AUX+Sirius compatibility confusion

[jb7764]

I've been reading through this forum for a while--not to mention that this idiotic overlook from Mazda has bothered me for a couple of years so I have been here before looking through the posts--but I still don't understand what I need to do to get what I want.

I have a 2007 Mazda 3s Grand Touring. When I bought the car I didn't really know about mp3 players so I never thought twice about being able to have that capability in my car, so I had the Sirius installed at the dealership. They didn't tell me I would lose the AUX, but I wouldn't have known what they were talking about anyway. Fast forward a few years. I only listen to mp3s. I find physical disks cause too much clutter (and no one can steal my music stored on the amazon cloud) and I never want the full CD, so I just buy the songs I want and put them on my phone (android).

Come to find out, I learned the hard way that my AUX port is just for show now. Cancelling Sirius isn't an option because I bought a "for life" package. I paid about $400 bucks upfront and I get Sirius for the rest of my life with no monthly payments and it's transferable to a new radio or car. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to get a new car with features I need so I need to figure out how to get it to work with my car that I have. Although, if I could get a new car, I would because this design "overlook" is extremely infuriating to me.

I wrote a letter to Mazda in regards to this because I don't think I should have to pay for the switch box since it did not specify anywhere on the sheet in the window (which I still have), nor did the sales people or anyone who installed the radio tell me that I'd lose the AUX by installing Sirius. But Mazda basically just said too bad which upset me more. Then come to find out, I was GROSSLY overcharged for the installation of Sirius. I paid almost $700 for the parts and labor at the dealership when I could have went to an Audio Store and got it done for a quarter of that. And those A-holes didn't even install it right!! I had to replace the antenna and they used some industrial strength glue on it so now I have a broken antenna glued on my trunk next to the new one. It's incredibly ugly, but it wouldn't come off without ruining the paint. So for Mazda's response and the stupidity/overcharging of the dealership alone I wouldn't buy another Mazda.

Sorry, rant over. Back to the point.

What I really want is to be able to use BOTH the SAT and the MEDIA buttons and be able to control both with the radio/steering wheel controls. But from what I've been reading that's not an option. So can someone explain, simply, what my options are that will get me as close as possible to what I want with links to the parts? The post I recently read that listed a bunch of parts seemed to have other options, but I didn't understand what the different options end results would be because I don't understand the tech talk of where the part went and plugged into and what port options it gave, or whatever. That posting may have also been mostly for the 2006 and older models. So I need a really simplified version for the 2007 M3.

Basically, all I'm capable of doing myself is buying the part and taking it somewhere to have it put in. The place I went to in town didn't really know what I was talking about when I mentioned the switch box at first. They had to look it up.

 

[icspots]

Welcome. First off sorry for the difficulties you've had dealing with this. It's sad the amount dealers charge for some of the services they offer. Part of the reason they charge so much is that by installing the sirius as Mazda directs them involves removing a large number of panels in the car's interior and it takes a lot of time. As to your stuck on antenna have you tried a heat gun or floss/fishing line? Alternately wait for a warm day and let the car sit in the sun, then use the floss/fishing line to saw back and forth through the adhesive. Once you get the mount off you can use goo gone, etc. to get the remaining adhesive off.

Now on to your real question. What you're looking for is the OEM switchbox. The issue you've run into is the OEM sirius and the OEM ACI (console input) both use the same port on the back of the HU. Since you can't have two things plugged into the same port at the same time you have to pick or choose. Mazda got a lot of complaints in 2007 when this happened and so released the switchbox as a bandaid fix. The switchbox plugs into the back of the HU and then has two ports on it. One is for the sirius or ipod adapter, the other is for the ACI. When hooked up you access both of these features just as you normally would from the HU buttons. Most people don't end up needing it because they either don't want to use their input, or they don't want to use the satellite radio they (or the dealer) had installed. For owners like you the switchbox is the perfect solution.

The part you're looking for is p/n TD1379CFZ and it runs around $100 or so. You can order that from any dealership, but I suggest checking out online retailers like onlinemazdaparts or mazdastuff and see what prices they can offer you. As far as installation you really really don't need to pay someone to do this for you. If you have a phillips head screwdriver you can remove the HU in less than five minutes. Installing the switchbox via Mazda's method again includes a lot of panel removal, though you can just tuck it in the dash or zip tie it to something in there to keep it from rattling around. In the meantime if you want to use your input you can just remove the HU, unplug the sirius and plug in the ACI cable.

To remove the HU you have to first remove the decorative strip above the glove compartment. It's held on by about four tension clips and a single hook. If you open the glove compartment you can grab the lower edge of the strip and pull it back towards you to pop the clips loose. What you want to avoid is pulling the right side of the strip straight out because doing so may break the hook there. The trick is to either pop the clips to the right of the LCD loose and then gently flex the strip to clear the hook, or pop all of the clips loose (including the one to the left of the LCD) and then just slide the strip to the left to clear the hook. Once you have the strip off you'll see four screws near where the LCD is. Two of them attach the upper dash section with the vents and you don't need to remove them. The other two hold the HU in place, remove those. Now the only thing holding the HU in are more tension clips. Grab the top edge of the HU (not the faceplate as it can come loose, grab the actual body of it) and pull back to release the clips and the HU will slide out. If you're just unplugging the sirius and plugging in the ACI put a pillow/blanket/your knee out for the HU to rest on and keep it from scratching against the dash while you swap the plugs. The ACI harness normally gets tied off to another harness or tucked behind a panel to keep it from rattling when it's not connected. You should be able to find it pretty easily. If you're installing a switch box then go ahead and unplug the main harness, antenna wire, and sirius from the HU so you don't have to worry about the HU while you're working.