97 Es300 Indash

[lexs300]

Hey everyone,

Im new to the lexus owners club and i was wondering if someone could give me some help on something. i have a kenwood double din nav/dvd headunit with seperate nav brain i am wanting to install. i already have a dash kit and is there anything else i need for correct install? im new to the audio world and i have some friends who are good with cars but mostly their knonwledge is motor stuff. i asked a local shop how much for install and they quoted me 300 dollars

is there anyone who has a DIY or something that can help me out... or is this a "hard" install?

Thanks,

David

[gbhrps]

A few things to get, and a few to consider. Try to get access to a 97 Factory Service Manual (FSM) for your ES. It shows the fasteners and their locations for pulling the dash radio and vent trim pieces. It'll pretty much guarantee that you don't break anything. Before you start, disconnect the battery. A short will spoil your day. Go online to www.installdr.com (the Install Doctor) Search through until you find the radio wire harness diagrams for the 97 Lexus radio. It'll give you diagrams of the connector plugs that go into the back of the factory radio, and a list of the colours and locations that its wires go to (ex. brown wire to right front speaker) This will save you a lot of head scratching once you start, and will make it easy to see if the new unit matches with the car's wiring. Get to a car radio installer and buy the needed harness coupler for use between the car's radio wiring harness to the Kenwood unit. (It'll cost you $20 but will save having to cut and splice any wires for the install, and will make it a snap to retrofit the original radio back into the car when you sell it.) Loosely install the radio, hook up the battery and try the radio before you pop everything back into place. Use the FSM to pull the A Pillar trim and lower the front of the headliner over the front rear view mirror, assuming that the Nav unit's antenna has to be mounted up by the mirror and its wire will tuck up under the headliner and go down the A Pillar under the dash to the nav. I would use zip ties to fasten the nav antenna wire to other wiring harnesses and such under the dash, but leave them loose until you get it routed correctly and are sure that its the proper length, then tighten them and cut off the excess if they show or bother you. Good Luck!