A3 Radio Removal and Install w/Photos

Hi,

I installed a new USB radio today and figured I'd shoot some photos and write a "how-to" while I was at it. First, a preface: There's no need to remove the AC controls if you're just swapping out stock radios. However, doing so makes the job a bit easier when you're dealing with aftermarket radios with wiring adapters.

Okay, the photos:

First, use a tiny screwdriver to pry open the cover for the AC controls...


Once you can get a finger in there, use the screwdriver to pry up the other side and it will pop off...


This will expose four screws. Remove the ashtray to see the other two. Remove the screws...


Gently pull the AC button panel...


To move the fan/heat control knob panel, press the whole assembly inward/forward, then rotate the rear upward, then slide it all down and out of the way...


Using the applicable removal keys, slide your radio out toward you...


If you encounter resistance, you may need to reach under the radio to help fish the cables through to remove some tension...


Here's everything removed. If you're removing a stock radio and installing an aftermarket radio, you'll likely need to cut out a plastic crossmember that will interfere with installing a larger aftermarket radio. I don't have a photo of this; but you'll know it when you see it. A hacksaw blade works great on this...


Use an appropriate wiring adapter to connect your new radio to the factory harness. I got my first aftermarket radio from Crutchfield... everything was included...


Once your wiring is done, connect the plugs and slide the radio to this position and test it. Once you're happy, slide it the rest of the way in. This is another point at which you may need to reach under the radio to help feed the wiring through so the radio will go in without binding up the wires...


Finishing up in the next post...

Continued...

This radio came with a rear-mounted USB connector. This is when I routed the USB wiring to a remote location...


Here's the radio installed. I opted to use an older trim ring so the transition from "dash color" to "radio color" was a little more subtle. The trim ring doesn't fit as well as the one that came with the radio, but I think the transition of colors is less obnoxious. Call me kooky...


Here's my 4-GB USB flash drive's home. I'll get an 8-GB drive when I need it and when pricing comes down...


And a new photo with all electronics (forgot to open the ashtray for the "mini" ham radio)...


Well, that's about it. I have about 48-hours of music. It's all stuff I like and I can go for days without hearing the same song twice. I hope someone finds this helpful. I enjoyed the work...

Take Care,

Scott

Nice job Scott, I guess you hopefully fixed your shutter problem and needed something else to get into.. Or maybe now you have the spare time since it is fixed..

I also have a USB head unit and find it totally invaluable for audibooks, I usually just load one book onto a 1 or 2GB thumb drive at a time. The issue as I see it is with how the Kenwood unit decides to read the tracks, it's all done by file creation date/time. When dragging and dropping or otherwise copying and pasting from Windows to the USB drive, the files may or may not be written to the drive in the order you want them. I'm going to write a program that will read the file names ( usually I create the data folders with the naming of 01-01 - disk-track ), so that the software will determine the order and then write it to the drive accordingly. I could add all kind of options as well. If you want a copy let me know, I don't use the USB for bulk music as I find it too hard to navigate for what I want, although my unit is a little older than yours, same with iPod, I have the whole interface connected but find it cumbersome to navigate, hopefully yours is better in that regard.

Either way, I can't imagine not having a USB drive in my car, I can't even imagine how many CD's I saved. For those who don't know, most of these head units will read .mp3, .aac, .wma, .cda, and other formats so they'll literally play almost any audio format out there without any conversion. VERY NICE!

Good write up!

EDIT: Oops, I have a Kenwood unit.

Joe,

The shudder's been going on long enough that it wouldn't have stopped me from making this purchase. Actually, it's my upcoming trip to TX that compelled me to speed up my purchase decision.

Jolly - In anticipation of a simplistic menu system, I opted to just make folders for each artist and dump my favorite songs into each folder without sub-folders for each artist's album. However, I now see that the menu on this radio is much more sophisticated than the menu on my outgoing unit. Pressing the "LIST" button will display the main menu, or root folders:



The "volume knob" is actually a rotory/pushbutton/joystick thing. From here, I can select each folder and display its contents regardless of whether it contains more folders (albums) or songs. In my case, I still like the idea of just dumping songs into each folder:



I'm not sure how "Ipod-like" this is; but it works for me. I just put the radio in random-play and let 'er rip. I can randomly play a folder, subfolder, or the entire flash-drive.

Scott

Yeah, that's a better navigation method than mine for sure... Pioneer makes good stuff.

What's the model number if you don't mind me asking

(I thought I'd continue this thread rather than starting another).

The Aftermarket radio that came with my Jetta was more or less useless. If it got too hot, the radio couldn't tune. The backlight just plain didn't work & there was no Aux in for my iPod.

After much searching (and advice from the ladies of chat) I settled on the Blaupunkt Key West MP36. MP3 CDs, Aux in (Apple paid enough for a good iPod interface, I don't need to control it through the radio), It'd match my interior AND hopefully it worked when it got hot.

So with the advice Crutchfield's checkout, I also picked up:


So that I could add the radio without splicing into the harness.

Everything arrived today so I set out to install it.

I noticed something 'funny'. The Wire -> Male Plugs that came with the radio happened to have plugs that looked rather similar to the Female Socket -> Wire "VW Adapter" that I bought. Sure enough, they fit. Not only did they fit, pin outs matched. Damn, I just wasted $15 on an adapter. It does have a "sub out" should I ever add an amp... but that's highly unlikely. There is also a VSS input for "automatic volume". We'll see.

Right now I'm just going to replace my old stereo. In due time I'll pull the whole dash off and add the AUX in, but I just want something that works when I get out of work during the summer.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, the wires aren't EXACT. As stated below +12V and +12V Switched are reversed plus the K-Line is actually wired to "Powered Radio on 1998 VW Jetta with Bose". So I decided to make up the adapter. I ended up pulling a ton of wires out and tossing them: Automatic Antennae, Telephone Mute, Etc.

Pull out the old Alpine POS:


Plug in the new Blauplunkt:


One more time to show how awesome this is:


Now to match it to my interior:





Almost looks OEM:

darkscout said:

(After much searching (and advice from the ladies of chat) I settled on the Blaupunkt Key West MP36. MP3 CDs, Aux in (Apple paid enough for a good iPod interface, I don't need to control it through the radio), It'd match my interior AND hopefully it worked when it got hot.

Click to expand...

Glad you listened to them. It looks good.

darkscout said:

...I noticed something 'funny'. The Wire -> Male Plugs that came with the radio happened to have plugs that looked rather similar to the Female Socket -> Wire "VW Adapter" that I bought. Sure enough, they fit. Not only did they fit, pin outs matched. Damn, I just wasted $15 on an adapter. ...

Click to expand...

Be carefull here. The Crutchfield adaptor is VW-specific and dead-ends the K-wire to avoid damage to scanning equipment. It may be just fine, but verify that the K-wire is not connected to the head unit.

A 98 might not have the K line going to the headunit. But this is never a bad thing to check!

-Jason

Good point. Certainly an issue for B4s, maybe not for A3s.

Certainly over here, just about every head unit comes with the double-ISO connectors. Apart from the K-line issue, you also gotta be careful with the permanent and switched supplies, some makers invert their positions.

Yes... I believe the K-line is an issue on the A3. I recall my adapter taking that into consideration.

BTW, the radio looks REALLY good! The only reason I settled on a Pioneer with blue lighting is because I wanted a USB port in BACK on the radio. Nearly everyone else seems to have theirs in front. I leave my flash drive plugged in all the time.

Scott

Yes you guys were right

K line gets +12V from the radio. Good thing I didn't try to vag-com it lately.

The Switched & +12V are also switched. I didn't notice because the radio stores the radio stations even if you loose power (Hurray for Flash Memory).

Like they say, anything worth doing is worth doing right: