Been a member for awhile, but havent posted much. Have had my 2012 Titan for a couple of years, but outside of my tow mirrors and running boards, I havent really done much to my Titan (Yoko) until this past weekend. Pretty happy with how the process went. See below for the details.
Ordered the following from Crutchfield - good customer service and instructions on how to disassemble the radio.
Radio - Pioneer AVH-X391BHS Head Unit. I have a buddy with a similar head unit who's been more than happy with it.
Steering Wheel Control Adapter - PAC SWI-RC Steering Wheel Control Adapter - Fits most radios and is fairly easy to control.
Replacement bezel and wiring harness adapters.
Ordered from Amazon
Rexing V1 2.4" LCD FHD 1080p 170 Wide Angle Dashboard Camera Recorder, with a direct wire kit.
Boyo VTL17L Behind the license plate camera
Parking brake bypass, for DVD playback on long roadtrips with passengers.
The bezel came out without any issues at all, as did the original head unit. Ill come back to this, because the Crutchfield documentation is very specific about one step that caused a minor issue. There's so much room for activities. I decided for the microphone that connects to the headunit and for the dash cam direct power that I would run the power from the rear view mirror, under the headliner along the drivers side and then down the A pillar. From there, I could tuck it under the dash. Once I removed the cover for the A pillar, getting access was a breeze. A few zip ties to keep things tidy and we were off and running.
Running the wiring for the backup camera was probably one of the bigger challenges. I struggled with two things on this - finding a reliable power source and accessing the cab. All of my searches here on the forum said there was a grommet on the drivers side. I even looked at pictures and saw wires running into the cab. I looked and looked and could not find it. After about 30 minutes of searching, I finally located the grommet. An additional 10 minutes of searching inside the cab and I was able to locate it from the inside. The grommet is under the drivers seat. Fold up the drivers side seat, then lift the carpet against the back wall, its down toward the bottom. Its about an inch or so in diameter. Mine was just capped off, with nothing running in it. I think thats why I couldnt find it. Nothing running through it just threw me off. The other issue was finding a reliable power source for the camera. I originally tapped into the towing power, thinking that would work, but for some reason, the camera would never turn on, no matter how I set it. I double checked my ground, thinking maybe it was that, but after some additional digging, I saw someone who installed a backup camera using the rear tail light as a power source. When I tapped into that, the backup camera worked exactly as designed, with zero issue.
Once we got the wiring harness wired up, the actual installation of the head unit went pretty smoothly. The programming of the steering wheel control was a bit confusing, because their documentation is screwed up. The website's documentation is off. The most reliable seems to be the printer friendly version (there's a link in the right hand corner). They reference using the set of white wires for connecting the steering wheel interface to the steering wheel wiring harness in the truck (white, white/red, and white/black). Of those three wires, you only end up actually using white/red and white. White/black does nothing. The other thought is to map out what functions the steering wheel has and doesnt have before you start to program it. There's an option to bypass what doesnt exist on the steering wheel (you just skip the function). This is easier to follow if you have it laid out before programming. Otherwise you have to do it 3 or 4 times (like I had to).
The bezel fits in a little snug right now. I suspect it has to do with how the wiring is currently organized, so I think this weekend its going to get pulled out and reorganized so that it fits in a bit better. I mentioned that I ran into a minor issue when I pulled the bezel out. At the bottom left is the passenger airbag sensor. I disconnected the sensor, which the documentation from Crutchfield says not to do. It says to remove the torx screws instead. Considering the lack of slack in the wires and the lack of quality of the torx screws (they started to strip when I reinstalled the HVAC control module into the new bezel), disconnecting the sensor was probably the better move. This does come at a cost. Disconnecting the sensor cause the airbag indicator light to flash on the instrument cluster. This morning, I searched on the forum and found the solution by performing the following
1) Turn key to the ON position
2) As soon as Airbag indicator light begins flashing, turn key to OFF position
3) Wait at least 5 seconds
4) Repeat steps 1-3 at least 2x
5) Wait at least 30s or more for the computer to clear the indicator light (I've noticed this can take a few moments - I've noticed similar with tire pressure sensor readings)
Outside of a few minor inconveniences, I would say a pretty successful installation and am very happy with how it turned out. Still need to clean up a couple of things and wire in the dash cam direct (any suggestions about where to go with this? im thinking in the passenger side fuse panel.). I've worked on other vehicles that were an absolute pain to install head units (or anything, for that matter). This was definitely not one of those. More and more happy that I bought this particular truck. I have pictures that , once I compile them together and get some more time, I'll post as a reply.
Ordered the following from Crutchfield - good customer service and instructions on how to disassemble the radio.
Radio - Pioneer AVH-X391BHS Head Unit. I have a buddy with a similar head unit who's been more than happy with it.
Steering Wheel Control Adapter - PAC SWI-RC Steering Wheel Control Adapter - Fits most radios and is fairly easy to control.
Replacement bezel and wiring harness adapters.
Ordered from Amazon
Rexing V1 2.4" LCD FHD 1080p 170 Wide Angle Dashboard Camera Recorder, with a direct wire kit.
Boyo VTL17L Behind the license plate camera
Parking brake bypass, for DVD playback on long roadtrips with passengers.
The bezel came out without any issues at all, as did the original head unit. Ill come back to this, because the Crutchfield documentation is very specific about one step that caused a minor issue. There's so much room for activities. I decided for the microphone that connects to the headunit and for the dash cam direct power that I would run the power from the rear view mirror, under the headliner along the drivers side and then down the A pillar. From there, I could tuck it under the dash. Once I removed the cover for the A pillar, getting access was a breeze. A few zip ties to keep things tidy and we were off and running.
Running the wiring for the backup camera was probably one of the bigger challenges. I struggled with two things on this - finding a reliable power source and accessing the cab. All of my searches here on the forum said there was a grommet on the drivers side. I even looked at pictures and saw wires running into the cab. I looked and looked and could not find it. After about 30 minutes of searching, I finally located the grommet. An additional 10 minutes of searching inside the cab and I was able to locate it from the inside. The grommet is under the drivers seat. Fold up the drivers side seat, then lift the carpet against the back wall, its down toward the bottom. Its about an inch or so in diameter. Mine was just capped off, with nothing running in it. I think thats why I couldnt find it. Nothing running through it just threw me off. The other issue was finding a reliable power source for the camera. I originally tapped into the towing power, thinking that would work, but for some reason, the camera would never turn on, no matter how I set it. I double checked my ground, thinking maybe it was that, but after some additional digging, I saw someone who installed a backup camera using the rear tail light as a power source. When I tapped into that, the backup camera worked exactly as designed, with zero issue.
Once we got the wiring harness wired up, the actual installation of the head unit went pretty smoothly. The programming of the steering wheel control was a bit confusing, because their documentation is screwed up. The website's documentation is off. The most reliable seems to be the printer friendly version (there's a link in the right hand corner). They reference using the set of white wires for connecting the steering wheel interface to the steering wheel wiring harness in the truck (white, white/red, and white/black). Of those three wires, you only end up actually using white/red and white. White/black does nothing. The other thought is to map out what functions the steering wheel has and doesnt have before you start to program it. There's an option to bypass what doesnt exist on the steering wheel (you just skip the function). This is easier to follow if you have it laid out before programming. Otherwise you have to do it 3 or 4 times (like I had to).
The bezel fits in a little snug right now. I suspect it has to do with how the wiring is currently organized, so I think this weekend its going to get pulled out and reorganized so that it fits in a bit better. I mentioned that I ran into a minor issue when I pulled the bezel out. At the bottom left is the passenger airbag sensor. I disconnected the sensor, which the documentation from Crutchfield says not to do. It says to remove the torx screws instead. Considering the lack of slack in the wires and the lack of quality of the torx screws (they started to strip when I reinstalled the HVAC control module into the new bezel), disconnecting the sensor was probably the better move. This does come at a cost. Disconnecting the sensor cause the airbag indicator light to flash on the instrument cluster. This morning, I searched on the forum and found the solution by performing the following
1) Turn key to the ON position
2) As soon as Airbag indicator light begins flashing, turn key to OFF position
3) Wait at least 5 seconds
4) Repeat steps 1-3 at least 2x
5) Wait at least 30s or more for the computer to clear the indicator light (I've noticed this can take a few moments - I've noticed similar with tire pressure sensor readings)
Outside of a few minor inconveniences, I would say a pretty successful installation and am very happy with how it turned out. Still need to clean up a couple of things and wire in the dash cam direct (any suggestions about where to go with this? im thinking in the passenger side fuse panel.). I've worked on other vehicles that were an absolute pain to install head units (or anything, for that matter). This was definitely not one of those. More and more happy that I bought this particular truck. I have pictures that , once I compile them together and get some more time, I'll post as a reply.
