Steering Wheel Interface - MY04 Outback

I have a PAC SWI-JACK interface and am told that it will not work with a MY04 Outback. Has anybody successfully installed one of these or alternative products to a Gen 4 Liberty/Outback.

 

I have just installed the double din HVAC unit and am disappointed that I have lost steering wheel controls. Please Help.

Who said it won't work? And did they say why?

 

Is your Outback a 3.0R? LL Bean? What is the model number printed on the front of the factory radio?

 

Does your steering wheel have the two groups of 3 audio buttons, like these?

Your car should have an 8-pin plug with the two SWC wires that was plugged into your factory radio. See the pin-out in this post (connector designated "i85" on 2005-2006 USDM cars).

 

So you should be able to connect the SWI-JACK to those wires -- connect the module's white wire to one of the car's wires, and connect the car's other wire to ground.

 

If your car also has the subwoofer speaker in the rear cargo area, the two wires for that are on i85 as well. You would need a small mono amp to bring it back to life.

Yes it is a 3.0R Australian Spec with the same steering wheel controls. The head unit is a Kenwood GX-201KEF2. This is where the problem starts. It does not have the i85 connector which every other Outback/Legacy in the world seems to have. It has a 20 pin rectangular socket like the photo attached. I emailed PAC and they had no answer either. Surely there must be a way to make it work.

Very interesting. Are there no other sockets on the back of the HU? On other models, the i88 socket is near the bottom (behind the A/C control buttons) and i85 is where your i88 socket is.

 

Could you add a picture of the entire front of the HU?

 

Silly question, but your SWC buttons did work with that factory HU, right? If so, the car's SWC wires must be connected to the HU somehow.

 

The schematics for that HU (see this thread) don't show anything related to SWCs.

 

I'm wondering if Subaru changed the pin-out on either your i88 harness (which plugs into that 8-pin black socket in your picture) or the 20-pin harness, to include the SWC wires.

 

Can you post a list of the wire colors / pin numbers that you see on your car's 8-pin harness? Compare to the tables in my pin-out post.

wait wait wait... I totally want stereo controls on my 06 LGT automatic's steering wheel. I am definitely listening to you guys now...

Thanks for the reply and links. The i88 socket (small black socket) had the HVAC plug in it which plugged straight into the replacement fascia. The white plug is power and speakers etc and that's it. No other hidden sockets. The large 20 pin socket only had a few wires into it. I didn't do the install, so I will have to ask the installer exactly how many wires and what colour they were, but they were from the SWC. I've attached a picture of the front of the unit. It's definitely the GX-201KEF2 that in the link. Any ideas? Oh, and the SWC did work with the factory HU.

Henry

... The large 20 pin socket only had a few wires into it. ...

 

That's probably where the SWC wires are, then. Ordinarily, the 20-pin socket would have many more wires (from either the OEM nav or external CD changer). The HU schematics show six "no connect" pins. Those are likely candidates.

 

If you find your car's harness has two wires that are Violet/White and Orange/White (same as the SWC wires on other Legacy/Outbacks' i85), that would pretty much nail it.

 

That might mean that other people with GX-201xEF2 HUs (GX-201SEF2, GX-201KEF2, GX-201LEF2, GX-201REF2 -- variations for non-Europe/Europe LHD/RHD) could swap in the OEM steering wheel with audio SWCs too.

 

I have the 20-pin socket that your car's harness will plug into (as well as the 20-pin plug that will plug into the back of the HU). I could put together a socket with the two SWC wires (as soon as we can confirm that's where they are, and which pins).

wait wait wait... I totally want stereo controls on my 06 LGT automatic's steering wheel. I am definitely listening to you guys now...

Which HU do you have? (model number printed on the front)

 

Does your current wheel have the up/down shift buttons?

 

Even if your HU supports SWCs, I think you'll find wiring up a new wheel a little more challenging -- on other cars, some or all of the SWC wires between the steering column and the HU were not present.

Yes, my steering wheel has the useless shift up and down buttons. I think I have the Panasonic head unit (I'll have to check on that). So I would definitely have to change steering wheels, move the airbag, and connect the new stereo to the head unit (as long as the head unit can be connected to the steering wheel). This would definitely be a complicated thing to do.

Ok, finally got some pictures of the 20 pin plug. There are 4 wires connected to it. White, Blue with white stripe, yellow and brown. The yellow and brown and twisted together and all are connected back to the steering wheel.

 

Not sure of the pin numbering but if top left when viewed from back of plug is No. 1 then wires are connected to the following pins;

2-Yellow

3-Brown

5-White

13-Blue with white stripe.

 

Refer pics and diagram.

 

Has anyone seen this before and know which wire to connect to PAC-SW1 controller?

PIN OUT.PDF

Thanks for posting that. Unfortunately, it's not looking too promising.

 

See the complete pin-out for the 20-pin CD changer socket in this post (post #6 "part 3" in that thread).

 

Subaru numbers the pins mirrored from how you did (the pin you show as "11" in your picture is really #1, and your "20" is really #11).

 

Viewing the rear, the pins go:

10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

So the correct pin-out is:

[Those pins on a USDM Legacy/Outback] car's harness correspond to the ones for BUS +/-, BUS ON, and BUS Ground. So if those are really the same functions on your HU, I think there's a module somewhere between the SWCs and the HU that's encoding the buttons into a digital datastream. If that's right, you would need to find the wires somewhere between that module and the steering column.

 

On other Subarus, the SWCs have two wires that go straight between the wheel and the HU. Inside the wheel are just a network of resistors with the pushbuttons.

 

You might try measuring across the BUS +/- pins and see if those really do just show a set of resistance values when you push the different buttons.

 

ADDED: Since those 4 wires are the only ones on my05blacksti's 2004 Outback (HU model GX-201KEF2) and Jam3s' 2006 Outback (HU model GX-203KEF02), both Australian cars, it is obvious that the 20-pin socket on their OEM HUs has nothing in common with the USDM CD-changer ("stacker") socket.

 

ADDED 2: Actually, it appears that the 20-pin socket on these OEM radios is indeed the same as on USDM models. The AUDM cars have a device shown on Subaru's wiring diagrams as "LAN MODULE" (B366) that takes the two wires from the steering wheel and converts them into the bus signals for this 20-pin socket. The wiring diagrams do not show any of those wires being connected anywhere else.

 

ADDED 3: In cars with the OEM navigation system, the bus is also used between the HU and the navigation display screen. I don't think the nav unit "listens in" to the SWC commands.

I haven't had a look myself, but my installer said that all 4 wires go all the way to the steering wheel. He tried to measure resistance change on the wires when pushing the SW buttons but there was next to no change. He didn't spend too much time on it and setting his meter on the right range so it's possible it could of been missed. If it is BUS output, will the PAC-CAN or PAC-CAN2 work with it. They are CANBUS modules. Is that the same? I contacted PAC and they just said they have no listing for my model. What type of output is BUS +/-. Is it a voltage?

Has anyone found a solution to this? I know this is an old thread but it is the exact problem I am facing in my 06 outback.

 

I have furthur troubleshooted by plugging in my factory stereo and found that this plug does control the stereo using the steering wheel buttons.

It needs Yellow, Brown, White but not the Blue with white stripe wire.

I have tried different wiring configurations with my PAC SWI-Jack but haven't found any working way.

 

Steering wheel controls are the last piece of my new stereo install puzzle. Please help.

Is your HU also the GX-201KEF2 ?

 

Are you sure that the SWCs don't work with only two of the wires?

 

Do your buttons have backlights? If so, do they still light up with all four wires disconnected?

 

Can you try using a multimeter to check for voltage on each of the wires with respect to ground (while the connector is unplugged from the HU, and the key is turned to 'accessory')?

 

For each of the wires that show no voltage, next check the resistance to ground (to see if any are ground). Then check the resistance between each pair of wires (still unplugged from the HU), both with no SWC buttons pressed, and then pressing each button one at a time.

 

One final test -- check for voltage with respect to ground on each wire while the connector is plugged into the HU.

 

I'd think it highly unlikely for Subaru to have used buttons that are different than those in the USDM models. Then we should be seeing two wires go from steering column to HU (and you should easily be able to measure different resistance values between those wires, ranging from 22 to 4700 ohms).

 

Unless my05blacksti's installer completely disassembled the dash so he could see all of the wiring, I'm not certain there isn't some extra OEM module between your SWCs and the OEM HU.

 

Another test would be to measure at the connector at the steering column. If you see the expected resistance values there (same as USDM) and not at the HU, we'll definitely know that there's another device somewhere in between.

 

If you don't see anything with an multimeter, you would need to spy on the wires during operation, using an oscilloscope.

Thanks a million SVXdc.

In answer to your questions;

The steering wheel buttons stop working as soon as I disconnect anyone of those 3 wires.

Yes they are still backlight up with all four wires disconnected.

That’s as far as I got with your questions and as I pulled the multi meter out I decided to take a look at the steering column end first.

And guess what I found... on the dash side of the connector near the steering wheel a violet white and an orange white lead. Tested for resistance when pressing steering buttons and found it changed. so rewired up pac swi-jack to the cables there and now they work with my aftermarket stereo. :) :).

So I reckon you are right about an OEM box between the steering wheel and the connector at the stereo. Rather than investigate further I will be leaving connections connected on the dash side of the steering wheel connector.

I have been searching and troubleshooting a solution to this for a couple of days while installing the rest of my system. Now I can put my car back together and enjoy (once i work out where to route my reverse cam through the tailgate). Glad I ended up posting but i do prefer searching for a solution first.

Thanks again SVXdc.

James

So how exactly did you wire up the PAC-SWI?

 

I was beginning to think that maybe my model was running a canbus system which might gel with the theory of an OEM black box somewhere between the steering wheel and HU.

So how exactly did you wire up the PAC-SWI?

 

Let's look at the previous replies...

 

If you find your car's harness has two wires that are Violet/White and Orange/White (same as the SWC wires on other Legacy/Outbacks' i85), ...

 

... I decided to take a look at the steering column end first.

And guess what I found... on the dash side of the connector near the steering wheel a violet white and an orange white lead. Tested for resistance when pressing steering buttons and found it changed. so rewired up pac swi-jack to the cables there and now they work with my aftermarket stereo.

 

So you should be able to connect the SWI-JACK to those wires -- connect the [PAC] module's white wire to one of the car's wires, and connect the car's other wire to ground.

I was beginning to think that maybe my model was running a canbus system which might gel with the theory of an OEM black box somewhere between the steering wheel and HU.

 

If you spot where the SWC wires go after they leave the steering column, I'd be very interested to know what you find.

 

I'm wondering if some other device in the car (in addition to the factory radio) is "listening" to the SWC buttons. And if it is converting to CAN bus, perhaps your radio has secret functions to talk to other devices on the bus.

 

If the "black box" only serves the factory radio, then it really should be disconnected when you connect the SWI-* module.

If you spot where the SWC wires go after they leave the steering column, I'd be very interested to know what you find.

 

I'm wondering if some other device in the car (in addition to the factory radio) is "listening" to the SWC buttons. And if it is converting to CAN bus, perhaps your radio has secret functions to talk to other devices on the bus.

 

If the "black box" only serves the factory radio, then it really should be disconnected when you connect the SWI-* module.

 

I guess I'm going to have to start from the steering wheel and follow them back. If I have the correct colours on the SWC (violet/white etc) then I assume they should be connected directly to the PAC SWI Jack. Is that right?

If your car is like mine you will find a violet/white and orange/white wire near the steering column. They are only this colour on the dash side of the steering column connector. On the wheel side they are a different colour.

As for how I connected it up as svxdc has quoted above I just grounded the orange/white and connected the PAC SWI to the violet/white and followed the programing instructions.

 

I didn't bother tracing wires any further into the dash. If I am ever in there again I'll take a look but they feed into a loom pretty quickly. At the moment I am happy to have my stereo in and car back together.

The fact that 3 out of four wires are needed at the stereo end for the old stereo but no combination of these sees a change in resistance would to me suggest there has to be some sort of box in between.

I guess I'm going to have to start from the steering wheel and follow them back. If I have the correct colours on the SWC (violet/white etc) then I assume they should be connected directly to the PAC SWI Jack. Is that right?

 

In addition to what I have just posted.

There is no need to trace the wires back you can connect straight to the violet/white before it goes into the loom and ground the orange/white. I just cut the wires and connected it up. The white PAC wire is long enough to reach to this spot from behind the stereo. You will need to take the trim off from under the steering wheel but you will need to do this to access the steering column conector anyway.

 

If you want to trace the wires I am sure people would be interested in where they end up and what sort of a box you may find.

Thanks for that. I don't have the time or inclination at the moment to ferret around under the dash as I'm about to move house and start a new job but I was going to book the car in to get a reverse camera fitted so I'll ask the installer to have another crack at it. Not sure when that will be though. Could be months before I have an answer.

Here are a few sections of the 2004 Legacy/Liberty Gen IV wiring diagrams: Audio System (with SWC buttons), Navigation System, and wiring harness locations.

 

These show how the "LAN Module" is connected. The module converts the SWCs (resistor network) to the Kenwood IE-Bus.

 

The OEM HU uses this bus to communicate with the navigation unit. Outside North America, 2004 Legacy/Liberty/Outback models also use that bus for the audio SWCs.

 

In NA, audio SWCs first appeared in certain 2005 Outbacks, and more models in later years. The SWCs are connected directly to the OEM HU (via the 8-pin harness "i85").

 

On later years, the HU uses the bus for the OEM Sirius and XM sat radio tuners, iPod interface, and USB interface accessories.

 

I think that the LAN Module is only used for the OEM HU to see the SWCs. I don't think that the navigation unit reads the SWC buttons directly, nor do I think the nav unit simulates sending SWC commands into the OEM HU.

 

Although the LAN Module's harness ("B366") has 26 pins, the diagrams only show 8 pins being used: 2 wires from the SWCs, +12V, ground, and the 4 bus wires.

 

If someone ever gets their hands on the module, I'd be interested to hear if any of the other pins have wires, and to see pictures of the insides.

 

ADDED: The LAN module was also discussed on the Liberty forum here:

"cristianrrl" there recently linked to a Russian blog with more details and pics of the LAN module, here.

2004 Legacy Gen IV - Audio System with Satellite Switch LHD.pdf

2004 Legacy Gen IV - Navigation System LHD.pdf

2004 Legacy Gen IV - Bulkhead Wiring Harness LHD.pdf

Thanks for that. Excellent info.

I am assuming then that I can bypass the LAN module and use the switch outputs (OrW and VW) directly into the PAC SWI and then into my Alpine HU.

Thanks for that. Excellent info.

I am assuming then that I can bypass the LAN module and use the switch outputs (OrW and VW) directly into the PAC SWI and then into my Alpine HU.

 

Yes. I strongly recommend cutting (or somehow otherwise disconnecting) the wires between the SWCs and the LAN module, so that the LAN module does not conflict with the PAC (or ASWC) module (since all of them will apply a voltage to one SWC wire and ground the second wire).