Rx330 Owners Seeking To Install An Aftermarket Radio Read This!

[Guest]

If you have been wanting to install an aftermarket navigation screen since the factory navi is way too expensive or just a better head unit for nicer sound, Lexus DOES make an adapter to fix in the factory location to install an aftermarket radio. As with all Lexus parts, it comes with a price of $135 shipped. If you need to see a picture, I can send you an eBay link, but it is a factory part so it matches nicely. If you need a wiring harness to install the radio, it's the Metra 70-8113. It has 2 channels of RCA outputs but I'm pretty sure you can cut those off to tie into the factory speaker wires. If you need anymore info just PM me.

[atebit]

Tyler, for some reason I can't PM you, but I would like to know more about your installation. I am planning on doing the same thing to my non-NAV 06 RX400h. I have been trying to get a line on the wiring harness...I will look into the metra part you mentioned...hopefully it will work! Can you tell me where the factory amp is located in your vehicle? It may not be in the same place in the RX400h due to placement of some of they hybrid system components, but at least it will give me a place to start.

Also, I was wondering if you found it necessary to disconnect the 12V battery during your installation? Yes, I know it's a good practice to always disconnect the battery when working on the electrical system. However, disconnecting/significantly discharging the 12V battery on the RX400h can lead to the hybrid system needing to be re-initialized by a Lexus dealer with the proper diagnostic equipment. It's possible that after disconnecting the battery that the gas engine will run when it doesn't need to until the hybrid system is re-initialized So, if I can get away without disconnecting the battery, I'd like to try it. I'm sure I'll get a hard time from the Lexus dealer if I show up needing the re-initialization done with this aftermarket (though definetly better) NAV system starting at them from the dash

[SKperformance]

Metra kits are available from any auto installer.

best buy and so on.

[spunderdog]

I bought the dash panel you mentioned off of ebay. It is not a bolt on unit as far as DIN aftermarket radios go. The brackets that comes with it just hold the panel in place and have nothing to do with mounting a radio. It's actually a filler panel for use if the customer does not want any radio at all. Had to custom cut the cut out for a DIM mounting. The "pop out" is not the correct size and is not actually a "pop out" at all. Had to cannibalize the brackets from the factory panel and new drill mounting holes. Almost 3 hours of trail & error fitting. Metra 70-8113 harness does not just plug in and work. Radio works but amp does not turn on.

[atebit]

Spunderdog, sorry to hear you're having problems. My installer did not mention having any problems at all using the dash panel...in fact, he said it made things really easy for him & saved me A LOT of money in custom dash modifications. He did mention it was wider than a standard double DIN, but he just used part of a trim kit to make a bezel to cover up the space on either side (looks like maybe 1/4" on either side).

He also didn't mention having to use additional mounting brackets, and the ones from the factory radio were still attached to it when he returned the radio to me. They did not charge me for a mounting kit, but when I dropped the car off they said they would charge me for it if they needed to use one.

He was able to use the metra harness for power, ground, etc., but had to do a factory amp bypass, powering the speakers via the radio's built-in amp. We could never get a "straight" answer whether or not the factory amp uses a simple 12V turn on or relies on "data" or some signal level to turn on. The amp bypass was the easiest think to do.

The entire job took him about 10 hours, incuding removing the factory HU, the amp bypass wiring, installing the new HU, wiring up the XM tuner/NAVTRAFFIC unit, wiring up the iPOD adapter, installing the backup camera, and running the wiring for the NAVTRAFFIC antenna and backup camera from the HU all way to the rear of the RX.

One more think I found out after the fact...when you disconnect the other two connectors from the back of the factory radio, you will lose the steering wheel DISPLAY button (along with the other steering wheel controls, of course). It looks like all of the streering wheel buttons share a common ground. I assume that ground connection obtained through the radio via one of those connectors. I think the way to get it back will be to simply ground the corresponding pin in whatever connector it is, once I figure that part out.

I bought the dash panel you mentioned off of ebay. It is not a bolt on unit as far as DIN aftermarket radios go. The brackets that comes with it just hold the panel in place and have nothing to do with mounting a radio. It's actually a filler panel for use if the customer does not want any radio at all. Had to custom cut the cut out for a DIM mounting. The "pop out" is not the correct size and is not actually a "pop out" at all. Had to cannibalize the brackets from the factory panel and new drill mounting holes. Almost 3 hours of trail & error fitting. Metra 70-8113 harness does not just plug in and work. Radio works but amp does not turn on.

[spunderdog]

Yeah, I was wrong about the brackets. The brackets which came with the replacement panel were used but the Panasonic DIN sleeve had to be drilled out for the placement pins on the brackets and the brackets had to be drilled for a placement screw on each side. Molded in parts of the panel cover had to be snipped away until the DIN sleeve would fit flush. Sounds like your installer found out about the wrong sized "pop out" too late but was able to cover with miscellaneous parts from other installs. Thanks for the info on the amp bypass. Probably what I will need to do. Checked the RCA outputs from the radio itself and I am getting a speaker signal. It's just not getting amplified.

[Gerald]

For auto radios and similar accessories, I highly recommend crutchfield.com. I have bought several radios from them. The products come with detailed instructions, and if you have any problems their tech support is very helpful, free, and easy to reach. The original radio in my 1990 Mercedes 190E recently fried. I replaced it with a Crutchfield Blaupunkt radio with CD player that cost $80. It has much more power than the original factory radio.

[ATD1]

If you have been wanting to install an aftermarket navigation screen since the factory navi is way too expensive or just a better head unit for nicer sound, Lexus DOES make an adapter to fix in the factory location to install an aftermarket radio. As with all Lexus parts, it comes with a price of $135 shipped. If you need to see a picture, I can send you an eBay link, but it is a factory part so it matches nicely. If you need a wiring harness to install the radio, it's the Metra 70-8113. It has 2 channels of RCA outputs but I'm pretty sure you can cut those off to tie into the factory speaker wires. If you need anymore info just PM me.

Does anyone know what the Toyota/Lexus double din dash kit part# is? Brought a picture to my local dealer and they've never seen that before and said that if they had a part# they could cross-reference it.

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks.

[atebit]

I don't have the Toyota part number handy, but I actually bought mine from a guy on eBay. My understanding is that this filler panel is only generally available in the Japanse market, but I guess a US dealer could get one if they had the part number.

Anyway, I had a look on eBay & I don't see any filler panels right now, but I would suggest trying to contact the guy I bought mine from. His eBay name is aristo25. He has a lot of RX part on eBay right now, but no filler panels. He can probably get you one, though. When I have seen these on eBay, they are usually listed for the RX330, but it will fit the RX400 as well.

Log into eBay & try sending aristo25 a message & see if he can get you one. I had no problems with the transaction at all, and I had my filler panel in about a week. As Tyler mentioned above, the opening is bigger than double-DIN, but it should be no problem for a good car stereo guy to make a bezel to fill in any open space. Guaranteed to be A LOT easier than trying to install something without this!

Good luck.

If you have been wanting to install an aftermarket navigation screen since the factory navi is way too expensive or just a better head unit for nicer sound, Lexus DOES make an adapter to fix in the factory location to install an aftermarket radio. As with all Lexus parts, it comes with a price of $135 shipped. If you need to see a picture, I can send you an eBay link, but it is a factory part so it matches nicely. If you need a wiring harness to install the radio, it's the Metra 70-8113. It has 2 channels of RCA outputs but I'm pretty sure you can cut those off to tie into the factory speaker wires. If you need anymore info just PM me.

Does anyone know what the Toyota/Lexus double din dash kit part# is? Brought a picture to my local dealer and they've never seen that before and said that if they had a part# they could cross-reference it.

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks.

[skilachi]

Spunderdog, sorry to hear you're having problems. My installer did not mention having any problems at all using the dash panel...in fact, he said it made things really easy for him & saved me A LOT of money in custom dash modifications. He did mention it was wider than a standard double DIN, but he just used part of a trim kit to make a bezel to cover up the space on either side (looks like maybe 1/4" on either side).

He also didn't mention having to use additional mounting brackets, and the ones from the factory radio were still attached to it when he returned the radio to me. They did not charge me for a mounting kit, but when I dropped the car off they said they would charge me for it if they needed to use one.

He was able to use the metra harness for power, ground, etc., but had to do a factory amp bypass, powering the speakers via the radio's built-in amp. We could never get a "straight" answer whether or not the factory amp uses a simple 12V turn on or relies on "data" or some signal level to turn on. The amp bypass was the easiest think to do.

The entire job took him about 10 hours, incuding removing the factory HU, the amp bypass wiring, installing the new HU, wiring up the XM tuner/NAVTRAFFIC unit, wiring up the iPOD adapter, installing the backup camera, and running the wiring for the NAVTRAFFIC antenna and backup camera from the HU all way to the rear of the RX.

One more think I found out after the fact...when you disconnect the other two connectors from the back of the factory radio, you will lose the steering wheel DISPLAY button (along with the other steering wheel controls, of course). It looks like all of the streering wheel buttons share a common ground. I assume that ground connection obtained through the radio via one of those connectors. I think the way to get it back will be to simply ground the corresponding pin in whatever connector it is, once I figure that part out.

I bought the dash panel you mentioned off of ebay. It is not a bolt on unit as far as DIN aftermarket radios go. The brackets that comes with it just hold the panel in place and have nothing to do with mounting a radio. It's actually a filler panel for use if the customer does not want any radio at all. Had to custom cut the cut out for a DIM mounting. The "pop out" is not the correct size and is not actually a "pop out" at all. Had to cannibalize the brackets from the factory panel and new drill mounting holes. Almost 3 hours of trail & error fitting. Metra 70-8113 harness does not just plug in and work. Radio works but amp does not turn on.

Hi Atebit,

You mentioned above that when you disconnected the Radio, you lost steering wheel display, etc. Think i've got the same on my RX300, the Radio was connected by my Pioneer guy and said the heat/aircon/buttons display did not work. How did u manage to get a workaround to this. I'm tryin to fit an aftermarket Pioneer sat nav to my UK Lexus RX300, which i believe is called RX300 0r 350 in the states.

Thanks

[cornorosso]

skilachi have you got a solution for your (....and now mine) problems ? ......did heat/aircon/buttons display work ?

[Deepak Gandhi]

If you have been wanting to install an aftermarket navigation screen since the factory navi is way too expensive or just a better head unit for nicer sound, Lexus DOES make an adapter to fix in the factory location to install an aftermarket radio. As with all Lexus parts, it comes with a price of $135 shipped. If you need to see a picture, I can send you an eBay link, but it is a factory part so it matches nicely. If you need a wiring harness to install the radio, it's the Metra 70-8113. It has 2 channels of RCA outputs but I'm pretty sure you can cut those off to tie into the factory speaker wires. If you need anymore info just PM me.

Are you refering to a RX330 which has a navigation already built-in? or did it come with out it? I have a RX 330 which came with a nav. I purchased a copy of the new maps but I am not too much impressed with the system. May be I am used to my little Garmin C550 ???????

[joey_n]

Edit

[joey_n]

Where can you purchase the adapter?

[lepoblete]

If you have been wanting to install an aftermarket navigation screen since the factory navi is way too expensive or just a better head unit for nicer sound, Lexus DOES make an adapter to fix in the factory location to install an aftermarket radio. As with all Lexus parts, it comes with a price of $135 shipped. If you need to see a picture, I can send you an eBay link, but it is a factory part so it matches nicely. If you need a wiring harness to install the radio, it's the Metra 70-8113. It has 2 channels of RCA outputs but I'm pretty sure you can cut those off to tie into the factory speaker wires. If you need anymore info just PM me.

i want to change my head unit so i can get an aux output so my headrest screens dont have to run its audio through a radio station and have crappy reception. thanks for your time!!!!!!

[Ragu]

If you have been wanting to install an aftermarket navigation screen since the factory navi is way too expensive or just a better head unit for nicer sound, Lexus DOES make an adapter to fix in the factory location to install an aftermarket radio. As with all Lexus parts, it comes with a price of $135 shipped. If you need to see a picture, I can send you an eBay link, but it is a factory part so it matches nicely. If you need a wiring harness to install the radio, it's the Metra 70-8113. It has 2 channels of RCA outputs but I'm pretty sure you can cut those off to tie into the factory speaker wires. If you need anymore info just PM me.

i want to change my head unit so i can get an aux output so my headrest screens dont have to run its audio through a radio station and have crappy reception. thanks for your time!!!!!!

take a look at this web site http://www.vaistech.com/home.php. I am considering one of their products SLU for the aux port so I can connect my Ipod controller from Harmon Kardon. It sounds like they may have what you are looking for without messing up the factory appearance.

Good luck.

[Poppi73]

The radio that came in my 1999 RX300 from Lexus, is has the worst reception of any radio I have ever had in a vehicle and I have had thirty four during the past fifty-sux tears. I have never heard from any source is Lexus makes a retrofit kit for my model RX. I know there is not an aftermarket radio available anywhere that I know of. Please respond if anyone knows of anything. Oh, I have 148,000 miles on it now.

[alitech]

Atebit

I have been trying to reach you about this same issue I am facing with my non nav 05 RX400h. I want to retain the display function of the steering wheel and also the volume and track controls. There are products now that will deal with the volume and track controls from a US company called Scoshe but I havent come accross any solutions for the DISP button apart from another of your threads on tundra solutions.

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/audio-and-stereo/62516-wiring-diagrams-06-lexus-rx400h-audio/

I am unable to view the wiring diagrams from that thread and I was hoping you could help me by telling me exactly how to get that button to work. I have not yet bought any other kit and have not begun this project, I want to get all the information upfront before I commit. I am going to install a kenwood sat nav system double din etc.

I know this is about 4 years old now and you have moved on from this now, but I am still hoping you can help me with this.

I have sent you a PM on both the forums and left messages on these threads as well. If you get my message, please email me on tekno_ali@hotmail.com

Many thanks.

[initiald15]

Hopefully I can get some help even tho this tread was posted many years ago. I own a 2004 Lexus RX330 which came with factory navi system with the Mark Levingston stereo. The DVD player for the navi system had been broken for a couple of years and I never plan on buying another one. But a few weeks ago something happened to the volume control from the vehicle on both the nub on the stereo and the volume control from the steering wheel. The volume number on the screen does not even go up or go down. So no sound. Spoke with the dealer and some audio shop they thought that the stereo is broken. So either pay $1000 for a brand new or a $600 for a use one that does not come with warranty. I ended up decided to go with aftermarket stereo. Bough the hardness that use to connect with the factory amp and the panel to make it look as close to factory set up as possible. After hooking everything and thought I was ready to play some music or listen to the radio... but no sound again. So finally make the effort into checking the amp and turns out the amp had been burn out. So as I was planning to just run the stereo and bypass the amp, I can't to realize when my factory stereo is unplugged from the vehicle, it is effecting the controls on the navi system area. All the buttons are slow in respond and on top of that. The climate control does not work at all. It say no connection to air conditioning control. So i put the factory stereo back in place and plugged everything back. Everything work again... well... except still no volume.

So here's my question: "If my vehicle has the factory OEM navi system which even the climate control is control from the screen, does this mean I cannot unplug the factory OEM stereo system? Or is there another some kind of harness kit that I can buy in order to be able to install an aftermarket stereo and it won't effect everything that goes on up top on the navi screen?"