Installing single-DIN radio in place of double-DIN Premium 6

nukefission

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Location
Woodbridge, VA
TDI
2002 Golf
I posted this on Vortex but I'd like to solicit some input from here as well.

My 2002 Golf came with a Premium 6 double-DIN radio. I got a single DIN radio out of another VW (waiting on the VIN from the donor car so I can get the code generated) that I want to replace the Premium 6 with, and use the extra room for gauges, etc. I'm going for a factory look, hence the desire to use another factory radio.

The new radio has a different harness connector than the Premium 6. See this page at the bottom for drawings: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-c....html.

I've made up a harness to connect the single-DIN radio to the Premium 6 harness connector, using factory style pigtails I got from a local stereo shop. Connecting the speaker wires ("brown" connector) was pretty straight forward, but mapping the "black" connector wires to the appropriate spots in the new radio is proving to be more of a challenge. The Premium 6 has the following pinout:

CAN+
CAN-
Mute (NA on my car)
GND
-+B (NA on my car)
ALM
+B
SAFE

So far I've mapped the following wires from the Premium 6 harness connector to the new radio:

GND
ALM
+B
SAFE

There are two more wires from the Premium 6 harness connector to route (CAN+ and CAN-, according to the diagram on the Premium 6 radio itself), but 3 available spots in the new radio:

K-LN ("K-wire")
S (SU contact, or ignition switch)
KL58b (illumination, or dimmer)

According to the Ross-Tech page linked above, the Premium 6 radio does not have a K-wire connection, rather a CAN+ and CAN-. Do I need to wire either one of the harness CAN+ or CAN- to the K-wire spot on the new radio? Of the two wires left to route on the Premium 6 harness, one of them gives 12V when the ignition is off and the key is out; with the key on it drops to ~4V. I'm having a hard time figuring out which one is supposed to be used for switched ignition or dimmer. The voltage of one of the wires changes from .30V to .50V when the headlights are turned on.

I'm wondering if this sort of swap is even possible. Any help would be appreciated!
 

mtltdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Location
Canada
TDI
2003 Golf GLS, Indigo Blue
Hi,

If you want to run diagnostics, you can connect the K-LN to Pin 7 in the OBD connector. I tapped mine under the drivers knee panel area and ran a wire to the Single Din radio harness. This is also useful to set up the soft coding of the radio. My research indicates gray with white stripe, but go by wire position in the connector.

Ignore the Can +- wires, they have no equivalent in the S. Din radio.

The dimmer wire can be run to the dimmer switch, there are three wires, you can use a multimeter to test the one which varies when you spin the rheostat.

The S-Contact goes to The Blue T32, pin 30 in the cluster harness. My research shows that it is at the fused side of S237 (Position 37 in fuse box, 10 amp fuse.) The wire is yellow with a red stripe. In the Bentley diagrams it's called 86s.

If your radio also has GALA, you can get this at Pin 3 of the Blue T32 connector behind the instrument cluster.

Just to check your wiring:

Safe = Positive Constant wire
+B = Fused Battery lead
The first two can be fused and connected together
 

nukefission

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Location
Woodbridge, VA
TDI
2002 Golf
Good info, thanks.

I guess I don't understand how the dimmer and switched ignition functions were getting to the Premium 6 radio, as the only wires left after the 4 I already identified are the CAN+/-. Will my car be able to make use of the K-line since CAN+/- are already present?

Also, what exactly is GALA?
 
Last edited:

mtltdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Location
Canada
TDI
2003 Golf GLS, Indigo Blue
The K line will work, I got it working in my 2003. It's an either or but not both kind of deal.

Can Bus controls the switched ignition and Dimmer, that's why you need to run your own wires for those items.

Gala is the feature where the volume increases as your vehicle speed increases, it may not be available with your Single Din, mine is a Gamma so it has that.
 
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