How-to install a stereo in a 2006 Impreza W/ PICS

[djz05]

thanks, i've been looking for something like this the whole day. had the pioneer avh3100 installed on my 07 impreza at a shop, but now im trying to see if i can do the dvd bypass which i have instructions but nothing about removing the panels (short of hammering the thing off hehe)

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[boostdog]

Originally Posted by djz05

thanks, i've been looking for something like this the whole day. had the pioneer avh3100 installed on my 07 impreza at a shop, but now im trying to see if i can do the dvd bypass which i have instructions but nothing about removing the panels (short of hammering the thing off hehe)

The only hammering you'd better be doing is drinking after you get your HU running like you want. LOL

installing a HU in these cars is so easy it's not even funny.

[gunmetalgolfer]

I wanted to add my own frustration with getting the screws out of the stock HU mounting brackets to install on my Alpine HU. It took me hours, yes you read that right, hours to get the F*#$*E$) screws out of the stock headunit.

Only 2 came out with a screwdriver , it was the perfect size and I didn't use a drill I did it by hand.

The others I had to use a bolt out adapter, the kind you used for stripped nuts and bolts. That got 5 of the others out. The last one I literary had to grind into dust including drilling out the center

I then did what anybody in my position would do, I took the rest of the stock screws and torched them until they were an unrecognizable blob of metal

Anyway, I bought new nuts to use on the brackets to put on my new HU, they are M5 .8 metric hex head (8MM head) 10MM long. I bought then at Home Depot for .93 for 8 I think.


The rest of the install including running a power line from the battery took me less than an hour.

Go figure

[mrjosep]

is there any room in that car (under a seat?) for an amp?

[k3nj11]

Ok guys/gals, I need a little help here. Just a little bit ago while I was changing my oil I decided to go ahead and swap out my headunit on my car (I have an 06' STi) with one from an 07' Limited (also and STi).

Now below is a picture of the back of my stock headunit.....



And now a picture of the back of the 07' stock headunit......



The question I have, is if you look at the back of the 06' stock headunit, you see (from left to right);
1. 14-pin plug
2. ????
3. The radio antenna plug

Does anyone know what the mystery plug is for? The 07' headunit doesn't have it so when I got to swap these, I don't know what to do with it.


If youy look at the back of the 07 Limited stock headunit you see (again from left to right);
1. The radio antenna plug
2. 14-pin plug
3. Aux input plug (?)
4. ????

If someone could also answer me what the plugs on the back of that headunit are for that would be great too.


The reason I am swapping headunits is b/c I want to have the aux input while maintaining the stock stereo for now. Currently, I am having a hard time locating the wiring harness that would go from the back of the stock stereo to the aux input. I know that you can order the actual aux input itself from most dealerships or SubaruGenuineParts.com. I have heard that the aux input kit for the 08's uses the exact same wiring harness and aux input except that instead of it being mounted where the ashtray goes, it was put in the center console so it would require a little modification to make work there.

Also, I believe there is still at least 1 CD stuck in the CD player. Does anyone know what I can about this if it is indeed stuck? Any and all help that anyone could give me here would be greatly appreciated.

[SVXdc]

What is the model number on the front of each radio? Can you add pictures of the fronts (so other people can tell when they have the same radio)?

On the 2006, that black 8-pin connector has a subwoofer output used in some Foresters. It may also have an audio input for a phone car kit. See the pin-outs and notes in post #5 of this thread:

Stock head unit information -- pin-outs, subwoofer, aux inputs, and more

Does your car have a harness that was connected to that? If so, how many wires are on it? Are two pins bridged by a short loop wire?

Post #10 in that thread talks about the 2007 radio and your other "mystery" connector (CeNet bus for Satellite radio tuner, external CD changer, etc.).

The OEM aux kit for 2008s will work on the 2007. The kit includes the aux pod that goes in the 2008 center console and a long harness to connect between it and the HU. The 2007 aux harness is not available as a replacement part separately from a radio.

I can make harnesses with either RCA jacks or plain wires. In this picture, the one in the middle, near the top:

As for the stuck CD, I can't tell from your question, but did you try the obvious step of plugging the radio in and hitting the eject button?

These radios have a bad tendency for CDs to get jammed if you leave one in and then shake the radio too much while you remove it (and sometimes without even removing the radio ). Search for threads that talk about extracting jammed CDs. Basically you just start taking it apart until you can get the disc out. Radios in cars under warranty are shipped back to Japan for that operation (and they ship your CDs back to you).

[k3nj11]

Hmm, well, I suppose I could take pictures of the fronts but they are just the typical fronts from an 06' and an 07'. I will get back to it a little later for everyone else's enjoyment .

As for the model number on the fronts of each radio, the 06' is a P-133 and the 07' C-124.

There was a harness plugged into it and is was using a black connector. I don't remember how many actual wires were in it though off the top of my head, I'd need to go and pull everything out again to check and see (also something I can do tomorrow).

I figured that the actual wiring harness and aux input wasn't available, just the actual aux input. As for your wiring harness, if I were to buy this piece from you, would it actually work right with the stock headunit? So that when I were to press the aux/cd button with my mp3 player connected it would actually swap over to it? Also, would it be possible to not get RCA jacks but rather a regular jack to use a double male ended cord to connect the mp3 player to the aux input jack?

As for the stuck CD, I'm kinda SOL huh? I did try connecting the headunit to make sure it actually works. It turned on and then it said something like it was running a diagnostic of some sort. I had noticed the CD being in the headunit from the outside and sure enough, it registered it being in there. It even told me to press the eject button, which I did, but nothing happened at all. That's why I'm trying to figure out how, it at all possible, it is to get the CD out/ Sounds to me like the only option for me is to take the CD player apart myself b/c I'm pretty sure Subaru is just gonna say sorry and that they can't do anything about it.

Thoughts?

[k3nj11]

Ok, new problem. I was able to get the CD's out of the headunit (via taking the dang thing apart). It even still works amazingly enough. The problem is, it won't accept any CD's to be put into it. When I plug it in, the display reads SYSTEM CHECK forever. Only after I push the ON button does it go away. When I press the load button, I can hear the internal CD tower cycling through all the empty slots but it won't let me load anything. Does anyone know what the deal is here?

I changed my mind on what I wanna do with this and I want to put it into my wifes' 2.5i along with an underseat sub and an aux input all as a Christmas present. I could seriously use some help if anyone knows anything.

[SVXdc]

Which HU isn't taking CDs -- the 2006 or 2007? Unfortunately, it's not too uncommon for the OEM CD mechanisms to go bad. Although it could be that you didn't reassemble something quite right.

A 3.5mm jack could be connected to my aux harness with the plain wires. Or take the one with the RCA jacks and connect an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter cable. E-mail me for details (click on my username).

[k3nj11]

It's the 2007 HU that isn't accepting CD's now. Everything else works great on it, just that it won't accept CD's. The shutter door on the front of the HU that's behind the faceplate is now shut whereas it was open when I started out and finished re-assembling it.

I never played with the 2006 HU b/c there isn't anything wrong with it.

I think when I was re-assembling the 2007 HU I might have not assembled the right way (like you said). I don't have any other examples to go off of though so I can't be sure. All I know that I can do is take the whole thing back apart again and see if my eyes tell me something doesn't look right.

Thanks for the info concerning my options for an aux input. Right now I'm most concerned about getting the HU working right or determining that it's garbage and sourcing a new one. Once I get past that, then I will get back in touch with you about my options. Do you have any other input for me concerning my current predicament?

[SVXdc]

Sorry, I haven't dissected one of those myself. There have been quite a few threads similar to yours, although I don't recall seeing any with pictures. Good luck!

[k3nj11]

Dang, thanks anyway. Anyone else have any sort of into for me?

[Power_shift]

this review rocks. Helped me install my u310bt

[thecrazypolishkid]

Originally Posted by Bio Retard

Thanks for the guide, I was able to get my Pioneer head unit to fit nicely. Only problem is the radio won't work for some reason.

i also have a pioneer deck but i got the wiring harness which will fit but i have a cd player stock radio for my car and it has the little box for the cds under the player and i was wondering if i have to buy one of those kits to make my deck fit into the car thanks

[thecrazypolishkid]

i have an 07 impreza 2.5i and i was wondering if i need a fitting kit to fit my pioneer radio in or if it just fits into the spot the old one was because i have a different stock radio in mine.
thanks

[crotchbuffet]

so i just went to put my new head unit in and all the wires line up then there is one left over from the car, it is labeled dash illumination, i have nothing to plug it into and it doesnt work with out it. any suggestions where i put it?

[creator1322]

Thanks!

[AZRally]

Wow. I haven't been on here in YEARS and im glad to see this is still helping people. This is also my 1,000th post. Haha. Hard to remember how much of my life I spent on here.

[srswarley]

I have installed a HU I had from my old car (Alpine CDA-9885). I have however run into a radio reception problem. When I plugged the male antenna wire from the Subie into the female connection from the HU and turned it on.. I got very poor reception quality.

My only deduction is the amount signal transfer material that is connected between the two just isn't enough. (There seems to be only two narrow strips of metal that make a connection to the cylindrical female piece from the HU) The radio worked fine with the old stock HU.. but will not with the Alpine.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks in advance guys!

*Edit* I figured out the reception problem.. I just needed to connect the 'Power Antenna' wire from HU to the appropriate wire from the wiring kit and Voila!

[rekcah]

Great write up. Thanks

[AZRally]

Originally Posted by rekcah

Great write up. Thanks

Not a problem.

I see that some of the pictures don't work anymore. I wish I still had them saved, so I could re-post them.

One of the pictures not loading for me is the second picture which shows the screws that hold the dash bezel on. They are located on the bottom if memory serves me. It should be pretty obvious.

[SVXdc]

Originally Posted by AZRally

I see that some of the pictures don't work anymore. I wish I still had them saved, so I could re-post them.

It looks like 4 of the 8 pictures in your 1st post are dead. Frequently I save install pictures, but I don't think I archived yours.

Sometimes you can log into your Imageshack account and send a message to them requesting they fix the broken pictures.

I also strongly recommend changing your links to show thumbnails. That will help prevent the pictures from getting blocked due to excessive bandwidth usage. See this post.

[acm]

imageshack stinks. I suggest using imgur.com instead...

[Liv82]

Hi, just read through this thread to see if anyone else had a similar problem but it doesn't look like it. I just bought Oxygen Audio's O'Car from eBay and then called Island Audio (reputably the best in town for car installations) to make an appointment but after the guy checked out the website he said it would probably not fit in my 06 Impreza, something about the isomounts. Does anyone know if there's anything I can do? I can't find the tech specs anywhere but I'm hoping there'll be a way to do it since I don't think I can return it. Any info is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Liv

[TotalledWRXSTI]

Awesome explanation, this is sure to help many!