Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Just bought myself a non-bling Kenwood head unit to replace the double din disco disaster fitted in Japan.

Thought it would be a straight swap wiring harness wise but no!

Does anyone have a wiring diagram, wire colour explanation - i think i'm going to have to buy a new harness, or just give up and have it pro fitted....

Whilst on the subject, any recommendations for fornt speakers to fit the original holes and be able to put the old covers back on?

Can you take a picture of the connector please that's on the loom?

Also has the loom been cut in the past?

Im presuming that the new radio has an ISO connector? Thisll explain the connectors on the Kenwood:

http://www.isham-research.co.uk/quattro ... sopin.html

If it has a proprietary connector then itll be hard to help without seeing it. Assuming that the radio does have an ISO connector then Id suggest buying an ISO male to harness connector off eBay. This will fit into the female connector on the radio and ends in trailing leads that you can connect to the cars exisitng harness.

Simon

Simon, quite agree it'll be an ISO adapter, choc block & a multimeter! That is the way I did mine but I did use to do it for a living.

Wire colours are standardised but you need to ascertain:

- how the wires at the 'car' end are currently terminated (with ISO connectors, DIN connectors, individual bullet connectors...?)

- the wiring from the new Kenwood. ISO is a standard for the wiring, but head unit manufacturers usually (exceptions Becker, Blaupunkt among others) don't have male ISO sockets in the head unit. They have a more compact plug (often 16 pin) which mates with an ISO adapter harness. You plug this in to the head unit, and the other end will mate with the car loom providing the latter has been adapted to ISO female connectors. If not you can buy an ISO-to-car adapter loom but though available for virtually all current cars, there won't be one off shelf for a 944.

If you can report back on this then I can help you complete the install. It's honestly very simple - only minor complications are leads for external amps if used, and maybe patching in to a 12V feed for any 'illumination' terminal (dims head unit display when using vehicle lighting) which is just a matter of getting convenient feed eg bulb in ash tray or clock.

I just fitted 4 of these in mine and I have to say that im very impressed. They fit in the existing holes easily together with existing grills.

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/509.html

HTH

Yup got them on mine at the front, they sound much much better than the originals.
One thing you'll need is that with the aerial plug will be a wire (black I think) which needs to go to the electric aerial point on the head unit to power the amplifier at the base of the screen.

Picture coming later today - my office network wont let me upload photos!

it definitely seems to have some other type of connector loom for the old stereo (not original)

It's actually good news if the connector isn't original, as it's more likely it will be ISO and plug into new head unit.

The original was probably a bunch of DIN connectors.

If the connector is not original you should see how it's been spliced to the original wiring. Hope it's neat bullet connectors and not a load of tape covering twisted connections!

Finally managed to get the photo to an uploadable size!

In the picture there are two white block connectors not like the DIN one on the head unit but similar, other than that it was just the aerial.

the whitwe blocks are connected with bullet type crimp things to the old wires - the colours make no sense to me on the loom.

Any suggestions?

Id identify the wires (not too hard, speakers especially) tag them then clip them. Id then buy a £1 eBay ISO to trailing wire adapter and connect it properly. If the Kenwood doesnt have an ISO connector then Id buy an ISO female to Kenwood connector from the same place and Robert is your mothers .special friend'.

It would be easier to be certain if there was a close up of the connectors, but I'm almost certain those are not ISO pins and they are not ISO block size either.

As previous poster says you need to cut these off, and then possibilities are:

- bullet connectors to mate with Kenwood to flying lead adaptor (also terminated with female bullets)

- reconnect appropriate wires to ISO-to-bare lead loom, and plug this into Kenwood/ISO adaptor.

You would need a meter/logic to identify permanent +12V, switched 12V, ground, front and rear speakers, possibly aerial amp power, possibly illunination taken from supply switched with lights (ash tray bulb likely candidate).

If the white blocks in photo are already joined to car loom via connectors (can't make out in photo) then some of the work is done for you. Also can see at least some wiring has been identified with tags.

Apart from identifying the leads, you need to be confident about making decent connections with a crimping tool.

If any of this seems daunting then by all means go to a competent car audio fitter, as cost would be less than any damage you may cause getting something wrong!

Thanks to all for your support, i'm booked in tomorrow to have it fitted properly plus some new Alpine SXE4625 front speakers as also suggested.

Regards

Graham