Intergrating Ipods into car stereo

[lush]

Okay, I just got off the phone to my local ford dealer who tells me there is no way to do this and I have to keep playing my IPOD in car with the FM transmittor only.

I have a BA XR8 Ute, wich just has the standard head unit in it. (single slot CD player, not premium sound)

I have heard there is a connection you can buy from ford, so that you can connect the IPOD directly and have it playing through normal stereo. You still need to use the Ipod to control the music, but it is connected to the stereo so you dont get that slight fuzz you get on the FM transmittors.

Has anyone treid this?

When I rang ford the guy asked me what car it was and said it couldnt be done, when I asked again and said are you sure this is the only way, through the transmittor, he said I could buy something to play it through the tape deck. Then I pointed out the BAs didnt come with a tape deck?! (this man worked at my local ford dealer????)

Any ideas anyone or is FM transmittor the only possible way, without changing the head unit. Can an AUX thingy (not sure of correct term) not be fitted to the standard sound system?

ANY HELP APPRECIATED!!!! :1syellow1 (im still blown away the ford dealer thought a BA XR8 ute came with a tape deck!

[gozza]

could you hook it up through an amp?

[lush]

No idea?! Im a nuff nuff when it comes to steros and sound, I was hoping the Ford man could help but he didnt lol............

I dont even know what hooking it up to an amp means??!!

There is an AUX connection. Buy the signal boosted cable from Ford Spare parts or make your own. There should be a cable taped at the back of the fuse box to put this into. Hold down the AM button for 3 seconds. and it goes into AUX mode. Test it now without the cable

[gozza]

well i have no damn idea myself.....just a thought......You can run speakers of the head units power....but for serious sound amps are needed....i was thinking maybe the amp could power tha ipod....and somehow fuse the wires in with the speakers

lol....probly BS

[lush]

Thanks BlackLS, I had heard something similar and when I spoke to the Ford dealer (in the parts section) he said that it didnt exist, will try another dealer perhaps!!!

Thanks Gozza, but Im not after serious sound, the standard speakers in the ute are find for me, Im not into car stereos obviouslly lol, but I just didnt like the slight fuzzy noise I get when I play the ipod through the FM transmittor is all

Oh and BlackLS, im at work at the moment and car is up in the car park so cant try till tonight, but if it does work do I simply hold the button down again to get back to normal stereo?

If I get this cable I may have to get it fitted, I wouldnt know where the fuse box is. Car stereos are so not my thing

PS your Ford Dealer doesn't know s**t. Don't go back to them.

Gozza, WTF are you talking about.

[Professor Farnsworth]

Yeah, what BlackLS said. I fitted the aux booster kit myself a few weeks back. The BA/BF have mobile phone wiring hidden behind the fuse box (and up, very awkward spot to reach, but do-able). The booster kit you can buy is around $120ish.. but you can get a simple aux adapter too, but the booster kit has a filter which makes the sound a LOT clearer, with little hiss.

The booster kit plugs into the mobile phone socket, (mentioned above) and leaves one spare so you can still connect a car kit for the mobile later. It then winds it's way to the left, over the steering shaft, then back into the centre console, and mounts in the tissue box holder (you need to remove a few console plastics, and gear shift surround etc). You then plug the spring loaded extension cable (provided with kit) and connect it into the headphone socket of any device you like. Then either do the AM trick that BlackLS said, or hit the source paddle on the steering wheel (as though you're cycling though the radio bands, or cd player etc) until it comes up with "AUX" on the ICC screen.

Took about an hour to have all fitted properly.

Tell your Ford dealer to do some reasearch. Try to speak to the service department when you ring for things like that, unless you did ?!

Click on the link below to bring you to the page with the booster kit on it. The top two are the options you have, booster kit or standard audio adapter kit. Let me know if you need any more info.

click here

[lush]

Yeah, the ford guy is a worry, I really dont know jack about stereos, but even I knew fords havent been made with a tape deck for a while!!!

He just kept saying I had to play it through my fm transmittor. Not a very good salesman.

Will try another dealer I guess.

[gozza]

i said it was BS
i was just speculating as know one else had at the time....i'll stand back now lol

Originally Posted by lush

Thanks BlackLS, I had heard something similar and when I spoke to the Ford dealer (in the parts section) he said that it didnt exist, will try another dealer perhaps!!!

Thanks Gozza, but Im not after serious sound, the standard speakers in the ute are find for me, Im not into car stereos obviouslly lol, but I just didnt like the slight fuzzy noise I get when I play the ipod through the FM transmittor is all

Oh and BlackLS, im at work at the moment and car is up in the car park so cant try till tonight, but if it does work do I simply hold the button down again to get back to normal stereo?

If I get this cable I may have to get it fitted, I wouldnt know where the fuse box is. Car stereos are so not my thing

No worries helping out. The part number for the Boosted cable is Part #BAF 289455 BA

There is also a regular unboosted cable for around $30 but you get a bit of interferance from the engine and it has low volume (about half of the volume a CD would play at)

EDIT: Listen to Fantz

Originally Posted by gozza

i said it was BS
i was just speculating as know one else had at the time....i'll stand back now lol

No worries, I just started ****ing myself laughing seeing what you suggested.

Made my day ;)

[lush]

Thanks Fantz, all sound way beyond my capabilities so I will try Cowra Ford Dealer instead, and I asked for spare parts, maybe I should have tried service department? I thought they would be the same out here but I could be wrong.

I already have a CDMA car kit fitted to the ute, and the radio / CD stops when it rings, be good if that would still happen? With the tissue box holder, I might have to mount it somewhere else as I already have a UHF fitted and mounted in there. I had those things fitted at another dealer when I bought the car, before I even picked it up.

Cant believe the guy didnt tell me this...go figure!!!

[Professor Farnsworth]

Originally Posted by lush

Thanks Fantz, all sound way beyond my capabilities so I will try Cowra Ford Dealer instead, and I asked for spare parts, maybe I should have tried service department? I thought they would be the same out here but I could be wrong.

I already have a CDMA car kit fitted to the ute, and the radio / CD stops when it rings, be good if that would still happen? With the tissue box holder, I might have to mount it somewhere else as I already have a UHF fitted and mounted in there. I had those things fitted at another dealer when I bought the car, before I even picked it up.

Cant believe the guy didnt tell me this...go figure!!!

I don't see why it shouldn't still mute your radio when the phone rings, should all still work the same if they installed the car kit properly.

The tissue box holder has a little socket in it where the console end of the audio cable screws in, as a mounting spot basically. You could mount it somewhere else, but you would need to make sure it's properly secured at some point, so it doesn't fall back behing the dash when you're not using it!

I'm not surprised they told you what they did, as most of them are clueless anyway which is frustrating, i would far prefer them to say 'oh i'm not sure, i'll find out for you' but that will never happen. Best to research for yourself, then tell THEM what you want! Spare parts just sell, whereas service fit the parts, so they're most likely to know.

The price shown on the website says 'fitted' so you're looking at $130 providing they don't whinge about your CB positioning interfering with the standard mounting point for the cable.

Good luck.

[lush]

Thanks guys much appreciated!

[gozza]

Originally Posted by BlackLS

No worries, I just started ****ing myself laughing seeing what you suggested.

Made my day ;)

:

[Professor Farnsworth]

No worries at all :