stock HU nightmare

[dbakowsky]

oohhh bbboooyyy...i was up till 1 in the morning last night trying to get my damn HU out to replace it with a new deck i bought yesterday..it was a total nightmare getting that thing out..i had those 4 u shaped tools and that didnt help at all..i ended up takin off my glove box and the plastic under the steering wheel off..still didnt work..so i woke up at 7 this morning b4 work..tryed to get it out for half an hour again..still no luck..so at lunch i took it to my bros shop..he is the head technition..he works on all the exotic cars..ferraris..lambos..etc...he was busy so i took some of his tools and finaly got the freakin thing out..its not in good shape..has n e body else had these troubles with removing their stock HU..or am i the only one if u have had thses problems how did u go about getting it out???..cuz im kinda curious lol (drinks)

 

[Iggy]

I had problems as well. Bought my current head unit from crutchfield and got the din tools (the u-shaped pieces of s***) to help me take them out. Well I tried and tried for 2 hours, and nothing. I took a break for the day, and decided to come back to it the next day. Same thing happened. So I took it to the shop where i bought my amp and speakers to see what they could do. I had the owner of my shop cursing at my car for about a half hour before he could get it out. He used tools that look like they belong in a dentists office, but 3 times as large. He had to take a few pieces to get it out, but after 2 days of fighting it, the stock head unit got taken out.

so in short, no, your not the only one who had problems

 

[mountjonas]

same thing for me. my friend and I tried for hours pulling and s***...nothing. Luckily I was soon due for a oil change so I took the car to the dealership and they pulled it out for me when the changed the oil. for free.

 

[blackandbluepro]

Yeah! The stock HU is a real pain to extract if you dont have the proper tools, and even if you do its still a pain!

 

[c0nfus3d]

took me no more than two minutes?

 

[dsm_rally]

I actually got mine out in about 10 minutes when I installed my AuxMod. I made two tools using a stiff coat hanger. A friend of mine pulled from the front using the tolls and I pushed from behind by reaching behind the console.

 

[lasermp5]

Last year during one of the huricanes, we were stuck inside all day naturally... so I went out into the garage and had at it. Took me no less than 5-6 hours probably to finally get it out. When I did, I put a small knick in the bezel surround... POS radio.

 

[SlowPro98]

wow, I didn't have any problems at all getting mine out. I got my deck from crutchfield, took 2 of the tools, jammed them in the middle most holes, pushed out to the sides and wiggled it out. it took me about 35 minutes total time to up, wire up and replace. It's all in the wiggle, and maybe talk dirty to it.

 

[Breeegz]

It didn't take me long... I used coathangers one time and 4 small allen wrenches another time...

after the first time it seems easier....

 

[Mike R]

Friggin easy. 5 minutes. No tools other than a screwdriver.

 

[AlbNYPR5]

When I got my AuxMod I messed around with coat hangers for about an hour and quit before I damaged anything. I went and got two sets of the din removal tools and had it out within 30 seconds. You just have to remember to pull to the sides first and straight back.

 

[mogi]

I tried the coathanger method, damn things kept bending and s***...

ended up using some skinny nails (forgot my pullers at home), jammed the nails in the puller holes and treated them just like pullers (pushing the heads of the screw away from the center of the radio) and it came right out.

Sounds to me like the people having trouble must not have gotten the tools they were using on the proper side of the retaining clips...

 

[hex2bit]

I bought tools from Walmart... and they didn't work. The problem is that the tools don't hold the HU well enough to pull it out. When you pull, the tools just slide out. Cheap ones may have more of this problem. I ended up shifting my HU over a little bit so the tools didn't even work on the left side. Thought I screwed myself and possibly broke something!

The solutions? Use your hands! NO TOOLS needed The following steps work well.
1) take the glove box off by openning it, pushing in top edges inward so the rubber pieces aren't holding it, swivel it down and unclip the bottom left side, then slide it out toward the left.

2) take the plastic peice under the steering wheel off. You could probably just yank it off by pulling down from the top. It has 4 clips that hold it on the top that you could undo with your fingers one-by-one (I did this instead of the yanking). The top ones are hard to get with large fingers. It swivels down and you can unclip it from the bottom.

3) Pick one side (right is easier to get to) reach in by the front of the HU and push the metal plate down. It is spring loaded and holds the stereo in place. This is what the tools push against if done right when you pull the tools apart. Just push it with your fingers. While pushing down on the metal plate, push the HU out so the plate is not holding secure anymore on that side.

4) Now with one side out a little, go to the other side and do the same. Once you have pushed both sides out a little, you can just pull the HU out completely and disconnect the wires. It may be easier to go back and forth from side to side and get it slid out a little more before trying to pull the whole thing out.

Ta da! No tools, and only a minute or two!!!

Just for reference, I spend many frustrating hours with those stupid tools trying to get it out... I thought I broke something. I didn't realize what it was actually doing until I saw pictures online of a HU removal from a Miata. Retarded setup, but oh well.

Good luck!

 

[p5power]

took me an hour of frustration, a beer, a few minutes of all out bitching, plus five minutes of pure satisfaction. used the cheap din tools from best buy. I do think that there is something up with the stock hu, though...should've been a whole lot easier than that.

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

no problems for me either...put my new stereo in my passenger seat, drove down to my local auto stereo place, paid them $40 and 45 minutes later i was driving home

 

[memo79]

I did what Hex2bit did......sort of. I replaced my HU almost right when I got my car, maybe 2 weeks tops. But I farkin' pulled the entire center console out, radio, AC controls and everything. Then I pushed in on both sides of the stock HU, and out it came. The reason I did it that way was because I didn't know you could use the little U-shaped tools, and also because I didn't want to risk scratching up the center console. Having the center console out also made installing the single-din dash kit way easier, too. I'm on my 4th HU now in 2 years (because I keep upgrading), but they've all been Kenwood HU's so it's a snap swapping them out. Plus since they're all Kenwood, I don't have to re-splice the wiring harness, just keep using the same one.

 

[djp5]

I took mine out today in about 10 minutes to install my AuxMod. Get the Ford/Import tools from walmart (they don't specifically list the pro5 or even the right years of proteges on the package, but they work).

I think it's easiest to take off the "multi function" plate, then put in the tools. I turned my palms out (toward the doors), grabbed inside the "multi function" hole on each side, and used the heels of my hands to push the tools outward. Not much more to it than that.

 

[jadonP5]

^^^

perfect explanation of my method except I made my tools cause I'm poor.

just a little jiggle and you're golden. that motto also applies to a lot of other things in life.

 

[notjoeyt]

Here is an explanation on how to remove the HU.

http://www.gweep.net/~sfoskett/miata/nbaudio/head/index.html

It is really for a miata, but it is the exact same.

 

[hex2bit]

Yep, that's the site I found. If you look at the metal plates on the side of the radio in the pictures, all you are doing is pushing those down so they aren't holding the radio. In my case, I shifted the radio over to the right and couldn't use a tool on the left side anymore. Besides, it's so easy just pushing them in with your fingers from the side. The tools are annoyed the hell out of me as they wouldn't hold well enough to pull out the radio.