I've got a bog-standard Ford head unit at the moment which seems to have died. I want to get a new one that'll take my iPod. I know I'll need an adapter for the hole as the standard Ford radio is a stupid proprietary shape, but how easy is it to attach and connect the actual head unit? Are the wires and connectors on the car likely to be labelled? Do they just plug in the back of the new unit or am I going to be pissing about with bare wires?

I have a moderate ability for this kind of thing, I've built many PCs myself so I have a reasonable amount of confidence, I just have no idea what to expect.

The unit should come out fairly easily by removing the front fascia and pressing the clips in the right way - you might need a special tool to help with this.

The back of the head unit will have wires on two plugs (basically a power plug and a speaker plug) as well as the aerial connection.

To make it work with a new head unit, you might need an adaptor harness (easily available for a few quid), which adapts the vehicle wiring to the headunit standard. Then it's just a case of plugging in the wires, slotting in the new unit and fitting an adaptor fascia thing.

Quite easy. Maybe an hours work if you've not done it before, but with PC build ing experience you'll be fine. Take your time and do it right.

I've found that the adaptor harness doesn't always have the wiring in exactly the right positions, but it's easy to unclip the wires from the plug and reposition them - just use a small screw driver to depress the clip on the terminal.

Removing the stereo should be quite simple (assuming nothing bends or breaks!) - in go the removal tools, which push the tabs apart and it should just pull out.

There will be a plug going into the back of your headunit, you simply plug this into the back of the new headunit and your away - only issue may be that OEM Headunits often use some odd propriety connector, so you may need an adaptor from a Ford Focus to the standard ISO connectors (just 2 plugs) which will be about £10-£15, it simply plugs in to your current wiring, and then plugs into the back of your new headunit.

Fit the headunit in the fascia, and slide it back in - it will locate and lock in the right place.

Should be 30 minutes of work if you've never removed the trim before, it's just a case of plugs so no bare wires needed - they won't be labelled but you physically can't fit it together wrong so theres nothing to go wrong.

Can I just add......Make sure you disconect the Negative Battery Lead as well......just to be on the safe side. You dont want to burn your car to kingdome come. Speaking from past experiance.....Not me but a mate of mine managed to fry his electrics....cause he didnt disconnect the battery.

Have fun

Jon

Quote from jonmrbean :

Can I just add......Make sure you disconect the Negative Battery Lead as well......just to be on the safe side. You dont want to burn your car to kingdome come. Speaking from past experiance.....Not me but a mate of mine managed to fry his electrics....cause he didnt disconnect the battery.

Have fun

Jon

I have no idea how you'd manage to do that unless there was a short in the connectors somewhere, and if there was the second you plugged the battery back in you'd have the same problem.

I've fitted my stereo and retrofitted an entire sound system & bluetooth kit without disconnecting the battery, and that was involving bare wires instead of plugs...

Its a piece of cake, even I can do it!

Do disconnect the battery, it's so easy to short things if you're not careful.

Quote from pb32000 :

Do disconnect the battery, it's so easy to short things if you're not careful.

Aslong as the car is fairly new, and both car and stereo use ISO connectors, and you aren't doing anything "non standard" (i.e. amps, extra speakers etc etc), you'd have to be a bit of a gorilla to short anything out.

My missus recently brought one of these (not sure its the EXACT model) it was £89 when she got it, and its pretty decent, plays DVD's full of mp3's, and has a USB slot so you can plug in a USB storage device, and also an SD slot and mp3 jack.

You wont burn your car to kingdome come and fry any electricals... the worst you'll do is blow a fuse, after all thats what fuses were invented for...

some of you people really hurt my head hey

in about a year and a half, i will be making a thread on how to install 2 subwoofers, amps, and other things that might be needed....be ready guys....be ready :scared:

Quote from logitekg25 :

in about a year and a half, i will be making a thread on how to install 2 subwoofers, amps, and other things that might be needed....be ready guys....be ready :scared:

no you won't. just use google.

i probably will..after i figure out what sub, and amps and whatever i fell in love with in my friends car

Just bought the fascia kit, need to choose which head unit I actually want now. Does anyone know if I'll still be able to use the stereo controls on the steering column?

Depends on the make of stereo and make of car, on some stereos, you can get a kit that lets you use the steering wheel controls with the new stereo.

One of these? http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk ... ntrol-adaptor-p-2639.html

This is what I've got already: http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk ... ring-harness-p-11350.html


EDIT: having a look at both, it appears the thing in the first link replaces the wiring harness supplied with the kit in the second link, adding support for the control-stalk, correct?

I'll take that drawn-out silence as a maybe

All done! Works perfectly, thanks for the advice guys