HU replacement

[Grant11]

So I just lost my whole post when my browser decided it hadn't refreshed in so long that it should do it when I'd just about finished typing.

Anyway, 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i base. I found this thread on another forum somewhat detailing it. I know the parts needed like the dash kit and wiring harness, but I don't know how simple or complex the wiring and hooking up would be.

Is it a simple green goes to green and red goes to red thing on the wiring harness or do you have to know which wire does what? What else should I know before doing this?

 

[Mr Nice]

Very simple.

 

[Grant11]

So like I said, the wiring harness wires color-correspond to whatever group of wires I need to solder it to in the car?

 

[Rand]

you shouldnt be soldering much.

usually you get a HU to universal and a universal to subaru

connect them = boom no soldering.

sometimes its just one harness depends on what you buy.

The main thing is you usually dont have to do any modification of factory wiring.. if any soldering is done you do it to the harness you buy.

Note: I'm not a pro.

soldering might be to add stuff such as a steering wheel control converter etc.

 

[dparm]

Yep, just get the "head unit to universal" then "universal to Subaru" and you're done.

 

[Grant11]

I'm confused...

When you remove the factory HU is there an adapter already that's subaru specific? If yes, then is say a metra 12-3456 (example, look at the numbers lol) that's designed for Subaru just going to plug straight into that?

If yes, then what do you do with the loose wires hanging out of the wiring harness? Does the aftermarket HU have color-coded wires that you somehow connect without solder? Or am I missing something?

the people at the other forum use > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VXED54/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER and that only for wiring. How does this work? I'm very confused.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Yes you can buy a wire harness connector plug that will plug into the molex connector for the factory radio. The matching harness is specific to the factory radio wire harness molex connector plug in your car and it will have the exact same color wires as your new aftermarket head unit and you connect the same colored wires to each other, red to red, black to black, yellow to yellow, and so on. You can use solder and electrical tape or insulated crimp connectors to make your wire connections, either method is fine as long as it is done correctly. There may be illumination wires or other wires in the matching wire harness connector that are not used with your particular installation, in that case you just cap off the unused wires, or you can insulate them with electrical tape.

If you buy from Crutchfield they will send you a free Master Sheet that has all of the info on how to remove the factory head unit and install the new one. Crutchfield also provides the installation kit and matching wire harness for free on most head unit purchases over $100.00. Plus they have a very good technical support group that will help you over the phone if you have problems with the installation. They will also provide free lifetime technical support if you have problems with the head unit later on. There are usually lots of customer reviews on the head units and other gear that Crutchfield sells, plus they provide technical advice and help before you buy, so you get the head unit that will work best for your car. Crutchfield is very big on customer support. They have great prices and usually have free shipping too. I have bought 3 head units and two pairs of speakers from Crutchfield in the last year and they have always treated me right.

 

[Grant11]

Someone needs to explain the steps, not necessarily in detail.

Like what's hanging out when I remove the factory HU? And what connects to that, and what connects that to the aftermarket HU? You're all giving me different bits of information...

I apologize if I'm easily confused, and thank you in advance for staying with me.

 

[Jimmy9190]

When you remove the factory radio and unplug it what's hanging out will be a plastic molex wire harness connector that was plugged into the OEM radio. There will also be a Motorola-style antenna connector. The antenna connector is a no-brainer, it plugs into the antenna receptacle on the new radio. The factory radio harness plug has probably about 16 wires on it, maybe more or less. You may also have other wire harness plugs behind the radio for things like satellite radio or Blue Tooth that were options for the factory audio system. The plugs may be there regardless of whether the car had them in the factory system. You should only be concerned with the main wire harness for the factory radio that has the speaker and power wires in it. The aftermarket matching harness gets wired color for color to the wire harness that plugs in to the new aftermarket head unit. Then you plug the new radio harness to the new radio, and connect the other end of the matching harness to the factory radio power/speaker wire harness connector in the dash. The matching harness takes the guesswork out of figuring out what wire is for what function in the factory system and makes it super easy to install the new head unit.

 

[01rangerxl]

When I put an aftermarket HU in my truck I soldered the supplied Alpine pigtail to another Metra pigtail with a connector that would plug directly into my truck's harness. Soldering really isn't bad, both sets of wires were clearly labeled so there was no confusion about what got soldered to what.

If you really are not confident in matching up the wires or soldering, there are alternatives, such as connecting multiple harnesses or ordering from Crutchfield (they supply a plug and play harness with a HU purchase). Both will cost more than doing it yourself though, and using multiple harnesses could result in having to shove a big bundle of wire back there.

 

[Grant11]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
When you remove the factory radio and unplug it what's hanging out will be a plastic molex wire harness connector that was plugged into the OEM radio. There will also be a Motorola-style antenna connector. The antenna connector is a no-brainer, it plugs into the antenna receptacle on the new radio. The factory radio harness plug has probably about 16 wires on it, maybe more or less. You may also have other wire harness plugs behind the radio for things like satellite radio or Blue Tooth that were options for the factory audio system. The plugs may be there regardless of whether the car had them in the factory system. You should only be concerned with the main wire harness for the factory radio that has the speaker and power wires in it. The aftermarket matching harness gets wired color for color to the wire harness that plugs in to the new aftermarket head unit. Then you plug the new radio harness to the new radio, and connect the other end of the matching harness to the factory radio power/speaker wire harness connector in the dash. The matching harness takes the guesswork out of figuring out what wire is for what function in the factory system and makes it super easy to install the new head unit.

Thanks, I think I got it now.