2005 Scion tC Installation - Revisited

[Daspoo]

Ok, after becoming a bit dissatisfied with the way I initially installed XM for my car, and with the sometimes tolerable/sometimes annoying sound of the Roady2 built-in modulator, I've re-installed XM and this new thread goes into detail concerning what was done. It ain't as professional as some would/could probably do, but it's clean and it works! And after seeing how detailed a lot of installations on the site are, I figured I could do something to contribute to that as well. Hope this helps any other tC owners that might come across it!

[Daspoo]

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A view of the center console and gear shift housing prior to Daspoo screwing with the status quo. (I have a manual transmission btw, so the instructions to remove the housing may vary for automatic trans.)

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Unscrew the gear shift head (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey...LOL) and pull upwards to remove. It has to be off in order to lift and remove the housing.

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Off with his 'ead!

[Daspoo]

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In order to remove the housing completely, find the place where the silver edges (left and right) of the housing "connect" with the remainder of the center console. There should be enough room there to pull the housing forward, detaching it from the center console. This image shows the points where the housing should be pulled forward, and in which order. (Be careful not to pull too hard - we're still dealing with pretty lightweight material, AND the cigarette lighter will still be connected.)

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Here's a pic of the housing removed (front view), with the cigarette lighter connection still attached.

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A side view of the housing removed, with the cigarette lighter connection (circled) still attached and run to the center console area.

[Daspoo]

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The gear housing removed and set aside on the passenger seat. The cigarette lighter connection left hanging. (Ignore the wires in the cubby hole - that was from long ago and running the XM antenna along the left side of the car.)

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After initially having the antenna installed on the back left side of the tC, I decided to move it to the right area (my connection to XM cuts out when I got thru drive-thrus...can't have that...LOL). I used a fabric-type tape to secure the antenna wire down the side of the hatch into the back hatch area of the car.

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Ditto - different view.

[Daspoo]

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Ditto - different view. The antenna wire is run into the hatch area, and under the carpet cover which hides the spare tire, jack, etc. I let the back seat (behind the passenger seat) down and ran the antenna wire along the side of the seat.

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A view of where exactly the antenna wire is run along the right side of the back seat - right side.

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More of the wire being run along the side of the seat. After that, the remaining wire is run behind the plastic baseboard. (Getting a flathead screwdriver and pulling the baseboard out a little will give you enough room to push the wire behind it. Just be careful not to pull too hard and crack the plastic.)

[Daspoo]

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The wire runs behind the baseboard from the back seat to the passenger seat. From there (since it wasn't that big of a deal to me), I ran the remaining wire under the floor mat to the center console.

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With the gear housing off, the antenna wire can be run from behind the center console up to the cubby hole (between the climate control housing [top of pic] and the gear shift [bottom of pic]).

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Now to remove the climate control housing. Its removal is done the same as for the gear housing, but in the manner and order displayed in this image. (Same warnings about pulling too hard.)

[Daspoo]

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Pull at the bottom to start (one hand on each side of the housing - I couldn't take the pic and do that at the same time..LOL), and then move your way up the sides.

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Same deal as with the gear housing - when you pull the climate housing off, it will still be connected to its wire connector. Remove the wire connector by pushing in on its top, and then pulling it out. This image shows the connector removed and the housing set aside on the passenger floor, and the climate control connector hanging under the radio.

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Here's the factory head unit for the 2005 Scion tC. The radio is attached to a brace which is then attached to the center console of the car. Don't remove the radio from its brace, but remove the brace itself from the console. The red circles show where the radio is attached by 10 mm nuts, and the blue circles where the radio is attached by phillips head screws. Detach the radio in these four areas and pull it out from the console (of course it will still be attached to wire connectors).

[Daspoo]

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Here's a pic of the TOY03-AUX PIE adapter purchased to make this all work, and the ground loop isolator (just in case using the adapter caused any humming distortions when in use). The ground loop isolator came from Radio Shack (like $15), and included the 1/8"-to-female RCA adapter.

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Here's a pic of the radio pulled out, and the wire that came with the PIE adapter. The 12-pin connector end of the wire is already connected to the radio (red circle), and the part I'm holding goes to the PIE adapter.

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After hooking the wires to the radio and the PIE adapter, I velcro'ed the adapter to the back area behind where the radio rests when installed. The ground loop isolator is resting to the right of the adapter, somewhere in that mess... plenty of room for it to hang out.

[Daspoo]

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Ditto - close-up view. Ground loop isolator indicated with red arrow.

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After sliding the radio back in its place, I'm now holding all three wires for connecting up my Roady2 - the antenna wire, 1/8" (headphone jack) male connection, and the power adapter cord (run from the armrest console cigarette lighter adapter to under the gear shift housing).

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After replacing the climate control housing, the 1/8" jack from the ground loop isolator is seen hanging in front of the cubby hole.

[Daspoo]

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After replacing the gear shift housing and the gear shift head, all 3 XM wires are seen in/near the cubby hole.

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Ditto - close-up view of the wires. Also, you can see the furry strip of female Velcro under the climate control housing that I use to attach/rest the Roady2 "inside" the cubby hole.

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And there ya have it. The Roady2 has a male strip of Velcro on its top to stick it in front of the cubby. And the wires are fed into the unit (LOL, I said "unit") on the left side. In order to get it to fit better, I'll have to buy some kind of 1/8" male-to-female adapter to better accommodate the connection from the PIE to the Roady2. To listen, I simply press the "DISC" button on the radio twice - once for playing the CD player, and again to connect to "AUX". The factory radio display, when playing XM (i.e., the "AUX" playback), shows CD1 and then "1 - 1" for Disc 1, Track 1.

[Priory_of_Scion]

Nice install. Where'd you get that Toyo auxilliary input converter?

You know that there are document on Scionlife.com concerning the installation of the XM antenna from the factory. You will be able to run it basically the same way you went but behind the whole right side so that there is no tucking necessary and no visible wiring.

[Daspoo]

[GMFreak8]

The XMFanStore carries the TOY03-AUX, and for a cheaper price than any of those stores.

http://www.xmfanstore.com/showproduct.php?id=pieoem

[chrisfrog]

Nice, I've been looking for some pictures on a tc install, but I really don't want to mount the radio there.

[Priory_of_Scion]

i didnt see the toy03-aux in the xmfanstore.

Daspoo, can you send me that doc for the factory install?