sugarhouse

I took the factory stereo out of my 99 ES300 to replace it with a Kenwood.

I had to pull out two wiring harnesses and I'm guessing one is for the power & speakers and the other for the CD changer. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

I also see an antenna wire, but what is the small black connector right below the antenna?
The new head unit doesn't seem to have a slot to connect it.



Also, I'm connecting the headunit using the wire above.
Will it connect to and utilize all the speakers and a subwoofer?

Thanks in advance~

sbristow84

iTrader: (1)

Don't quote me on this but I believe that one of the plugs is because you have a factory amp! I had one in my 95 ES300! I just took it to my car car and for $20 he wired my new stereo in bypassing the factory amp!

sugarhouse

Thanks for sharing it. But, that raises another question.
Do I have to bypass the factory amp in order to use an after market head unit?

ESeries300

no you do not. bypassing requires you cutting wires and rerunning it. you do however have to move some of the pins around on that exact harness because i had to do it to mine. the colors would be off doordinated and in order to run the memory line, you have to either run it to your cigarette lighter or your clock. did it to mine and my alpine works fine. still waiting for pictures. my post was "New Headunit"

sugarhouse

Well, I finally figured it out!!
I guess I'm going to post some more pics later for those who want to see how it was done.

First, I just took the factory headunit out and installed the Kenwood receiver.
I used Metra 99-8155 dash kit to fit the receiver in place. It fits just fine.
And used Metra 70-8112 wiring harness to connect the receiver.

There are two connectors into the factory audio.
One for the power and speakers, and the other, for the CD changer.
I just used one of them because I'm not using the factory CD changer any more.

And also, there are two antenna connectors attached to the factory audio.
I just had the larger one (the other one is a bit smaller) connected to my Kenwood.
It sounds like the new receiver is getting a fair reception when listening to FM and AM.

There, I faced a problem. As I turn the stereo on, I hear a background noise.
Music from the sources, (USB, CD and Tuner) are playing just fine but the noise is there.
If I turn the volume up, music gets louder but the the noise doesn't.
Whenever I change CD tracks, wierd bumpy noise pops up before the next track.

So, I had to have a technician look at it. He told me it's because of the factory amp.
The solution he suggested was to bypass the factory amp.
I purchased another wiring harness Metra 70-1761 to work around.

Refering to NYC ES3's post on factory amp wiring below:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lex...ctory-amp.html

I pulled out those two connectors from the factory amp and connected to Metra 70-1761 sockets.
And the Metra 70-1761 was wired to the Kenwood connector. (I had to cut the previously wired 70-8112.)
I had to reroute those wires into the center console to hook into the Kenwood headunit.
I also tied two original connectors (to the factory headunit) with the other wires to prevent it from rattling.

Now, the noises are gone!!
Well, finally I have one useless wiring harness left over with me, but am satisfied with the result.

If any of you are planning on DIY installation of aftermarket headunit, and you are in the LA and Orange county area, I'm more than willing to help you out.
I'll post some pictures later.

sugarhouse

One more thing, I'm not sure if all the aftermarket units will cause the noise issue.
The autosound guy told me that they are just not working together perfectly.
You might not have to bypass the factory amp depend on the headunit you'll use.

cmotek24

iTrader: (1)

where can i plug the "illumination" lead for the aftermarket headunit?

i, too, am getting the noise. bigger ground didn't help. any other solutions?

YJC88

just wondering how about the antenna wires, do i need to wire seperately in order to manually power it up/ down?

xsh0tya

I have a jvc and I have the same noise... I also switch in a pioneer, alpine, sony and kenwood all had the same noise... I am prolly going to have to do the same thing that you did, just when I have time.