Installing an Aftermarket Head Unit in Your MKV - EVERYTHING You Need to Know

I'm sure 99% of this is already posted in various places on this site, but as there seems to be new threads almost weekly with questions about installing an aftermarket deck, I figured I'd just post it all in one place. This is based on my own install, plus a few pictures and bits of info I pinched from other people's threads, so I hope nobody minds

I'll try and simplify things as much as possible for the people attempting this for the first time, but please note: This is for informational purposes only. If you're attempting this install yourself and screw up any of your equipment or anything inside your vehicle, that's on you.

That being said, let's get started...


TOOLS REQUIRED

The exact amount of tools will vary depending on the kind of install you're doing, but this should cover pretty much anything you might need...

- Panel removal tool
- T20 Torx Driver
- Phillips Screwdriver
- Wire strippers
- Electrical connectors and crimpers and/or soldering iron
- Electrical tape
- Test light or Multimeter
- Zap straps (aka Tye Wraps, aka Zip Ties, aka Wire Ties)
- A fish tape or wire coat hanger or old antenna, etc

Even if you have absolutely zero tools, you can find all the tools you'd need to complete this job for less than $20.


WIRING HARNESS

This seems to be the topic that comes up the most often. To preface: VW uses a Canbus system to turn your radio on and off, as well as communicate with various other accessories in your car. There is no 12 Volt accessory wire in the factory radio harness. So you have a number of options for getting accessory power to your radio, depending on what options you want to retain, how much money you want to spend, and how much work you feel like doing.


Connects2 Interface - Part # CTSVW002 - www.connects2.co.uk

I have no experience with this unit personally, but it seems to be getting great feedback, and it gives you everything you need in one package, so it seems to be the way to go. This interface will give you the proper RAP (Retained Accessory Power) output, as well as a Resverse Signal (for installation of a reverse camera), and VSS signal (Vehicle Speed Sense, required for some head units with GPS). This interface will also allow you to retain your steering wheel controls, though I'm told that a some people have had issues regarding compatibility with their particular head unit, so be sure to contact Connects2 before you install.


PAC Audio Interfaces - www.pac-audio.com

People seem to have good and bad experiences with PAC Audio products. They make a nice product, but in the past I know they seemed to have a few bugs. And up until recently, if you wanted to replace your radio and keep steering wheel controls, you needed to cram 3 modules into your dash to get the job done... not fun. But now they've come up with a nice all-in-one solution as well, so that should make a lot of people happy.

If you're gonna go with PAC, you have a few options:

1) Part # C2R-VW2 - If you're just going to replace your radio, and don't have/don't want steering wheel control, then this is what you want. This interface will also give you ACC, VSS and Reverse Signals.

- In addition to this, if you want to retain your steering wheel controls, you'll also need the SWI-CAN Module to communicate with the vehicle Canbus, as well as the SWI-X Steering Wheel Control Interface. Note: They also make steering wheel control interfaces specific to the kind of radio you're installing, but the SWI-X is a universal piece, so I won't even bother reccomending them.

2) Part # RP4-VW11 - This is their all-in-one unit that I mentioned above. It gives you all the features of the interfaces listed above, but all in one unit.


Axxess Interface - www.axxessinterface.com

Made by Metra, these are nice units, and can generally be found a bit cheaper than the other units. I've installed lots of them without issue, and the steering wheel controls are easy to program. They don't have an all in one unit, but just one harness, and one steering wheel control interface that you would need.

XSVI-9003-NAV - This is your radio replacement interface. Like the others, is gives you ACC Power, VSS Signal, and Reverse Signal outputs.

AXXESS ASWC - Universal Steering Wheel Control Interface.


Standard Wiring Harness

Metra #70-9003, Scosche #VW03B, or generic brand

As I personally have no steering wheel controls, and the cluster without the MFD, this is what I ended up using. It's a little more work, but BY FAR the cheapest option. To use this option, you'll have to run your own wire for accessory power, and if you need it, find another source for a VSS or Reverse signal. I'll go into locations to find accessory power later.

MOUNTING KITS

I'll list them all, but I'll say right off the bat that the Metra, Scosche and generic kits are garbage. Search any VW forums, and they'll all tell you the same thing, their MKV kits fit like crap, but unfortunately, they're generally the most readily available ones. Maybe those companies have addressed this issue, but until I hear otherwise, I'd stay away.


American International Part #VW-K1017

For the money, this is the best kit available. I used it in my car, it fit beautifully, and it also makes the best base if you plan on molding it into one piece (more on that later).

Connects2 Part #CT24VW03R

I've heard good things about this one. A little pricey, but according to the Enfig Car Stereo site, "This kit matches the factory dash better than any we have seen before." And it actually does look pretty nice based on what I can tell from pictures. My only gripe with this is that it's a DIN mounting kit, meaning you'll need the metal cage for your head unit to install it(which some double dins don't come with). And if you want to get the Connects2 cage, it's an extra $80... lame. Not really an issue if you're going single din though.

Enfig Car Stereo Kits Various Part #'s

http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/RADIO_VW_JETTA_06.html

These must be fairly new, because I hadn't heard anything about these until I looked at their site just now. There seems to be several of them, all in varying prices and finishes. I'm intrigued by these, because if the higher priced ones match the OEM interior as well as they look like they do, it's probably a pretty good buy. If anyone's used one of these, I'm definitely interested to hear a review.

VW OEM Single Din Kit Part #1K0 857 850 3X1

Very nice looking kit. Expensive, and there's only a single din kit available, but it's a factory VW part, so it should be an exact match to the OEM interior.

Best Kits Part #BKVWK1017

This one fits pretty well from what I hear, I just haven't seen one in person. And I know this is what Future Shop and Best Buy carry in Canada.

Metra Part #90-9011

Scosche Part #VW2317B


Turning Your 2 Piece Kit Into 1 Piece

This is a great little mod if you're a stickler for details, and isn't too difficult if you have some patience. Lots of people have done this with some nice results, the only tricky part seems to be finding a paint that matches the factory matte black interior pieces. I had some good results painting mine with Krylon Ultra Flat Black. The color was very close, but because it was a quick-dry spray, the texture wasn't quite spot on, but it was close enough that I was pleased with how it looked in my car.

Here's a thread with a few sample pictures of people's work, plus a nice DIY write up: http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71630

And here's the one I made, using the American International kit as my base:

Insert piece glued in, and everything sanded down:



I used a plastic bumper repair kit to fill in the gap:



Primed, then painted:





ANTENNA ADAPTER

Pretty straight forward, but still some options. Keep in mind that no matter which adapter you use, your radio reception will not be as good as it was with the factory head unit. FM should be fine for the most part, but your AM may suffer a little.


Metra Part #40-EU55

Amplified antenna adapter, this is the one you need.

Metra Part #40-EU10

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that all MKV's required the powered antenna adapter, so I can't see a situation where you'd want to use this one. But again, someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Enfig Car Stereo Part #AAA-VWAUD3

Same idea as the Metra one.

Enfig Car Stereo Part #AAA-VWAUD4

Diversity antenna adapter for you shark fin guys. I thought I had read that people were having no issues using just the single antenna adapter, but again, I could be wrong.

REMOVING THE FACTORY RADIO

This is where you'll need your trim removal tool and T20 Torx.

Rather than go through step by step instructions and pictures, I'll just post the link to a video of the removal process. There's plenty of them on Youtube, and I'm sure most people will find they're a better learning tool than descriptions and pictures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea8nos5SbLw

(PS. I don't work for Enfig or anything, but they specialize in VW, so they keep popping up in searches, haha)

Some notes:

- Before you start, make sure you eject any CD's you might have in there before you disconnect the radio. It's a real bitch to find out once the job is all done that you left something in there you want to listen to. Also, take this opportunity to use the fade/balance and just quickly make sure all your speakers are working. It will save you some headache if you get your new unit hooked up and find that one of your speakers suddenly isn't working.

- Do yourself a favor and invest in a trim removal tool. You can find a whole kit at most auto parts stores for under $15, and they're well worth it to prevent damaging your interior pieces. A credit card will work in a pinch (though you might break it), but please, for the love of god, don't use a flat screwdriver or those little metal picks to do this. I've seen tutorials and videos in the past where people did this, or took a screwdriver and wrapped tape or toilet paper around the end. You WILL damage pieces by doing that, trust me on this one.

- Be prepared, when removing the trim around the radio, 9 out of 10 times, you'll probably break or lose at least one clip, especially on the bottom panel that surrounds the radio and climate controls. They just weren't well designed. If you break one, just glue it back on. CA Glue, Crazy Glue or 5-Minute Epoxy are your best bets.

- If you're in a pinch for instructions, pretty much every mounting kit you buy will tell you how to remove the factory radio. Crazy what you learn when you don't throw those papers out hey? You can also go to Metra's site and they have a pdf for all of their mounting kits. If all else fails, Google is your friend.


WIRING

First off, any intructions you read will tell you to disconnect your negative battery terminal before doing any electrical work on your vehicle, so I'll do the same... though I rarely ever do it. Zapping yourself while installing a deck won't kill you, but it doesn't feel good either, and you can always screw up other things in your car, so just don't be an idiot, mmmmkay?

Wiring is obviously a very important part of this job, but not too difficult as long as you take your time and use a little common sense. But this seems to be the part that causes the most problems for people, so just make sure you double check everthing, or worst case, just pay an installer to do it.

Prepping the Harness

Do this outside of the vehicle, it'll make life a lot easier. The harness in an aftermarket head unit will usually have wires of varying lengths, I like to cut those all to the same length, just to keep everything neat and tidy. If you do this, just make sure you leave as much extra as possible, just in case you screw up, or decided to re-install your head unit in a different vehicle.

Connecting Wires

This is often a topic of debate, which at this point in time, I have no interest in getting into, but I will offer my opinion...

I'll never argue with someone who wants to solder their wires together, but for this kind of work, it's simply not necessary. Plus I've seen more connections fail due to poor soldering than I have from improperly crimped connectors. But please people, do one or the other. Just twisting and taping your wires together is not only dangerous, but it's the hack job way of doing things, even if it's just temporary.

So, if you're going to solder, then by all means do it, just make sure you twist your wires together, heat them properly, then either heat shrink or tape them afterwards. And if you're going to use butt connectors, crimp them tightly, then give the wires a good tug after, just to make sure they're secure.

Then when you're done, it should look something like this:



I went the route of just using a basic harness, so if you're using one of the interfaces listed previously, obviously things will look a little different. The spade connectors that I left open are to connect the accesory power (Red) and the antenna adapter (Blue). I find it makes things easier to just hook those up seperately.

You'll probably have some extra wires that don't get used on both the car side, and the head unit side, so when that happens, just pop a butt connector on them, or trim them then tape them up. You can see at the top I had some extras in my Metra harness, so I just de-pinned it to clear up some clutter. Just get something flat and they should push straight out.

If you're connecting an amplifier for your speakers, you'll hook things up completely differently, but that's a whole other thread

Accessory Power

If you decide to just use the basic harness like I did, you'll need to find a switched accessory power source from somewhere. But this is also handy if you're adding on other accessories like a radar detector, GPS unit, or anything that you want to turn on with the key. So there's a number of places you can grab it.

Fuse Box - Probably the easiest. Which fuse position you use will vary depending on your vehicle and what options you have installed, so using a test light or multimeter, just go through one by one and find one that turns on and off with the key (Ideally 10 or 15 amp). Also, try and find one that stays on during crank, as some power sources will temporarily turn off then on again when you start the engine. Then when you've found one, get yourself a fuse tap, and hook up a length of wire to run to your harness.

Fuse tap:



I was able to find a spot on the fuse panel that was unused... score!



This is also where you'll need your fishing wire. Tape your wire to the end of whatever you're using, and use that to help you get your wire to the radio cavity. I like to put a flashlight in the footwell and shine it towards the radio cavity, then you can just look for a spot where you see light, and fish your wire through there. Make sure you secure your wire away from the steering column or tilt mechanism. Then I like to secure it to the factory radio harness so I don't lose it afterwards.

OR If you'd like to be really slick, you can add your own circuit to the back of the fuse panel. Check out this thread courtesy of JetTurbo for more details on that: http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62584

Ashtray Socket - There's a nice DIY for removing your shifter trim and ashtray here: http://www.vwgolf.net.au/showthread.php?1197-DIY-MKV-remove-replace-interior-ashtray-cover-and-trim

Just tap into the power wire there by stripping a small section, then soldering your accessory wire to that. Remeber, brown is ground

Steering Column - Not many people use this one, simply because it's a pain in the ass to access. I've never used any of these, so I can't confirm anything. If you decided to use these, you'll need to test them yourself. In addition to these, apparently the blue wire is your key sense wire, which will give you power as soon as the key is in the ignition, but again, you'll have to investigate that yourself.

EXTRAS

If you have any extra goodies to hook up to your new head unit, now is the time to do it.

iPod or USB Cables

There's lots of ways you can do this depending on how creative you want to be, but I generally just run them to the glove box (you'll need to do some fishing again). And if there's any connections you need to make that will be behind the dash, tape them up so they don't come unplugged after everything's done.






GPS Antenna

Some people are fine to just mount their antenna on the dash, but I like to have them hidden out of view. Unlike when Navigation units first came out, you can mount GPS antennas inside of your dash or behind plastic panels with no issue. There's enough GPS satellites available now that your antenna will work most places, as long as it's not under a piece of metal.

If you have the little pocket on top of your radio, you can mount the antenna in there, or tuck it away in the dash like this person did:



Or if you have the top vent like I do, you can just mount it right below that panel, off to the side:



People have asked about using the OEM shark fin antenna for an aftermarket unit, but I've yet to hear of anyone successfully doing it.


Satellite Radio

You'll need an aftermarket XM or Sirius tuner to use with your new head unit (unless it's built in), but you can however, use the factory antenna! Simply remove the plug for the antenna from the VW tuner (located under the front seat on Rabbits and GTI's, and in the trunk on Jettas and GLI's... not sure about Sportwagens), remove the plastic piece on the plug, and it will plug right in to your aftermarket tuner. You may or may not have to run an extension cable to make everything work, but it can definitely be done.


Mounting A Bluetooth Microphone

Aftermarket bluetooth mics will always function best when they're as close as they can be to the front of your face, when you're in your normal driving position. So the traditional places to mount the mic are usually on the A-pillar, around the overhead console, or somewhere around the top of the steering column. Aftermarket mics don't function well when they're hidden behind grilles or inside vents, so make sure you mount it somewhere where air can circulate around it.

I ended up putting mine right in front of the gague cluster. I normally try to mount mics as out of sight as possible, but after driving with it like this once, I didn't even notice it.

I've also heard of people splicing the OEM VW bluetooth mic into an aftermarket mic, then just mounting in the factory location in the overhead console. I might give this a shot one of these days. But if someone else wants to give it a try, let us know how it turns out.

E-Brake Video Bypass

This will vary depending on what brand of head unit you have, the majority of head units just require hooking up the parking brake wire to ground, but there are some exceptions:

Pioneer - AVIC units usually require re-locating your mute wire, then grounding that along with your parking brake wire, while the AVH units require hooking up a basic 12 Volt relay. More details can be found on Youtube or at www.avic411.com

Clarion - Essentially just grounding the parking brake wire, but they need to see 2 seperate ground signals, so you just have to throw in a toggle switch somewhere along the parking brake wire, and switch it on/off to bypass. Again, Google or Youtube for more details.

Alpine - These are stupid. To bypass Alpine units, you need to wire in a PAC TR-7 module. If this can somehow be done with relays, someone please feel free to chime in here.


RE-ASSEMBLY

Almost there! Assemble your mounting kit as per the instructions (pretty simple and straight forward). I usually lay down a towel or blanket inside the car just to rest the deck on while I hook everything up, just so nothing gets scratched up. It's gonna be a tight fit to get everything in there, so take the time to neatly bundle your wires and tuck them out of the way before you plug everything in, it'll pay off huge.

And before you get too excited and put your car back together, go through and test EVERYTHING - speakers, AM/FM reception, ipod cable, bluetooth functionality, e-brake bypass, steering wheel controls, etc. The worst feeling in the world is getting everything buttoned up then finding out something isn't working that you'll have to tear apart the dash to fix. Especially if you've already put in a hard day of work.

If anyone has anything else to add, go right ahead. But other than that, you're pretty much ready to cruise and enjoy!

Nice write up. Marked it for my reference in the next couple of months.

Thanks!

Not something I'll likely ever need but amazingly detailed write-up.

Nice write up. This should stop a lot of the standard repetitive postings that happen.

Amazing write up!! Thank you so much for making me aware of efing audios new dash kits. I'm going to replace my American one now.

I would like to point out that a lot of after market stereos still need the PAC adapter for steering wheel controls to work... Even with the latest connects product.

Thanks guys. I'll update the thread as necessary with any new info people post.

Azzurri, you're the best!!! Thank you loads!!! I wish I had this info available before I did my Amazon shopping a week ago. Oh well, I suppose I'm a bit wiser now.

On a side note, Vancouver has got to be one of my most favorite cities in the world!

Edit: First question... Maybe I missed it, but did you need to use an antenna adapter?

Thank you!!!! I've been digging for days to find a detailed list of what's needed. :thumbsup: bookmarked for my future install!

IamRobbyah said:

Azzurri, you're the best!!! Thank you loads!!! I wish I had this info available before I did my Amazon shopping a week ago. Oh well, I suppose I'm a bit wiser now.

On a side note, Vancouver has got to be one of my most favorite cities in the world!

Edit: First question... Maybe I missed it, but did you need to use an antenna adapter?

Click to expand...

Vancouver definitely kicks ass. Housing prices are ridiculous, but overall we're pretty damn spoiled here.

I used the Metra 40-EU55 amplified antenna adapter. FM is normally crystal clear, AM stations will usually get fuzzy if I drive under any major power lines. But then again, I park 2 levels under ground at my place and still get AM reception down there just fine, so I can't really complain.

Great write up! But if i decide not to go with steering wheel controls, does that mean i cant use my mfd?

DB MKV said:

Great write up! But if i decide not to go with steering wheel controls, does that mean i cant use my mfd?

Click to expand...

No, lack of steering wheel controls refers to the volume, station, and track changing options of the left side of your steering wheel. The MFD is controlled via the controls on the right side, which are unaffected by installation of a non OEM stereo.

thechromecoyote said:

No, lack of steering wheel controls refers to the volume, station, and track changing options of the left side of your steering wheel. The MFD is controlled via the controls on the right side, which are unaffected by installation of a non OEM stereo.

Click to expand...

okay, thats good to know thanks alot!