EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

I see many new CL members asking about BT NAV DVD hacks. It has all been covered here and there, I decided to post them in a single thread. Nothing new here except maybe it is all in one place. These posts refer to the 3rd Generation body style GS Series...that is model year 2006 and later GS vehicles. (3rd gen does not refer to navigation system generation) 2006 GS300 and GS430 had Gen 4 Nav, 2007+ GS vehicles have Gen 5 Nav. If you happen to be nearby, I can help you do this, shoot me a PM.


Thanks to all who have contributed to these posts. If you see your pictures / diagrams here, thank you for posting them in them in the first place.

Disclaimer>
Before I begin, a word of caution. If you injure yourself or others because you were trying to dial a phone number while driving or input in to the NAV screen, neither I or anyone else here at CL are responsible. You should never be watching DVDs while driving. These procedures are for educational purposes and are meant to be used by the passenger.


First, this is the link for taking apart the car…..thanks to thread here by VVT-i
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=156160


Lets start with what you have and what your options are: Update: Go down to Option 4 below for the no wire cutting add on module. Otherwise, wire cut options are as follows:


Base GS – no Nav or Mark Levinson (ML) ----- all you can do is a wire modification to allow for the dial pad to be effective while in motion. In addition to BT bypass removal this also allows access all the folders and file listing on MP3 CDs (07+ gs, 06 did not play MP3 cds). Radio station "MSG" button is still not accessible. If you have NAV….you need to see below for your options. If you have no NAV but have ML (which is a rare combo) you can add the parking wire mod seen in GS with NAV and ML option and it will allow DVD video in motion.

Here is the mod, On K46, pin # 14 is purple. It is the VSS wire coming in from the BCM to the monitor. Leave a couple of inches on the plug and cut it. You are done


You can cut this wire and tape it or whatever you wish.....but that is all that is needed. Now when you hit the phone button on the steering wheel, a dial pad comes up when in motion as if you are parked (instead of one touch).


Pic taken from thread.....
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...2&postcount=92



ONLY purple wire at the far left in the pic is cut, leave the other wires untouched.......

Also, See old thread on this
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=249372





GS with Nav with or without ML: You have several options for what you want to get done
Option 1 – BT bypass only- Wire cutting dial pad option. You want dial out keypad only and dont care to a lot about navigation input while in motion.....or dont want to install a switch anywhere.... You can cut the purple wire and directly re-route to the nav purely for the purpose of allowing the dial pad, and then they can use a hybrid dvd if needed for nav input.
SGT had an excellent thread about this and I wont repost it
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...2&postcount=92
Please note difference between his 06 diagrams and 07+…. on the 07+ h1 plug is not on the passenger side. It is a totally different plug and it is the center of the three plugs on the display unit. Also the wire that is to be cut is on Pin #16 of the h1 plug, which was white with silver spots on the wire.

Comment: If you are cutting wires already, you should consider installing a switch so that you do not need to make hybrid DVD (see below)


Option 2 – Hybrid DVD for navigation input while in motion- No wire cutting hack – involves the creation of a hybrid DVD. No warranty issues. How a hybrid DVD works….. the 06 gs (gen 4) and 07+ gs (gen 5) have DVDs with map data. Along with map data, there is some firmware upgrades year to year. Ver 5.1 allowed a screen tapping procedure to allow a bypass to enable address entry while driving.
Here is the sequence
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=216004
Map versions 6.1 and 7.1 seem to have left this screen tapping procedure out. So people make hybrid DVDs where the tapping sequence is left in and new map versions are added. See this thread on how to do this.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...69#post2503969
Pros: no wire hack Cons: You have to do again once the car has been turned off if you want to enable it. Most people do a wire mod. Wire mod allows the driver to input addresses while vehicle is in motion.

Option 3 - Wire modification for navigation input while in motion - Allows dial pad as well as navigation screen entry, addresses while driving, POI icon selection...etc.
Wire mod for the 06 and 07+ vehicles are similar. The 06 to 07 had a single wire color change and move from one harness to another. Understanding the following is important to make sense of the switch location. Here is how the system works…. the purple wire is a VSS signal which feeds the radio / display unit and tells the radio and Bluetooth the car is moving. The signal then is passed internally to the pink wire on 06 gs (white with silver dots 07+ gs) to the passenger side harness which is taking the VSS signal away from the radio and to the nav unit (nav unit is not in the radio)....... Diff between 06 and 07…. on the 07+ h1 plug is not on the passenger side. It is a totally different plug and it is the center of the three plugs on the display unit. Also the wire that is to be cut is on Pin #16 of the h1 plug, which was white with silver spots on the wire.

So if you cut the purple wire, keypad for dialing is enabled, you can input addresses but your nav system loses its VSS (Nav thinks car is stopped, allows address entry, but makes map scrolling choppy and screws up turn by turn guidance). So on a car with NAV, you cant simply cut the purple VSS wire, you have to re-route the VSS signal to the nav unit. You need to add a switch so you can temporarily disrupt the signal to nav unit so you can enter an address and re-complete the circuit by flipping the switch back.

Note: When using the switch to enable the keypad, Within 2-3 minutes, key pad disables again as the sat signal overrides the lack of VSS, you can flip the switch back and forth to allow another few minutes of keypad entry. I find that the keypad is usually active long enough w/o having to flip switch on and off again, to input address entry.

DVD override: If you have done the wire modification for nav, you have already taken the speed signal away from the cd / dvd changer. All you need to do additionally to allow DVD video in motion is to trick the dvd changer to think that the parking brake is applied. All you need to do is to ground the yellow parking brake wire. You cut the yellow wire in pics and attach a grounding connector (and wire extension) to the side that goes to the radio display and ground it to chassis. This way, car thinks it is not moving and the parking brake is applied (no dash lights come on) and lets your family watch DVD while car is in motion.

Option 4: This is the latest fix....add-on module. Read about it here
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=317601

pros: does not involve wires being cut, allows just about everything the wire hack with switch does
cons: not-free, you must activate a button to allow any function, unlike wire mod which allows allows dial pad as well as MP3 folder manipulation




For 06 GS….HERE IS THE WIRE MOD FOR NAV
you cut the pink wire (passenger side harness) and purple wire (driver side harness) then you use a switch to connect the purple wire coming from the deep side of the dash (not radio) to the pink (going away from the radio (to the nav). then this switch is on all the time except to input addresses, what that does is it allows the purple VSS signal to go to the nav See diagrams and pics

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

For 07+ GS….HERE IS THE WIRE MOD FOR NAV

you cut the white with silver dots wire (middle harness) and purple wire (driver side harness) then you use a switch to connect the purple wire coming from the deep side of the dash (not radio) to the white with silver spots (going away from the radio (to the nav). then this switch is on all the time except to input addresses, what that does is it allows the purple VSS signal to go to the nav See diagrams and pics (thanks to quezacotl for dgm)












Here is the switch I used, came from a 3.5inch external HDD enclosure I had





DVD override: If you have done the wire modification for nav, you have already taken the speed signal away from the cd / dvd changer. All you need to do additionally to allow DVD video in motion is to trick the dvd changer to think that the parking brake is applied. All you need to do is to ground the yellow parking brake wire. You cut the yellow wire in pics and attach a grounding connector (and wire extension) to the side that goes to the radio display and ground it to chassis. This way, car thinks it is not moving and the parking brake is applied (no dash lights come on) and lets your family watch DVD while car is in motion.

Hope this helps put things in one place and makes it easier for reference…..ask your questions here so that all can benefit….

Yang1815

iTrader: (1)

Thank you very much for the detailed post. Your time and effort is very much appreciated doc.

florida700

Thank you for consolidating all the information on the subject. Just one GS specific question that I could not find anywhere else: Where is the navigation DVD in 3GS and how do you eject it?!

Thanks again.

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

Here is the post on this
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...vd#post1897813


there is also a post there about adjusting the bluetooth speaker VOLUME....

matty429

Bump

STICKY

Great write up ...You rule ...

Will The DVD Hack on ML allow you to Change Folders on MP3 Cds , Or Ipod adapters?
Or Do you have to do the NAV Hack . I dont really care to use the NAV while driving.

phattbam

nice thread. it's been done before but never all in one thread.. I think I should really consider doing this mod now.

2thfixr

As far as I can remember, you can't do just the DVD hack unless you do the nav hack. The VSS signal loops through the system for the nav system and for the DVD lockout. When you remove the signal by clipping the wire for the DVD lockout, you remove the VSS signal going to the nav system and you will end up with a nav screen that no longer scrolls smoothly and you will lose turn by turn guidance. If you don't want to use the nav while in motion feature, you don't have to install the switch but you wil have to jumper the wires to take the switch out of the loop. Yes, you can change folders on MP3 CDs once the mod is done.

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

Thanks Robert
what you describe is essentially option 1 above. Thanks for clarifying the MP3 folder issue, the 06 does not support that so I could not comment.

quezacotl

Wait, you mean you cut the white with silver dots wire (center plug of the harness on monitor side)?? I thought there was no "pink" wire on the 07' models?

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

It is fixed already, thanks for pointing it out and the nice diagram.

quezacotl

No problems at all; I'm glad I'm able to help . Thank YOU for taking the time and posting everything together in one thread

quezacotl

Just finished my mod ! It took me "only 4-5 hours" lol. My gratitudes to EyeKutr, Cut-Throat, 2thfixr, VVT-i, and anyone who contributed to the mod explanation. Had a weird setback (I finished the swtich, and it doesn't matter if I switch it on/off, I can still watch DVDs and select mp3 folders while driving (but when swtich is on nav lags); then I finally figured out that the only thing locked when the swtich is off is the Nav input entry, which you can basically override w/ the hybrid DVD hack) but everything is complete and functional now!

Words of advice and afterthought:
1) When you remove the center console trim, put the lever to "N" instead of "D;" it'll save you some time trying to get the bottom half at the rear of the console out.

2) When you pull the Nav unit out, the metal brackets (2 small ones) is actually UNDERNEATH the Nav unit toward the sides, not OUT on the SIDES; and wear a thick glove to pull it out because the 2 small metal, I should call them "tabs" won't give you a lot of leverage. Pull it straight out instead of out-and-up or out-and-down

3) If you do the switch mod you don't need the hybrid DVD mod (switch mod enables you to enter destination at a flip of a swtich; however you can have full nav functionality plus destination input anytime if you have the hybrid DVD and do the override procedure (menu, volume, left-up left-down x3, override) it when you start the car)

4) If you already have the hybrid DVD, you can skip the switch and just wire the wireloom side "purple #14 wire" on K46 plug and "white w/ silver dots #16 wire" on H1 plug together. (you can watch DVD and scroll through mp3s while having accurate nav) But you will still have to do the Nav override procedure everytime you start the car for dest. input while in motion.

5) You WILL BE able to watch DVD and scroll through mp3 discs REGARDLESS of swtich position, which is superb considering that you still get turn by turn guidance by voice when someone else is watching DVD!

6) If you don't care about watching DVD or scrolling through mp3 folders while in motion, and don't care that you have to do the override procedure using everytime you start the engine, just make the hybrid DVD.

Thanks again for all CL members who contributed and hope my comments could help other ppl in the future

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Excellent writeup, sticky'd!

ecount00

Trying to get up the nerve to pull the nav head but want to be sure I really get it. In post 3 of the 'take the car apart' thread https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=156160

looks like there are 2 cables or connectors that are already loose in the lower left of picture 3 but aren't mentioned in the commentary. can see the same cable connectors towards the center of picture 4. assume they plug into something on the underside of the center console and maybe it'll be obvious once it's off but wanted to be sure. What are those 2 connecters/cables?