those to the same black ground wire from the 70-9003 to which I connected the parking brake, reverse, and "cell mute" wire? Or should I run it somewhere entirely different?

That about covers it with the possible exception that I have no idea where to connect the orange/white dimmer wire as the stock harness doesn't supply that. I don't really care about that too much though.

Thank you all!

IceColdEuro said:

Good afternoon!

After reading tons of posts, both here and at VWV, AND after having received my AVIC-D1, I am about ready to install the whole shebang into my 2003 Jetta. But first I want to double check a few things, so if you could just say "Yup" or "Hell No!" I'd greatly appreciate it.

1.) For the bypass I took the cell mute wire out of the plug and inserted it into the empty corner sport. I then connected the other end of that wire with the parking break and reverse wires from the pioneer plug and conected the three of them with the black ground wire that came from my 70-9003 harness that's connected to the existing harness in my Jetta. Is this correct as far as the bypass goes?

Yup

IceColdEuro said:

2.) I connected the yellow 12v constant (memory) wire from the pioneer plug to the yellow wire coming from the 70-9003. The instructions from the 70-9003 say that this is the 12v memory wire. The original stock radio says labels that pin as KI.30. Is this correct?

Yup

IceColdEuro said:

3.) Should I run the red wire from the pioneer plug (switched power) to #31 in the fuse box, the actual connector with the yellow/black wire near the OBDII, or the red/brown keysense wire near the ignition? (There is no switched power in the harness for that year/model VW.)

run it to the red/brown key sense wire. This way the avic will work more like the stock radio. It'll stay on until the key is removed.

IceColdEuro said:

4.) The pioneer plug has two ground wires coming out of it that join together (came that way). Should I run those to the same black ground wire from the 70-9003 to which I connected the parking brake, reverse, and "cell mute" wire? Or should I run it somewhere entirely different?

Hell no. Ground em all to the black wire in the 9003 harness. The reverse wire should not be grounded. If you're not going to hook it yup then just tape it up.

IceColdEuro said:

That about covers it with the possible exception that I have no idea where to connect the orange/white dimmer wire as the stock harness doesn't supply that. I don't really care about that too much though.

You could tap that into the parking light wire if you want the map to switch over to night mode when you turn on the headlights. If you don't care about that then just tape it up.

IceColdEuro said:

Thank you all!

You're welcome.

I did the software mod no problem on the AVIC-F90, all I had left to do was ground the darn thing. The guy at the shop said that all I had to do was cut the green wire he left exposed by my break and ground it. I had to ground both ends for the DVD to play, But my BREAK light is always on in my car. Did I do something wrong? Or is this just a car specific thing. IT's a 2005 Buick Lacrosse. I didn't want to mess with the harness because it was hard to get one for a buick, and its integrated into my steering wheel want to touch anything since the installer spent hours getting the steering wheel controls to work. (Note, if you're ever looking for anything custom for a buick, your wasting your time)

When you cut the green wire, you grounded the wrong side. You want to completely disconnect the lt green wire from the parking brake, and just ground the side going back to the AVIC.

HAHA, your right, I had my ends mixed up. bypass complete with the 256.0 value.