Aftermarket radio issues...

[Thermo1223]

So the shop I trusted for years just botched the install badly as in stealing power from the rear defroster circuit for the radio. Oiu.........

Needless to say they will never be touching my cars again.

What is the best interface to use to keep R.A.P. and use the steering wheel controls?

It looks like the PAC RP4-VW11 but I wanted opinions on those that have done this before.

Apparently my Monsoon amp must have been removed from the car because even though the window sticker says it was installed. I can not find it to save my life. So I guess that is one less thing to worry about.

 

[Shaggy]

You say you can't find the amp, not sure if you don't know where it is or you know for sure it's missing. It should be in the trunk, bolted to the underside of the package shelf on the right (passenger) side. It's covered in a metal cage looking thing, with the wires connecting from the passenger side. *EDIT* Just noticed you have a wagon. No idea where it is in the wagon.

If the amp is missing you're likely not going to be able to use a plug-and-play adapter. The adapters route the wiring through the monsoon amp, which uses line-level inputs. Might be able to make it work if you splice the speaker inputs to the speaker outputs at the wiring harness that used to plug into the amp...

 

[Thermo1223]

I've checked where the amp should be but nothing although the stock radio to my knowledge never said Monsoon starting up. The window sticker when the car was bought said it did though. It is very odd.

 

[Shaggy]

That is odd. Well, in any case I used the PAC RP4-VW11 in my '03 with the Monsoon system and it works awesome. Steering wheel controls work and the radio stays on until I take the key out.