Is there an extra harness interface needed when adding an additional radio head unit in the cubby hole? Or will a 3rd party radio easily integrate with the stock wiring of a 2008? I know with some cars you need a special harness that converts the stock wiring to standard wiring. Then you can plug in any 3rd party radio into your car. Is it the same with the Prius '08? I'm trying to purchase all the parts I need in advance at a lower cost. Then go to a stereo install store to have then install it. I figure if they sold me the parts I need they'd be way over priced.
yes, you do need a special harness and the metra axxess adapter so the steering wheel buttons will work. but why add another radio? unless you have the jbl, just pitch the junk oe unit and install a double din. scosche makes a bezel kit so it will look clean. and you will still have the storage cubby. if you do have the jbl, it gets way more complicated and might not be a diy.
You wouldn't happen to know the harness that's needed? Not the axxess, I know about that. I just have the base '08 Prius. And I figure I have the base speakers too. But I tell ya what, these speakers can really kick some bass at 50 volume. I'm very satisfied with the sound of these speakers as they are. And even playing a compressed mp3 through an FM transmitter does the job for me. But I'd like to add an additional radio behind the cubby door to keep it incognito. I want to keep the lookie loos from smashing my window and trying to steal an in-dash radio. Happened to my wife's car already in an old apartment complex. I figure someone walks by to glance inside to see what they can steal, then they'll just carry on to the next sucker with a double din radio and bust into that one. And a removable face plate is not a solution I find practical. Anyway, here's a picture of someone's dash on the look I'm trying to go for.
What I'm trying to do is get all the parts needed to install an additional radio in the cubby hole myself. Then I'll have the monkeys at BB install it for just $59. I'll be saving a lot of money this way. For example, the Metra ASWC steering wheel button kit is $105 at BestBuy, and it's the old model. The new auto learning model ASWC-1 is on Amazon for $49. Plus BB doesn't even have the model of radio I want anyway. So I can get the radio and the button harness integrator, but not sure which harness to get to interface the OEM connections to the 3rd party radio. I just need that one part so I'll only spend the $59 at BB. Ripping apart a dash and installing a radio is just not my hobby. I don't mind paying someone $59 to do it. As long as there's no surprises where I'll have to purchase additional equipment from BB at outrageous prices.
i don't know for sure what you'll need to keep the oe junk and a separate radio. but the conversion harness i bought from ebay; you really don't need a part number to find it. also the "BB monkeys" don't care about your car and will do a sloppy job. you should expect them to hack up your wiring harness, crack some plastic, lose a few dash clips and strip out some screw holes. even the dealer techs that replaced my MFD under CPO warranty right after i bought my '04, lost a few of the dash clips and i found a 6mm dash bolt on the floor a few weeks later. its always best to diy if you have any mechanical aptitude at all.
Well I'm trying to do some reading on what's needed just to add an additional radio, and it's all confusing. But so far I think I'll need a new head unit, an ASWC-1, & a Metra 70-1761 wiring harness. But I'm not sure if I'll need a Metra 70-8114 to make the ASWC integration easier. Everyone says I'd need a 70-1761, but that's only for four speakers, and I understand that the non-JBL has 6 because of the tweeters. So I'm guessing the tweeters piggy back the wires already going to the larger speakers. Another example of why I'm trying to purchase the parts myself is that BB charges $20 for the 70-1761 while Amazon has it for $5 and free shipping over 25. Come on, it's just wires and they want to charge $20!? So when I purchase my head unit I'll also get anything else I need with free shipping. I know if I just go to BB and purchase the radio there and have them install it, then I'd probably pay around $300+. I can probably save $100+ this way. And I'd rather have them just install it, I'm too lazy and working on cars is just not my thing. If I find something broken, I'll know who to blame. EDIT: And also what happens with the existing radio? Do all the wires get pulled out it? Then a adapter harness is put on the cable so it can plug into an aftermarket radio? EDIT2: It also looks like you can do an install using the 71-1761 harness too.
the tweeters do piggyback, so it is effectively a 4 speaker system. the oe junk unit becomes inert, and you lose the audio button on the MFD. there may be some wires still connected to the oe unit if you keep it, but the adapter harness is designed to plug into the factory connector so that you can convert it back if you remove your aftermarket unit. member F8L did what you are wanting to do, he can probably give you more better info.
I'm reading through all 12 pages of F8L's thread; Stealth install an aftermarket stereo in Prius. It looks like this thread has all the info I'm looking for. I believe I'll need both the 70-1761 and 71-1761. I still need to read up on integrating the ASWC and knowing what's needed.
Well, read through the whole thread and decided to install the unit myself. Soldered all wires to their proper colors and used heat shrink. Integrated the ASWC perfectly. Took a 100 ohm variable potentiometer, it's just what I have lying around, and dialed it to 68 ohms and put it across the white and pink. Tried it without the resistor and of course the A/C page wouldn't work, and the whole interface was really lagging. There is a slight delay when pressing the buttons on my steering wheel. I'd say maybe around 100 milliseconds or so. I bought the 70-8114 so I didn't have to hack into my factory wiring to integrate the steering wheel controls. The only hacking was to add the resistor. The thing I do miss is the beep when pressing the touch screen buttons. Has anyone figured a way to get that back? The connector that has the white and pink wires used with the resistor looks promising. I think those wires go to the back of the touch screen. The remaining 3 wires, red-black-white seem like they're an audio cable, right-ground-left? So to prevent audio going back into the touch screen, I wonder if putting a diode inline with those wires and attaching them to the front speaker wires would bring back the audible beep?
