I have my stock VW double din radio that I was thinking of putting in my truck so that I can at least plug in my ipod through the cassette.

My current radio has a power wire, memory B+ wire and ground wire along with the wiring for 4 speakers. I'm wondering if this is enough to wire up my double din. The B+ and ground wire are labeled quite clearly although there are 2 ground prongs. Also, which prong do I wire the power to?

I want to get the proper harness but want to know if its even possible to do this before I waste any time/money in buying the proper harness.

Here are pics of the double din deck...







Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Sure it's doable you just need to figure out the stock wiring and convert it to the VW harness plug , clip and splice & heat shrink is all you need to do after you get both wiring harnesses figured out.

 

Yeah... I was hoping someone could give me some advice as to what wires go where.

The schematic on the back of this deck proves not to be as straight forward as the aftermarket one I have installed.

Thanks though.

 

you'd have to buy a clipped harness connector from a vee dub that plugs into the back of the deck. Then go buy yourself an aftermarket wiring adaptor (like 7 bucks at walmart) and splice them all together. This will allow you to connect the vee dub deck to the toyota harness without cutting up your truck's harness.

 

Woo hoo... something I can contribute to this great forum since I know this stuff really well.... I do car audio/video/security/fabrication for a living


Okay, to answer your question as to whether you can wire in your VW DDIN deck into truck is NO and that goes for any other vehicle short of putting it in another VW.

The reason is that all late model VWs (2000 on up) and especially those with the DDIN radios are tied into the vehicle's CANBUS system (the communication protocol that can handle as much or as little of the vehicle systems as the manufacturer wants to). The radio won't operate with just the power (the B+ terminals and GND). The CAN+ and CAN- are tied into the VW's CAN network and that tells the radio to turn on and off as well as other functions specific to the vehicle and radio.

Of course... I could be wrong. If you hook up both the B+ terminals and the GND and try and turn it on. It may power up... but you'd have to put a manual switch on the power and you'd lose any settings, etc.

BTW, if you're curious, plug location with the smaller pins is to plug in a VW CD changer, factory VW Amp... etc... basically, you can ignore that.

Ron

 

Thanks for all the great help.

I was wondering what Can+ and Can- pins were for. Thanks for clearing that up Ron.

For the time being, I'll stick with the aftermarket deck that came with the truck from the previous owner.

Sometimes the easier route is the better route. Eliminates headaches.

 

No problem helping out. I do this stuff so much that I scare myself with what I can remember. I'm super familiar with the Toyotas with regards to any aftermarket audio/video/security/random convenience item to add to the point where I can tell you EXACTLY where to cut into the driver door panel to put a speaker in without any issues.

If there's anything I might be able to help out with, let me know!

Ron

 

That is useful information...So say I already have aftermarket components in the stock location on my 98 4Runner and wanted to cut out the speaker hole and put a nice mesh screen in place of the plastic screen on the door pannel...would i gain any musical clarity or audible loudness? I just have the Phoenix Gold 6.5" RSD components in there running on an amp.

 

IIrc.... you have to push a series of buttons on those vw radios to over ride the controller... but... I believe there were several different "codes" so unless u know the code for that specific radio I think the answer is no.

 

You've already got the basics done, having a good set of components running off an amp. Cutting out the factory grills wouldn't gain you anything audible IMHO. I've become a believer in using some sort of sound deadening (aka Dynamat) on the metal parts of the door panel on the inside and on the outside. It's not snake-oil as some people have said it is. Deadening/stiffening the metal the speaker sits on is akin to having a stiffened chassis on a car... less energy is wasted on flexing. In the case of the speaker, the energy is isn't wasted vibrating the metal it's mounted against and if there's some on the outer panel behind it, it's not flexing that metal and the acoustic energy is sent where it's supposed to. If you do the whole door panel, inner and outer skin, you'll definitely notice a difference on top of the fact road noise will be reduced.

Yes, Dynamat is pricey but there's other alternatives at less than half the price. FatMat carries pretty much the same stuff. I plan to use a layer or two on my roof to help keep out some of this Texas heat as well as help keep the roof from dinging too easily from the crazy hailstorms here.

Anyways, I'd go that route rather than cut into the factory grill to replace with a mesh one.

~Ron

 

Putting shoddy VW electronics in a reliable Toyota is like putting throwing a half cut Amy Winehouse into a Nobel Prize winners' banquet. I disapprove.