An OE looking deck that does not suck...maybe.

[CurrusDei]

An OE looking deck that does not suck...maybe.

Hope it goes well! I'm interested to see what you find. I'm thinking about putting this in my 89 M3. The previous owner did a complete hack job installing a POS aftermarket unit. I won't thread jack but if you want to see the carnage check out my build thread in the M3 section. I'm drawing up a diagram of the wires as they sit now, will post later for any guidance you or others could provide.


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[CurrusDei]

Hey BlackSpeed what harness did you use? Can you share how you wired it? I started a new thread on my ordeal if you want to see where I am so far


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[BlackSpeed66]

The radio uses a type of ISO pinout that I linked on post #25 in this thread. This type of connector is fairly common on VW/Audi/Mercedes vehicles but the wiring can vary slightly. I bought the connectors from this website:

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/BHO1784.html

Using the factory wiring diagrams from the ETM for my car I was able to figure out what needs to go where. You won't need all the wires for the connectors on the radio as our cars don't have speed sensitive volume, CD changers and steering wheel controls, etc.

[Yogawrench]

I bought the same RMT unit but I'm having no luck getting it to power on. The unit does illuminate when the headlights are on, but there is something I'm missing in the wiring. How did you guys wire the constant and switched 12 volt wires? Maybe I need a jumper wire somewhere to get the unit to turn on? The car its going in is an '88 Super ETA with no previous hackjobs on the radio wiring. Any help would be appreciated!!

[BlackSpeed66]

The back of the unit as it is now... The spade connectors for the antenna/amp lead are temporary until I get everything as I want it. Note that I am only using "half" the wires on the brown speaker harness. This is per a suggestion that Luke made earlier in the thread to get the output voltage on this thing down to a reasonable level. The top wires are all (+) positive wires.







Below is how I hooked up the unit to the factory wiring. I happened to have some existing connectors from another harness and used those so I wouldn't have to cut into the factory harness - the antenna lead being the only exception...



The face of the power connector - note you'll only be using 5 of the eight connections. The rest are for options that don't apply to our cars.



This is how I made the "jumper" to bypass the SAFE mode or whatever VW calls it. Essentially you're connecting the "constant" power to the antenna terminal. You'll still have to put in the code then hold down the ">>" button until it beeps when you reconnect the battery. I have no idea why this is but if you do this, the power antenna will have 12V going to it anytime the car is on. I'm in the process of wiring in a kill switch for it so that it's not up all the time.


Another thing I realized is that VW may have swapped the terminals on the constant & switched power terminals on their wiring depending on the model year. I had to play around with mine since I got different locations from several wiring diagrams, so don't necessarily follow the colors of the wires I used.

Hope this helps, and if anyone has a better way to do this - I am all ears!

[2002tiiguy]

lol, yess, although id add a huge button to turn it on or off