How to Install Steering Wheel Radio Controls

So let me get this straight if i have a 05 legacy auto i can replace one side of the shifting controls and put the sound controls in or do i have to switch both??

 

And is there anyone in phoenix vincinty that has done this mod.. would love some help...

 

Pretty much not possible. If you have an auto, you sever the wires that run the shifter controls in able to install the radio controls.

 

Casopolis may still be working on a different system, but I haven't heard him at that for a while.

seeing as you can still shift on the stick which is what i prefer

 

i might try this if i can get some help

Maybee we can incorporate the 08 steering wheel controlls which have audio controls and the paddels for the shifter. we can later find uses for the the nav buttons, but ohh crap, we would also need a new roll conector.

From what I remember, the paddles for the shifter aren't actually mounted on the steering wheel. rather its on the column..

 

Eric

Would be the first one as the vast majority (Ferrari, M3, GTI) are steering wheel mounted. IMHO

Don't take my word for it but I will try to confirm tomorrow or tonight when I pick up my car.

 

Eric

 

Edit: Also I just remembered that the steering column is telescoping and tilt as opposed to just tilt from the previous years. What I really like is how the remote fob and key are integrated...it'll make it ridiculously expensive but its cool

It is confirmed, The paddles on the steering wheel for the 5EAT are mounted to the steering column not the wheel. Very interesting..I guess you're not supposed to shift while turning? At anyrate, I'm still annoyed that this is standard on the Legacy GT now. The new steering wheel has the Audio controls on the left, cruise on the right, S# on the lower right and mini display controls on the left. I'm probably more annoyed at the last one since I hate having to move my hand to the gauges to change the display around.

 

Eric

or me brcause they killed the Leg GT wagon. Damn haters!!!!

Anyways, I'm sure (at least I) will find the way to incorporate this into the wagon (05)

I *finally* bit the bullet, and have controls coming. I'll take a multitude of pictures to help out with any nagging questions on a 5AT

I *finally* bit the bullet, and have controls coming. I'll take a multitude of pictures to help out with any nagging questions on a 5AT

That's just what I wanted to hear. I was reviewing this thread just last night. I am still under warranty, so that and effin with the air bag are the two things holding me up. I still have my center stack trim off from the update to the MP3 head unit a few weeks ago, so I am more serious than ever.

 

Can I access the wiring harness at the back of the radio by removing the console side panel on the driver's side, or is it easier to pull the radio again?

 

Does anyone know FOR SURE if the air bag system is "dead" by just unhooking the battery or is there a capacitor that has to be drained to keep it from firing?

 

Thanks.

^^^^ Disconnect the battery before you do anything, hit the brakes for good measure. Remove the two screws on either side of the airbag, wiggle and it slides right out. Pull up the white clip on the positive side, slide the connector out. You aren't going to set the airbag off at this point. It isn't a big deal.

 

You are going to have to pull the radio for good access to the wiring harness, and just remember if you have the factory sub-woofer to work from the connector farthest back from the HU.

I wish people that have done it could draw a simple wire diagram of what they did (AT) I can figure it out from the pics posted.. but its nice to see *just* what we need.

 

I am not exactly sure until I pull the wheel... but it seems like we are :

 

* Leaving the existing wires from the controls to the roll connector.

* simply cutting the wires after the roll connector that go to the shift system

* splicing the cut wires from the roll connector to the wires we made connect to the radio.

 

Can we source the proper connector to just plug into the radio? or is it just bare wire only ?

Just go to RadioShack and get the wire taps. If you pull the plug on the radio for a new one, you'll be disconnecting other features. That and the issue that you're tapping into two different connectors on the back of the radio.

If somebody can post really good close-up pictures of the white connectors under the steering wheel (unplugged), I might be able to determine what kind of contact pins they use. They might even be pins that I already have.

 

Can we source the proper connector to just plug into the radio? or is it just bare wire only ?

[talking about the 8-pin square plug on the back of the radio]

 

Nobody has found the correct connector yet. As Brady said, since there are other important things on this connector, you would have to get both male and female 8-pin plugs, wire several of the pins straight through, and connect to the "satellite" switch pins on the plug that plugs into the radio. Update: I now have those.

 

Alternatively, you could connect to the two satellite switch wires somewhere closer to the steering wheel. According to the wiring diagram, they go back to connector I1, a 28-pin coupling located somewhere behind the dash. I suspect we would find that pins 5 and 6 on the mating plug, B36, are empty. It should be possible to do the same push-solid-wires-into-the-empty-slots trick there.

 

[Added:] Here's the Subaru wiring diagram (2005 Legacy/Outback). Click for larger image:

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/683/legacy2005satwoofsr5.th.jpg

That diagram shows only 2 of the 28 wires on I1/B36.

 

Again, if somebody can take some good pictures of that connector, the pins may turn out to be a kind that I already have.

 

Similarly, you should be able to find the illumination wires on something under the dash closer to the steering wheel rather than stringing wires all the way over to the radio. The only advantage of tapping into the wires at the radio is that we already know which ones they are.

Edited March 15, 2010 by SVXdc

I have a harness coming to plug a parrot hands free kit in, and that should give me a connector to work with as well..

 

I'll try to snap pics of the under dash connector..

 

So from your post, you are saying that theorectially, its possible to not run a wire from steering wheel to radio, that we could tap into the existing wire? We just need to find it.

 

I didn't look at my radio to closely... there are already the steering wheel wires in ?

Nope, you have to press the wire into the connector if you can't find a pin.

So from your post, you are saying that theorectially, its possible to not run a wire from steering wheel to radio, that we could tap into the existing wire? We just need to find it.

Right. See the wiring diagram that I added to my previous post.

 

The existing wires run from the radio back towards the steering wheel, but stop half way back. What I'm suggesting is that you can run your new wires from the steering wheel to this intermediate connector, rather than running them all the way to the radio.

 

I didn't look at my radio to closely... there are already the steering wheel wires in ?

I think you will find that the square 8-pin plug on the back of your radio (I85) does indeed have the 2 steering wheel wires and pins. It is the rectangular 8-pin plug under the steering wheel (B68) that does not have those wires/pins (shown in trabbic's step #10, post #11).

 

But I don't know if all Legacies are like that. Your car could be different.

I did this install on my automatic yesterday, and it works fine. Some notes from the install:

 

- The white connector by the base of the steering column: There was no wire (and therefore pin) in position 6 on the car side of the connector. There was a wire in the 6 position on the steering wheel side of the connector. So I used a wire tap to connect my wire above the connector on the wheel side. It was a little tight, but I got it in there.

 

- The other 3 connections that needed to be made at the steering column I connected on the car side of the white harness. I cut these wires and connected my wires from the radio to the white harness.

 

- I removed all panels from the car instead of just moving them out of the way. Disconnecting 4 or 5 plugs wasn't took much to ask for the added room.

 

- You HAVE to remove the wheel to put the controls on even if you have an auto with shift controls. They have to be screwed in, and therefore the old ones need to be unscrewed, and the only way to do this is to take the wheel off.

 

The only thing that went wrong was when I put the wheel back on I guess I did it off center. It looked straight when I put it back on, but I think it was because the wheel got a little turned when I was trying to break the steering wheel nut.

 

I used 5 wire taps, 4 at the radio and one at the steering column. I used 3 wire nuts for the cut wires at the steering column. I used all 16g wire, and the taps were for 16g as well.

So, did you do a "full" (both sides) or partial (one side) install?

 

HV

full both sides.

Hi all. As you can see, I've got a 2.5i and I was desperately waiting for someone with a 2.5i to confirm if we have the necessary wires from the radio harness...well I've had enough!!!!!

 

So today, I decided to take apart my dash just for kicks and take pics of the harness. It seems we've got the necessary wires. If someone, especially trabbic, could confirm that we do indeed have the correct wires that would be much appreciated. I've checked using the PDF on the first post attached by trabbic. Pics below!

 

Left side 1

Left side 2

Right side top

Right side bottom

 

EDIT: Wait, did someone already confirm the 2.5i having the right wires before? I don't remember someone posting pics or claiming to have the correct wires...hope I didn't miss anything while going through this thread haha.

rlax, you'll enjoy the new controls. I installed mine over a year ago and can't understand why Subaru didn't do this to begin with. So far no problems and nobody at the dealerships have noticed what I have done. Which is good since I am still under warranty.

...

So today, I decided to take apart my dash just for kicks and take pics of the harness. It seems we've got the necessary wires.

...

Thanks for posting those pics!

 

I can confirm that the wire colors on the 14-pin connector (speaker/power) are the same as other Legacies since 2005. The connector itself and its pin-out has been the same since 1995 (with a few changes in the wire colors over the years).

 

As for the 8-pin connector (AC controls/steering wheel controls/subwoofer/aux-in)...

 

The pin-out on the 2007 radio is shown in this post.

 

The 2005 & 2006 pin-out is shown in this post.

 

On both, the steering wheel controls connect to pins 3 and 7 and use the same wire colors — violet/white and orange/white.

 

Several of the other pins are different: The 2005 & 2006 have a subwoofer output and telephone audio input, and the 2007 trades both of those features for an aux iinput.

Thanks for posting those pics!

 

I can confirm that the wire colors on the 14-pin connector (speaker/power) are the same as other Legacies since 2005. The connector itself and its pin-out has been the same since 1995 (with a few changes in the wire colors over the years).

 

As for the 8-pin connector (AC controls/steering wheel controls/subwoofer/aux-in)...

 

The pin-out on the 2007 radio is shown in this post.

 

The 2005 & 2006 pin-out is shown in this post.

 

On both, the steering wheel controls connect to pins 3 and 7 and use the same wire colors — violet/white and orange/white.

 

Several of the other pins are different: The 2005 & 2006 have a subwoofer output and telephone audio input, and the 2007 trades both of those features for an aux iinput.

 

Thanks for sharing the knowledge! I'm surprised I haven't seen those posts before, especially since I've read through the Spec B radio one. But definitely informative.