PA2013
Full Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 57
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 8
- Location
- The Midwest
- Buick Ownership
- 2011 DTS
After seeing some good deals spring up recently on 7" Android-based double DIN car radios, I'm considering a head unit upgrade in this car, but have never undertaken such a project before, so I have a few questions before starting.
1. First, what's the story on actually getting the radio to fit? I've heard from some threads that the depth of the compartment is a concern and personally observed that the brown trim bezel that sits in front of the head unit has awfully rounded corners. Is there a lot of cutting and grinding that has to be done to get an aftermarket unit to fit or is it plug n play with the standard Scosche GM mounting kit?
2. How difficult is it to run the GPS antenna from the radio compartment to someplace in which it'll actually work?
3. Which pins on the harness are for the steering wheel controls? I looked at the wiring guide for this model and don't see any information on there for steering wheel controls; is it just missing from that diagram? If so, which wire(s) does it use?
4. I read in another thread (for the previous generation Park Avenue) that the automatic dimming of the climate control display was dependent on the radio and that using an aftermarket radio would render the module unable to change its brightness automatically; is that how it works on the 1997-2005 models as well?
5. While we're on the topic of dimming and such, I'm guessing the gray/black "illumination" wire on the harness gets attached to the "illumination" wire on the radio, but what do I do with the "dimmer" wire on the harness? Does it get left disconnected or does it connect somewhere else?
6. Lastly, from what I can see in the pictures in the listing for the radio I was looking at, the actual connections for the speakers themselves (see the attached picture) end in a female "ISO" port. How do I attach these wires to the wires on the factory harness adapter? Do I just cut this connector off and manually connect the wires or is there a more civilized way to hook it up?
1. First, what's the story on actually getting the radio to fit? I've heard from some threads that the depth of the compartment is a concern and personally observed that the brown trim bezel that sits in front of the head unit has awfully rounded corners. Is there a lot of cutting and grinding that has to be done to get an aftermarket unit to fit or is it plug n play with the standard Scosche GM mounting kit?
2. How difficult is it to run the GPS antenna from the radio compartment to someplace in which it'll actually work?
3. Which pins on the harness are for the steering wheel controls? I looked at the wiring guide for this model and don't see any information on there for steering wheel controls; is it just missing from that diagram? If so, which wire(s) does it use?
4. I read in another thread (for the previous generation Park Avenue) that the automatic dimming of the climate control display was dependent on the radio and that using an aftermarket radio would render the module unable to change its brightness automatically; is that how it works on the 1997-2005 models as well?
5. While we're on the topic of dimming and such, I'm guessing the gray/black "illumination" wire on the harness gets attached to the "illumination" wire on the radio, but what do I do with the "dimmer" wire on the harness? Does it get left disconnected or does it connect somewhere else?
6. Lastly, from what I can see in the pictures in the listing for the radio I was looking at, the actual connections for the speakers themselves (see the attached picture) end in a female "ISO" port. How do I attach these wires to the wires on the factory harness adapter? Do I just cut this connector off and manually connect the wires or is there a more civilized way to hook it up?
