DIY: Metra Double Din Kit Install
12-29-2013, 01:17 PM
#1
DIY: Metra Double Din Kit Install
THIS DIY IS MEANT TO GO ALONG WITH THE METRA KIT INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED IN YOUR KIT!
So there isn't really detailed instructions on how to install the metra kit, and the instructions that come with it aren't extremely detailed so there's a lot that you can miss (especially if you don't know what you're doing). I just installed my metra double din kit, and after a lot of trial and error I figured out exactly how to do it.
Tools needed:
Wire crimps (16-22 AWG) *optional*
Wire stripper
Electrician's tape
Phillips head screwdriver
10mm socket wrench
Small hacksaw
Patience
1. First thing you need to do is disconnect the negative battery terminal. Do this by using a 10mm socket wrench.
2. Next you need to take out the factory radio. There is already a DIY on how to do this (use this guide up until step 7, then read below): WhatsMyIP.org | iPod RX-8 | Overview
3. Okay now that you have the factory radio out, you need to remove the display wire that is on the radio. It's covered by a metal shield on the side of the radio, just unscrew the shield and pull off the wire (make sure to pull of the plug on the back side of the radio too). So now you should have the display wire adaptor with both a male and female plug at each end. Set this aside for later.
4. Now you need to pull the radio off the factory faceplate. There are 4 screws holding it down, take those off. Now the radio should be free from the faceplate.
5. Next we need to work on taking out the climate controls. There are six screws holding this down (two in the front, four on the back side).
6. Now you need to take the hazard switch off. To do this you have to remove 17 small screws that are all spread out over the circuit board on the faceplate. This takes time but it's very easy. Once you have all the screws loose, remove that hazard switch assembly from the faceplate as well as the climate controls. Put the hazard switch aside and make sure it's unplugged!
7. Now to make sure the climate controls aren't going to block your new radio from going in, we need to cut off the two mounting brackets above the temp control, and fan control *****. These are very easy to locate, and if you fit the climate controls to your new faceplate, you'll see what's blocking it. I used a small hacksaw to cut these off. Don't worry, it's not hard. Just saw at them until they pop off, and you're good to go. Don't worry about how it looks, because you won't be able to see it once everything is installed.
8. Okay it's time to fit the climate controls to the metra faceplate. Just fit it in the gaps of the metra kit, and use 4 of the six factory screws that were holding it down on the stock plate to fasten it tight.
9. Secure the hazard switch assembly to the new faceplate the same way you took it off the old one.
10. Now it's time to fit the mounting brackets on your new radio! These plastic brackets come with the metra kit. Line each bracket up so that the mounting point is closest to the front, and on top. Use the screws included with your radio (or if your radio didn't come with any screws like mine, use the four screws that you took off the factory radio and use two on each bracket). I can't tell you where to screw these in exactly because every radio is different, but usually there are a bunch of screw holes on each side of the radio. This takes some fiddling with to get the radio aligned right with the faceplate, but you'll understand once we install the faceplate.
There is also a rear support bracket that came with the metra kit that goes on the back side of the radio to hold it up, it is not completely necessary that you use this because it doesn't fit on all radio's but if you can secure it, then do it.
11. Now we need to setup the climate control, display, and hazard wires to the axxess box. There are extensions included with the kit so use them. Attached the display adaptor that we pulled off the factory radio to the display harness in the dash. Attach the fan and temp extensions to the rear of the climate controls, and finally attach the extension for the hazard switch to the hazard switch plug. Go ahead and plug all these extensions mentioned above to the axxess box in the specified places. Refer to the instructions to make sure you plug in the correct plugs to the correct places on the axxess box.
Now this is important. If you have a Navigation or DVD double din radio, refer to the instructions because there are a few extra wires you need to splice, and a 2 pin harness that you need to run to the OBDII connector. The instructions actually provide a pretty good idea on how to do this.
12. Now for the hard part: wiring everything up. Your new radio should've come with a harness with wires sticking out the other side. You will need to connect each one of these wires to the stock harness by splicing them to the harness adaptor included with the metra kit. (For noobs, splicing means connecting two existing wires to create one new wire). Before you start splicing, you'll need to attach the big 20 pin harness adaptor included with the metra kit to the factory harness inside the dash. Now begin splicing the wires from the harness from your radio, to the harness adaptor in the dash. Refer to your radio owner's manual to see which colors mean what. As far as finding out which colors of wires mean what for the harness adaptor, they are labeled in very faint black print on each wire sticking out from the harness adaptor. It is very hard to read so if you have bad eyes, grab someone who can read them to show you. Strip the corresponding wires and twist the two copper ends together. This is when having wire crimps come in handy. If you don't know how to crimp wires, just twist the copper ends together and tape them off with electricians tape (DO NOT leave any copper exposed when splicing these wires. All this splicing takes some time but it has to be done. Make sure that you don't accidentally connect two wires together that don't match, this could cause a short to your radio, so be sure your connecting the right wires to each other.
Refer to the instructions now if you have a Navigation or DVD radio, because there are extra wires that need splicing and that 2 pin harness needs to go to the OBDII connector.
13. Once everything is wired up, re connect the tuner antenna, and the new harness to the radio, and any other inputs/outputs that you desire. Check again that all the right plugs are in the axxess box and that you have all the climate controls, and hazard switch wires in the right places.
14. There's one more thing you need to do before you put everything together: on the harness adaptor there is a 10 pin plug that needs to go into the axxess box, make sure that is plugged in. It's the only remaining port on the axxess box so it's hard to miss.
15. Reconnect the two A/C plugs to the climate controls.
16. Now test everything before you put it all together. Reconnect the negative battery terminal and give it a go! If everything works, continue to the next step, if not, go back and make sure you didn't miss a wire when splicing (this is very easy to do).
17. Okay now that everything works, disconnect the negative battery terminal again to ensure you don't short out anything.
18. Next just make sure you run the axxess box and all wiring out of the way of the radio. (I shoved it all in a little pocket to the back and right side of the dash, sort of near the glovebox).
19. First thing we need to do to put it all back together is mount the radio to the dash. To do this pull off the A/C vents above where the hazard switch goes. There are two screws holding it down below the vents, take those off and the vent assembly pops right off. Mount the radio right below where the hazard switch goes. The two mounting brackets that you put on the sides of the radio should align with the screw holes that hold down the A/C vents. Now pop the A/C vent back into place. Ensure that the mounting points on the A/C vent unit goes over the brackets on the radio. Align the each bracket and reinstall the screws into place (the ones that were securing the A/C vent). Make sure the radio is sturdy. Depending on the shape/size of your radio you make have to play around with the radio mounting brackets to get a snug fit on the metra faceplate.
20. Time to install the faceplate! Run all the A/C wires coming off the faceplate under the radio, and the hazard switch wire above the radio. The faceplate should pop into place. Now use the factory screws that you removed when removing the factory radio to screw into the bottom mounting points on the new faceplate. (Same location as the factory faceplate).
21. Reinstall the cigarette lighter plug, and ashtray assembly and screw them back down.
22. Reinstall the console/shift boot assembly. (Make sure you plug in the heated seats plugs if you have them!
23. Screw the shift **** back on, and enjoy your new radio!
I hope this helps somebody out there. I know it would've really helped me when I installed mine. Thanks for reading!
I wrote this DIY purely off my memory, so if there is something I missed, please let me know!
So there isn't really detailed instructions on how to install the metra kit, and the instructions that come with it aren't extremely detailed so there's a lot that you can miss (especially if you don't know what you're doing). I just installed my metra double din kit, and after a lot of trial and error I figured out exactly how to do it.
Tools needed:
Wire crimps (16-22 AWG) *optional*
Wire stripper
Electrician's tape
Phillips head screwdriver
10mm socket wrench
Small hacksaw
Patience
1. First thing you need to do is disconnect the negative battery terminal. Do this by using a 10mm socket wrench.
2. Next you need to take out the factory radio. There is already a DIY on how to do this (use this guide up until step 7, then read below): WhatsMyIP.org | iPod RX-8 | Overview
3. Okay now that you have the factory radio out, you need to remove the display wire that is on the radio. It's covered by a metal shield on the side of the radio, just unscrew the shield and pull off the wire (make sure to pull of the plug on the back side of the radio too). So now you should have the display wire adaptor with both a male and female plug at each end. Set this aside for later.
4. Now you need to pull the radio off the factory faceplate. There are 4 screws holding it down, take those off. Now the radio should be free from the faceplate.
5. Next we need to work on taking out the climate controls. There are six screws holding this down (two in the front, four on the back side).
6. Now you need to take the hazard switch off. To do this you have to remove 17 small screws that are all spread out over the circuit board on the faceplate. This takes time but it's very easy. Once you have all the screws loose, remove that hazard switch assembly from the faceplate as well as the climate controls. Put the hazard switch aside and make sure it's unplugged!
7. Now to make sure the climate controls aren't going to block your new radio from going in, we need to cut off the two mounting brackets above the temp control, and fan control *****. These are very easy to locate, and if you fit the climate controls to your new faceplate, you'll see what's blocking it. I used a small hacksaw to cut these off. Don't worry, it's not hard. Just saw at them until they pop off, and you're good to go. Don't worry about how it looks, because you won't be able to see it once everything is installed.
8. Okay it's time to fit the climate controls to the metra faceplate. Just fit it in the gaps of the metra kit, and use 4 of the six factory screws that were holding it down on the stock plate to fasten it tight.
9. Secure the hazard switch assembly to the new faceplate the same way you took it off the old one.
10. Now it's time to fit the mounting brackets on your new radio! These plastic brackets come with the metra kit. Line each bracket up so that the mounting point is closest to the front, and on top. Use the screws included with your radio (or if your radio didn't come with any screws like mine, use the four screws that you took off the factory radio and use two on each bracket). I can't tell you where to screw these in exactly because every radio is different, but usually there are a bunch of screw holes on each side of the radio. This takes some fiddling with to get the radio aligned right with the faceplate, but you'll understand once we install the faceplate.
There is also a rear support bracket that came with the metra kit that goes on the back side of the radio to hold it up, it is not completely necessary that you use this because it doesn't fit on all radio's but if you can secure it, then do it.
11. Now we need to setup the climate control, display, and hazard wires to the axxess box. There are extensions included with the kit so use them. Attached the display adaptor that we pulled off the factory radio to the display harness in the dash. Attach the fan and temp extensions to the rear of the climate controls, and finally attach the extension for the hazard switch to the hazard switch plug. Go ahead and plug all these extensions mentioned above to the axxess box in the specified places. Refer to the instructions to make sure you plug in the correct plugs to the correct places on the axxess box.
Now this is important. If you have a Navigation or DVD double din radio, refer to the instructions because there are a few extra wires you need to splice, and a 2 pin harness that you need to run to the OBDII connector. The instructions actually provide a pretty good idea on how to do this.
12. Now for the hard part: wiring everything up. Your new radio should've come with a harness with wires sticking out the other side. You will need to connect each one of these wires to the stock harness by splicing them to the harness adaptor included with the metra kit. (For noobs, splicing means connecting two existing wires to create one new wire). Before you start splicing, you'll need to attach the big 20 pin harness adaptor included with the metra kit to the factory harness inside the dash. Now begin splicing the wires from the harness from your radio, to the harness adaptor in the dash. Refer to your radio owner's manual to see which colors mean what. As far as finding out which colors of wires mean what for the harness adaptor, they are labeled in very faint black print on each wire sticking out from the harness adaptor. It is very hard to read so if you have bad eyes, grab someone who can read them to show you. Strip the corresponding wires and twist the two copper ends together. This is when having wire crimps come in handy. If you don't know how to crimp wires, just twist the copper ends together and tape them off with electricians tape (DO NOT leave any copper exposed when splicing these wires. All this splicing takes some time but it has to be done. Make sure that you don't accidentally connect two wires together that don't match, this could cause a short to your radio, so be sure your connecting the right wires to each other.
Refer to the instructions now if you have a Navigation or DVD radio, because there are extra wires that need splicing and that 2 pin harness needs to go to the OBDII connector.
13. Once everything is wired up, re connect the tuner antenna, and the new harness to the radio, and any other inputs/outputs that you desire. Check again that all the right plugs are in the axxess box and that you have all the climate controls, and hazard switch wires in the right places.
14. There's one more thing you need to do before you put everything together: on the harness adaptor there is a 10 pin plug that needs to go into the axxess box, make sure that is plugged in. It's the only remaining port on the axxess box so it's hard to miss.
15. Reconnect the two A/C plugs to the climate controls.
16. Now test everything before you put it all together. Reconnect the negative battery terminal and give it a go! If everything works, continue to the next step, if not, go back and make sure you didn't miss a wire when splicing (this is very easy to do).
17. Okay now that everything works, disconnect the negative battery terminal again to ensure you don't short out anything.
18. Next just make sure you run the axxess box and all wiring out of the way of the radio. (I shoved it all in a little pocket to the back and right side of the dash, sort of near the glovebox).
19. First thing we need to do to put it all back together is mount the radio to the dash. To do this pull off the A/C vents above where the hazard switch goes. There are two screws holding it down below the vents, take those off and the vent assembly pops right off. Mount the radio right below where the hazard switch goes. The two mounting brackets that you put on the sides of the radio should align with the screw holes that hold down the A/C vents. Now pop the A/C vent back into place. Ensure that the mounting points on the A/C vent unit goes over the brackets on the radio. Align the each bracket and reinstall the screws into place (the ones that were securing the A/C vent). Make sure the radio is sturdy. Depending on the shape/size of your radio you make have to play around with the radio mounting brackets to get a snug fit on the metra faceplate.
20. Time to install the faceplate! Run all the A/C wires coming off the faceplate under the radio, and the hazard switch wire above the radio. The faceplate should pop into place. Now use the factory screws that you removed when removing the factory radio to screw into the bottom mounting points on the new faceplate. (Same location as the factory faceplate).
21. Reinstall the cigarette lighter plug, and ashtray assembly and screw them back down.
22. Reinstall the console/shift boot assembly. (Make sure you plug in the heated seats plugs if you have them!
23. Screw the shift **** back on, and enjoy your new radio!
I hope this helps somebody out there. I know it would've really helped me when I installed mine. Thanks for reading!
I wrote this DIY purely off my memory, so if there is something I missed, please let me know!
Last edited by thomthoms3; 01-05-2014 at 12:17 PM.
10-06-2018, 08:43 PM
#4
So do we have to make sure we disconnected the negative terminal before we start because my boss did it without doing that and now only the unit works but the AC, Display and Speakers don’t work
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