Steering wheel volume controls and aftermarket stereo - ?

It's more complicated. Unless your JVC is specifically wired to accept the data from the wheel, you're out of luck.

The steering wheel controls don't adjust volume & other functions directly. Rather, they work like a TV remote control, accessing internal circuitry in the OEM radio. It would be possible for the stereo mfr (like JVC) to design their radios to function with the steering wheel controls, but if the JVC manual mentions nothing about it and you saw no interesting accessory sockets on the radio itself, you're out of luck.

The answer depends on the aftermarket stereo's capabilities. Go to

for a list of adapters for your vehicle. You have to do some searching to find out which adapters work with which aftermarket stereo. Basically, the aftermarket stereo has to have a remote capability built in.

Ok, thanks. I'll just live without the steering wheel controls.

Michael

pac-audio.comfor a list of adapters for your vehicle. =A0You have to do

I was worried about that...

$85.95 just for the interface, huh... on the other hand, I was pretty proud of myself for finding an MP3 CD player for $99.

:D

Thanks,

Michael

I was worried about that...

$85.95 just for the interface, huh... on the other hand, I was pretty proud of myself for finding an MP3 CD player for $99.

:D

Thanks,

Michael

******** Hopefully, you didn't cut the factory harness so that you can re-install the original factory radio for someone who wants to be able to use the steering wheel controls.

I was worried about that...

$85.95 just for the interface, huh... on the other hand, I was pretty proud of myself for finding an MP3 CD player for $99.

:D

Thanks,

Michael

===========

Notice the words "equipped with a wired remote control input."? Does your stereo have one? What does the manual say on the page where it shows a picture of the back of the unit?

'Course not. I only cut the wires on the aftermarket harness.

When I sell our Toyotas, I plan to re-install the original Toyota tape players & keep our mp3 cd players. :D

Michael

It doesn't have one.

Actually I cannibalized the JVC from our '99 Camry, which didn't have steering wheel stereo controls (and which we don't drive so much anymore).

Thanks,

Michael

I didn't think you'd cut the factory harness, but I've seen quite a few cars with messed up electrical systems because of cut harnesses.

Although, when I removed the wires from the '99, I was horrified to find the electrical tape covering my soldering jobs (on the JVC harness) was peeling off. Maybe all those hot summers did a number on that tape.

I re-did the electrical tape, tightly wrapping about 1 inch to the left and 1 inch to the right of my solder joint. That was the most time-consuming part of the stereo swap.

While looking for a fix for the steering wheel problem, I read that cutting the factory harness may void various warranties. Whew. Doubly glad I didn't do it.

Thanks,

Michael

Although, when I removed the wires from the '99, I was horrified to find the electrical tape covering my soldering jobs (on the JVC harness) was peeling off. Maybe all those hot summers did a number on that tape.

I re-did the electrical tape, tightly wrapping about 1 inch to the left and 1 inch to the right of my solder joint. That was the most time-consuming part of the stereo swap.

While looking for a fix for the steering wheel problem, I read that cutting the factory harness may void various warranties. Whew. Doubly glad I didn't do it.

Thanks,

Michael

******* I've had good luck with heat shrink tubing, and Toyota used to recommend using silicone tape on electrical repairs (I assume that has not changed). Silicone tape does not have any adhesive and sticks to itself, kind of like plastic cling wrap.

Cutting the factory harness, or any other modifications, doesn't really void the warranty, but any repairs needed as a result of the harness being cut or as the result of some modification or improper repair would not be a warrantable repair and would have to be paid for by the owner. For example, if you reversed the polarity on some of the wires and ruined an ECU, the diagnosis and ECU replacement would not be warranted because it wasn't defective. On the other hand, if the harness was cut and re-wired properly and the work on the harness did not have any effect on the ECU and the ECU was defective, then it would be covered.

Good luck with the tunes!

Although, when I removed the wires from the '99, I was horrified to find the electrical tape covering my soldering jobs (on the JVC harness) was peeling off. Maybe all those hot summers did a number on that tape. ================

Although there's always someone who says they've had great success with electrical tape, it has absolutely no place in mobile installations such as cars, boats & trailers. As you've found, it does not hold up. If you were doing installations professionally at a reputable store and were caught using tape, you'd be told to learn to use crimp connectors, or fired.

Top quality crimp connectors are the only way to go. Besides being secure when installed correctly, you can use matching male & female crimps when cutting factory harnesses, and make it a snap to reconnect the original wiring when you sell the car.

The problem with crimps is that it's extremely difficult to find a correctly designed installation tool in a retail store nowadays. Most tools have a flat compression area which does nothing but flatten the crimps. The right tool will have a channel in which the crimp sits, and a tooth on top which shapes the crimp instead of just flattening it. Here's an example:

That tool came from either Mac or Matco - I don't recall. Snap-On probably has one like it.

Ray mentioned heat shrink tubing, which is a secure option except that soldering the wires and heating the tubing can be interesting in the cramped quarters under & behind a dashboard. Interesting like root canal surgery. And if you're already working with wires that are annoyingly short, they're going to become even shorter if & when you decide to put them back in factory order.

The best crimp connectors on earth come from

.

I'll have to check those out.

Are the tubes and crimpers sold at, say, Home Depot?

Michael

I'll have to check those out.

Are the tubes and crimpers sold at, say, Home Depot?

Michael

=============

Most home & hardware stores sell crimp terminals, but probably not Panduit. It's worth a call to the company to see if there's a distributor near you. Most of the time these distributors sell very large quantities to commercial users, but where my audio store used to buy, they broke down the bigger quantities into small bags for smaller users.

My problem with some of the retail crimps is that they often seem brittle right out of the package. Not always, but you don't know until you've wasted your money.

The butt splices (which you called tubes) are for connections you're unlikely to disassemble, or situations where you have plenty of extra wire and wouldn't mind losing an inch or so if you had to undo the connection. In rows 3 and 4 are female and male disconnects which can be unplugged without cutting wires.

Incidentally, many municipalities allow the use of crimp terminals for house wiring. There's no good reason NOT to use them unless you don't feel your connections are physically strong enough. That takes just a little practice. You should be able to pull the wires unbelievably hard without them coming out of the terminals.

The problem isn't the wires, it's the radio unit.

You have to buy a radio unit that can accomodate the wires you already have. Is there such a thing? I don't know, but my guess is, no there isn't.

why in hell would you be doing that?

You get a harness adapter, and solder its wires to the aftermarket head unit harness, and shrink tube it all--and you do that on the bench.

Then you plug the whole thing into the factory harness, and bolt the radio in.

Please let me never have you working on my car...

You buy the adapter that goes between the factory harness and radio unit. No cutting, soldering, crimping, or taping is necessary, just unplug and plug.

When I was in the business, there WERE no harness adaptors. Along with a handful of other guys around the NYC metro area, I pretty much invented high end installations when the industry was in its infancy.