au radio removal

[trickle]

how long do the pins on the tool to remove the head unit :

[superroo]

It's one of those things that can be really easy, or really painfull.
I experianced the painful side of it with it taking me near 3 days to get the original out(Hacksaws work so nice).
Look round the forum, it been posted before.

Check below, it's a scan of the gregorys manual, that tells you have to make the prongs.

Cheers

[trickle]

thanks mate

[superroo]

Welcome to the forums by the way, hope you stay and get to know us all.

[OZFORDAU]

Welcome mate to the AFF and beware of the mod bug....LOL look what it's done to my car!

Make sure u post some photos of ur car up mate!

Cheers

Simon

[trickle]

yes i will stay :

[superroo]

But rember simon, mods arn't every thing. You've got to have a painted grill as well :

[peterban]

With the bent coat hangers or the tools you have to push them outwards, the left towards the left door and the right towards the right door, sometimes you can get one side to move and the other side sticks but with a little bit of patience they come out in the end.
It is a good idea to have someone else push the stereo from the back while you are using the coat hangers as they don't have the grip bits on the end like the tools have.
Good luck

[99FalconS]

I had a pair of the pins to take mine out but it was stuck in the hole, i ended up having to destroy the orignal unit to get it out. Best thing for it anyway. I have been told that some of them dont sit in right from the factory.

hope you have better luck than me.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

just my 2 cents from my experience removing my radio a few times , allen-keys work best to use as the tool , use 4 allen-keys that fit very tight into the holes , works a treat ;) .

[sparxxx]

thanks to everyone for the tips.
I have been a lurker for a while and have found some stuff very useful from here.
Especially the centre fascia removal.
and the Wiring harness by AERPRO.

Does anyone know how to put the little white clip back in for the heater cable.
Im not sure if I broke it or just being a to get back on.?

Cheers



My Ride
AU XR8 S3 2001
Silver
Stainless Cat Convertors with 3" exhaust from D&T in the city.
Has had a couple other things but pretty stock still ATM.

[daz_]

Just do yourself a favor and go down to your local autobarn or auto electrician and ask them to remove it for you... Autobarn or similar auto-electrical type places will have the proper clip to get it out with will take them 10 seconds! Or hell go to ford and ask to borrow the clips (yeah right)

If you see the shape of the proper clip you will see why a coathanger will struggle big time to have any effect!

They have a bit of an outward hook at the ends iirc

[cthorange]

i got my radio out without to much hassle, i tried the coat hanger thing and that seemed a frustrating venture so after half an hour i noticed the top right corner of the face plate of the radio was easy to bend and pull at, i ended up pulling the face of the radio off the head unit, this revealed the clips and it was a piece of cake from there. the face is only held on via its own plastic clips around the edges of the unit and one electrical plug, once out i put the face back on and it had sustained no damage. maybe that was a fluke but it worked for me (from a forte AU 1 wagon)

anyone who is thinking of using the coat hangers, the clips themselves arent very deep, just past the face plate, and you need to push from both sides in towards the head unit simutaneously. i think it would be a lot easier with two people, with one of the people also pulling the unit out with their fingers in the tape slot or pushing it from behind if possible

[northy16]

what are you putting in.....i'm thinkin of getting rid of my original cd player, it don't like heat, cold, bumps, some burnt discs and on rare occassions, it sounds like it is eating the disc

[mr302xd]

I think we need a sticky for this stereo subject. I have seen this come up 100 times!!!

[Adgum]

Quick Question. How does the AU Fairmont Look with a normal CD player in it.. If i were to remove that big thing and replace it with a normal sized one.

Id assume the place i get it installed would put some sort of filler in.. Just wondering if it would be any good XD

[au2sw]

all you need there is to get a series 1 dash pocket that sits under the headunit. seires 1 low models had a single DIN unit with a pocket underneath, i had a series 1 and replaced the head unit with a kenwood jobbie and it looked shmicko, the high series and 2/3's all have double DIN jobbies, so you would need to get the pocket as mentioned above

[last fairlane]

Ive had my AU Fairmont one out coathanger style but the AU Faairlane s2 was a different thing altogether it would not move at all took it to Strathfield cost me $100 to remove and install double din dvd player I wasnt happy with the dvd so in went an original CD player again they stuck it in with double sided tape stuck to a piece of 3 ply never seen that before.
any way has any one noticed when you use a burnt CD it takes sometimes up to 20 seconds to play where a bought disc is instant
JOHN

[JC]

Originally Posted by last fairlane

...any way has any one noticed when you use a burnt CD it takes sometimes up to 20 seconds to play where a bought disc is instant
JOHN

That depends on the quality of the player. My previous JVC played burnt DVDs and CDs no worries at all (certainly no 20 second lag), and the current Kenwood is just as good. A Pyle DVD player I had, would literally take 90 seconds to load the mp3s before it would even think about playing, and even then, it wouldn't play anything over song 100 on the disc! Pyle are rebranded as Viscom in OZ and sold through JB Hi-Fi - stay away from them; they are cheap and nasty, and you can get the same thing off ebay at 1/4 of the price.

[Adgum]

Is there any real good Double Din DVD players anyone could recommend? like, one that would hook up to ipods, mp3's. play cd's dvds, and mp3 cd's, the whole Shibang?

ha ha :P

[amisupposed2b]

LoL, Oh god. Me not being as pateint as superroo and not giving it 3 days, i gave it 2 hours. Needed a new centre fascia and the controller thingy for the aircon and fan after that. Oh and also a new Din pocket...


Good luck with that though!

[JC]

Originally Posted by Adgum

Is there any real good Double Din DVD players anyone could recommend? like, one that would hook up to ipods, mp3's. play cd's dvds, and mp3 cd's, the whole Shibang?

ha ha :P

Yep - Kenwood make a great little touchscreen unit. RRP is around $1999, but zhodak got his at one of those JB sales for around $1400. Has iPod interface (optional extra), plays DVDs, Giga MP3, and even has USB-in as well. Also has zone control (so people in front can watch a movie, and those in rear can listen to radio or iPod, or whatever). Here's a link for you:
http://www.kenwoodaudio.com/Australi...del=KVT-739DVD

This is probably the BEST headunit I have ever seen (I have the older model which has everything except iPod interface). For the money (especially if you can get it for under $1500), it is probably the best value for money you could buy. It also has navigation and TV tuner options (both options, of course), plus it will take input from a reversing camera and switch over when you put the car in reverse, etc.

[Adgum]

Wow. Thats exactly what im looking for! Thanks.

Want to get a really good sound system for my car and keep all the stocky's so when it comes time to sell i can swap back and have a good sound system for my next car.

[Adgum]

Oh, and tried out the Coat hanger method with pulling out the Double Din Radio in my AU Fairmont. Worked like a charm. Took like 10 seconds after i cut the coat hanger up to 2 pieces going in the four slots.
Lol and as a result, it proves that if Ford Dealers don't no the answer they will say it has the feature anyways :P

(Told me it had a AUX port at the back when it clearly did not.)

[sanjay]

ordered some properly made tools from ebay for like $6

they came, the right side they would go in and click, and i could pull the head unit out by reaching behind and pushing it, but the left side will not budge! tried a cut piece of coat hanger, allen keys...it just gets jammed halfway through the hole and will not work. this is to remove an AU2 stereo from an AU1 dash.

i read in some other threads that some people managed to get ford or autobarn or other places to take it out for free - anyone here got a store to do that? dont really feel great about paying $50 for someone to use the correct tools and get it out with ease. but ive given up trying myself. :(

[sanjay]

meh, swung by autobarn and they couldnt get the bastard out using the keys, which means $45 and about half an hour to get the entire centre console off and wrench the pile of garbage out.

any other tips before i succumb? as i said, the right hand side comes out just fine (well, as far as it can without the left side budging) but you can push whatever you like into the left hand side holes and no love, even with coercion by pushing it from the back.

[Chamelion]

I spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to do mine.. Took me nothing near that long today to finish it. The trick ended up being to use some flat thin metal (I used some thickness guages) to slide it beside the head unit and prise it out.

[facaletz]

Four wood nails and a piece of wood in between, long enough to push them a litle bit outward will do the $50 job +2 table knives on the sides to help push the bloody stupid thing out......Thanks to all helping me to understand how it works.......Have a nice Weekend!!!

[scrivens]

Originally Posted by sanjay

ordered some properly made tools from ebay for like $6 they came, the right side they would go in and click, and i could pull the head unit out by reaching behind and pushing it, but the left side will not budge! tried a cut piece of coat hanger, allen keys...it just gets jammed halfway through the hole and will not work. :(

Think it may have been mentioned earlier in this thread, but what the tool sellers etc don't tell you is that the tools have to be moved outwards to depress the internal clips from their locking position in the mount to allow the unit to slide forward. Just pressing them in and pulling doesn't work as the clips haven't been depressed - that "click" is just the end of the tool clicking into the slot. Push them in, then with your thumbs hooked in the tools and pulling each one out towards the doors, pull both your hands towards your body. I've done a few and have never had a problem.

[scrivens]

Couple of pics - where the arrows are you can see the clip edges being depressed as the tool is moved outwards.