UberNoob

not sure what went wrong there for u
it is indeed the CD changer's wiring harness you should be working on.

i would make sure all connections are solid at ur solder joints (if you soldered)

i did have to turn up the volume more than usual but didnt have to turn up too much to get the music coming loud and clear on all channels

bigguppy

iTrader: (15)

Just did this 10 minutes ago. Work and sound great for a temporary upgrade. Thanks OP and everyone for their input. Save me the trouble of over hauling my system. Going to invest the money into a 64gi iPhone for now

Clear2Cloz

Great write up to the OP! I did this mod yesterday and it works flawlessly. Sound quality is excellent and there is absolutely no hiss or static that u used to get from the cassette adapter. As a few people mentioned, I grounded the jack to the factory amp screw and get no alternator noise or any other interference.

I did take me quite some time to do though, because I mounted the jack into the center console from behind, right next to the power outlet. To keep myself sane and run the wires neat, I removed the radio/climate control panel, ashtray (which just pulls right out), the entire panel around the shifter and the center console. That wasn't the big deal…once I had everything apart I figured I would replace the cabin filter (which required a trip to Lexus) and got side tracked by cleaning everything. I have never taken any of those panels off before, so I was surprised how disgustingly dirty everything inside was and it just bothered me lol.

I probably would have had the entire project wrapped up in 45 minutes, but my OCD with cleaning kept me out there for 3 hours.

IMO, if you are going to do this great mod, take the time to run the wires into the bottom part of the center console. It looks factory!

The only PITA was soldering the wires to the pins on the jack…the pins are so tiny and my soldering skills are questionable at best lol. Good thing I bought 2 jacks when I went to radio shack, because I melted the first one in half.

Wiring up the harness for the CD player, I didn't even bother soldering…I just used the t-splice connectors which worked out great!

Additionally, the double sided male audio cable I had laying around worked great, but just for the hell of it I bought the monster cable to see if it made any difference. The sound quality from the monster cable was no comparison to the thin wire no name one. IMO, the monster cable is well worth the 20 bucks.

OP- thanks for the great write up, as well as all the others who shared input and different ideas.

Sent from my iPhone

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

One last thing to make this complete. Earlier I mentioned running the ground wire of the cigarette charger whichever one you are using to charge your iPod while you play it to the amp ground to get rid of the alternator whine while you charge your iPod. I did this and it did reduce the whine but it is still there. So I ordered one of these, It still has not arrived but I will report if it works when I test it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Isolator...10944773675%26

Sheehan1p

Hey Sam! I've been trying into looking to find a solution for my wine in my cig lighter cause I eat to have Bluetooth in my car will this actually fix it? Cause if so ill be sure to place an order for mine

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

When I get it I will update on the results. It will take two weeks to get here because it is coming from hong kong

Sheehan1p

thank you sir

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

Well I finally got it today and it works but it's weird. I have a blue tooth adapter that allows me to run blue tooth off my iPod through it to the aux jack but it need to be powered. I put the isolator between it and the USB cigarette adapter and works perfect. No whine nothing. Then I put the iPod directly to aux jack and plug the iPod charger to the isolator and the iPod says its on battery and no charging. So I try the same thing but different USB to cig lighter adapter and it works , then I unplugg the iPod wire and Replugg it and it does not work. To make it work I have to unplugg the cig adapter with the isolator still on the cig adapter and then plugg back in the lighter and it works. If I plug it all in and turn the ignition off and then on it works. Also it only works with one particular cig to USB adapter of the 3 I have (the energizer brand one I have). When it's working the static and whine is 100% non existent. So it works but it has it's quirks. Also you have to have the switch on full or low for it to work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Isolator...10944773675%26

Ok if you get the energizer 2.1amp cig to USB converter with the energizer cable it works perfect

daihung

Hi,

I just found this thread. Will this mod work on a 2008 Lexus RX350 with Pioneer cd changer/no cassette/no nav/ radio? I took my radio off and it has more colors and more wires. I don't know which one goes where. Any advice is appreciated.

KeyKeeper

This mod is done to the changer-to-amp harness, not the stereo.

bsmith203

iTrader: (1)

This mod does work however has anyone else noted that the volume of the aux input is about 1/3 of all the other sources on the stereo? That alone made this a no go for me and i had to unwire all of the rats nest of wires I initially ran to get this thing up and running. Three hours wasted yet now I'm sure that a stereo upgrade with all the latest technology built in including bluetooth is in my near future. Wish this was my solution as it was only $12 bucks for everything I needed.

robertoyou

iTrader: (1)

just to let you know- streaming audio through bluetooth is pretty often a way to lose audio quality. (ie what you experienced with this mod)

Fmartinez9

Will regular subwoofer speaker wire work? and there are two wires of red white and green, I'm pretty confused. Do I just cut the wire and solder the wires connected to the jack?

aEO 37

iTrader: (2)

regular speaker wire will do. something like 16 gauge

sakano

I happened on your excellent "how to" replete with photos. I followed your writeup and was able to add an aux input to my 1998 Lexus LS400. The only thing I couldn't do was solder in the wires because the wires were too close together. I used connectors and they seem to work; when they'll come off I don't know

Thanks for your help.

___________________________________________________________________
1998 LS400 and 2005 Acura MDX