Replacing aftermarking CD unit

[dirtyz]

I just got a 2002 P5 and the previous owner installed a single din cd player. However, it's the biggest piece of crap cd player I've ever seen. It doesn't even have a brand name on it.
And as you can imagine, the sound quality is awful.

So I am planning on replacing it with an Eclipse CD 5425 unit that I had in my old car.

It doesn't look like replacing the unit is too hard - I take it I need the U shape devices to get the radio out?

Now, will the dash kit that is already installed - That should work with the Eclipse, right? Both are single din cd players - I imagine the size is going to be the same.

I plan on installing it tomorrow - I special ordered the aux cd changer cable so that I can hook up my Sirius.

Just trying to clear up any problems I may have going into installing it.

Thanks...

 

[el_Don]

I think there's a how-to somewhere on the forum. Good luck, and post pics when you're done

 

[sam1]

If theres already an aftermarket unit in there, I don't think you'll need the U shaped tools, as those are for the stock unit. I would assume that the standard radio removal tools (or butterknives work great) would work just fine. And the dash kit should be compatable with any single din unit. I think the only place you may run into problems is when you yank the old hu out and see what kind of wiring job they did, lol. Hopefully not too messy...

 

[dirtyz]

thanks for the info..

This morning, I was sitting in my car just looking at the crappy cd player.. I started just looking at the cd player, and pulled on it - low and behold, I basically pulled everything out. Kind of scary, if you think about it.. But tonight, I will hopefully get the new/better unit installed..

Man I hope the wiring is alright

 

[dirtyz]

Didn't get to it last night, going to shoot for today..

Question - I have the stereo here with me at my desk. I notice on the back there are 3 pairs of RCA wires. The three say:

Line out - Rear
Line out - Front
Line Out - Non fader out.

Are any of these aux inputs for my Sirius radio?

 

[Circuit]

Didn't get to it last night, going to shoot for today..

Question - I have the stereo here with me at my desk. I notice on the back there are 3 pairs of RCA wires. The three say:

Line out - Rear
Line out - Front
Line Out - Non fader out.

Are any of these aux inputs for my Sirius radio?

You already answered you own question! Those are all Line Level outputs for external amplifiers. You need an input. Is that particular radio able to control a CD player? If so, there is a round DIN connection on the back. Eclipse sells an adapter to make that DIN connection an auxiliary RCA input. I think the part number is AUX105.

 

[dirtyz]

Gotcha - Yea, I have one on order and it should be here today (AUX cord).

The person I bought the CD player from has a wire harness on it - But i don't what make his car was. or does it not matter? I was thinking that just now, how I may have to stop and get a wiring harness

 

[sam1]

The wiring harness is probably just your standard leads, I would assume. Unless there is a plug on both ends. And judging from the exceptionally great install on the last hu, I would assume the wiring was done in the same fasion and is probably a hack-n-slash kinda thing. I would say, just clip off the old plug for the previous hu, and splice/solder/shrink wrap the plug for your new hu into the stock wiring. This is all speculation, as I can't see what kind of wiring the previous owner did, but I would assume he didn't go get a reverse plug for the stock wiring, and is probably all clipped/spliced to hell.

 

[dirtyz]

Got it installed this weekend - And it looks great. I'll take pictures this afternoon, hopefully.

The only problem I have is that the trim piece was missing for the new radio. I have the old trim piece there now, but it doesn't look great. Are those trim pieces universal for brands? It's an Eclipse 5425 model cd player - I wonder if all Eclipse trim pieces are the same?

I didn't run into any snags at all. I took the old unit out and cut the wires to the old harness. I took the new harness and was able to connect the wires. I was nervous, as this is the first time I had done it myself... And I'm red/green colorblind, so I wasn't sure if I could see the colors. But with some help from wife, I was able to connect them.

I had to buy a new dash kit, as the old one was very cheap. The new one clips in much better and is much more stable.

I also got my Sirius installed. Ran the cord from behind the radio and all the way back to the hatch. It looks really great and I'm very happy with the install.

The sound quality is so much better than the old head unit. It's night and day.

My next thing is to replace the speakers. What have people's experience been with replacing the stock speakers in a P5? Do you have to take the whole panel off, or just the grill? And I know I've read somewhere where the sizes tend to differ with the rear speakers. I'll have to do some more research for that.

 

[dirtyz]

Here are the pictures of the install. As you can see, the trim ring around the cd player isn't right, which is unfortunate.

Also, I temporarily mounted my Sirius radio where my ash tray is.