Radio Retrofitted with AUX-jack issues

I had an AUX jack added to my factory '96 radio so I could play music off my cell phone, and also had the cassette player repaired, since it's never worked in the car. Was thrilled when I got it back a few weeks ago, as I could now play my old college cassettes and also plug in the IPod, but now the backlight bulbs behind the P-Scan and CD Eject buttons just burned out! Noticed a dark spot on the face when I backed the car out last night. If it's not one thing it's another.

Took the dash apart..again, and radio is back at the repair shop to get those bulbs replaced today. Eventually everything will work right. Ha!



-Mike

I have wanted to do this for some time. Is there any way to add blue tooth to a factory radio. That would be huge!!

There are add on boxes that have bluetooth to a factory radio, Here is one that you would need to add a auxiliary RCA inputs

iSimple makes bluetooth and phone integration stuff for stock radios

Alternatively, you could just buy a head unit that has these features.

That is one thing I don't understand about some car guys (no offense intended here). They will modify their cars to within an inch of their lives, and then be like "MUH FACTORY RADIO!"

An aftermarket deck with a small amplifier will provide sound quality far beyond what the stock system could ever dream of doing for not a lot of money compared to some things.

Agreed, picking a well matched set of speakers and amplifier with a good headunit, you will be miles ahead in function and sound quality.

I agree with all the above...but I just like the look and originality of the factory radio.   Next I really want to find a set of factory radio buttons for my steering wheel.   Will be perfect in my book then.

Oh and it's not just this car....my '81 Citation has the original vertical cassette deck.   Still works!  Ha!





That said I did put one of those "made to fit" size Alpine's in my '92 Custom Cruiser.   It worked well and looked ok.

Anyway....


-Mike

Well, the vertical radio is different. That's just badass. lol

Stingroo wrote:

Alternatively, you could just buy a head unit that has these features.

That is one thing I don't understand about some car guys (no offense intended here). They will modify their cars to within an inch of their lives, and then be like "MUH FACTORY RADIO!"

An aftermarket deck with a small amplifier will provide sound quality far beyond what the stock system could ever dream of doing for not a lot of money compared to some things.

That used to be the case, not so much with anything new.

stewzer55 wrote:

Agreed, picking a well matched set of speakers and amplifier with a good headunit, you will be miles ahead in function and sound quality.

Uh, no. Not always.

The factory radio has the dimming circuits for the HVAC in the Roadmasters. Removing the factory headunit means that the display goes to full bright and stays there.

Since nobody has yet come up with an off-the-shelf workaround - read: a cheap standalone PWM controller - that means putting up with the light from the climate controls.

I drove a car with an aftermarket radio recently and it was so distracting that I literally stuffed a rag into the dash opening to reduce the glare.

So I’ll be content to upgrade the speakers and add more amplification as my next steps.

Agreed.  If you actually take the time to ask people why they stick with the factory radio, and they'll say two things:

1. User Interface quality.
2. Vehicle integration.

The fact is, most aftermarket radios SUCK for usability compared to the factory units.  Button size, legibility, intuitiveness, etc.
Also, factory radios are MUCH better integrated.  On my current ride, when I hit my keyless entry button, it calls up the last station I was listening to AND all my station presets, which is great since my wife has completely different listening tastes than I do.  It also does speed-compensated volume and perfectly synchronized dimming, which very few if ANY aftermarket radios do.

I sold my old wagon to a relative. It had an aftermarket radio in it which I LOVED and had tweaked the heck out of it so it sounded awesome. 6 months later, it had had a battery-disconnect reset and he hadn't adjusted ANY of the settings off of the default.

The radio shop took a long time to get this back to me, but the box was on my porch last night.    

Talk about stepping up, the guy replaced ALL the bulbs for me, and sent me the ones he removed in a baggie taped to the radio.    Very cool.

Re-installed it last night and it all works perfect.   Lights are great, radio/CD/Cassette/AUX all function as they should.   NICE.    



With phone plugged in and sitting in coin tray:





Backed the Roady out of the garage for the first time in three weeks and drove it into work this morning, just so I could play with the radio.  Ha!   Neat mod!

Now I want the steering wheel controls! Ha! If anyone sees the LeSabre controls in dark red in good shape, I'll gladly pay you for them! Just yank the entire airbag. I can get a clockspring here, but am having no luck finding the right controls in the right color.

Projects!

-Mike

Mike:

Radio looks great! Detailed write up with pics if/when you do the airbag radio control buttons. Would love to do this but seems daunting. Already grabbed an airbag in Tan but have too much else going on to trailblaze this. Never seen one in Red but will keep an eye out for you.

Aftermarket radio's are geared towards kids, that like a thousand different features,.diplay colors,. graphs,. active displays etc,.

Simply turning up the volume or adjusting bass and treble can be a very time consuming,. not to mention trying to figure out the seek,. and station presets,.

Factory radio is easy to operate,. i don;t have the patience or the light touch to mess around with a single button multi function setup,..

Especially when i,m running above the speed limit and i need to turn the volume up or down, etc,.

you go over a bump,. and your finger pushies the wrong multi function button,. and then you are switching sources or u just programmed 12 new stations automatically,..

KISS,....