Insalling a '95, '96 double din radio in your '94 din and a half Roadmaster

I always liked the look of the '95 and '96 RM radios over the '94s, and so did Mike (GN1220) apparently, so I followed his directions and put a factory double din in my '94.
It's all done and I love it, buy I have one issue.... The hvac display is always on the brightest setting, just like when you install an aftermarket head unit, kind of a pain when it's dark out, but not the end of the world.

Mike (GN1220) did all the homework, so give him all the credit.

Make sure you get the Roadmaster radio brackets for the newer radio, all the brackets are different from the '94s to the '95s and '96s. Next you'll need 2 adapter harnesses from Metra so you don't butcher up you factory harness.... Unless you want to butcher it up.Get these at Amazon, much cheaper than a stereo shop. Metra #70-1858 plugs into your '94 RM wiring harness. http://www.amazon.com/Metra-70-1858-Radio-Wiring-Harness/dp/B0002BEX8W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316743711&sr=8-1




The Metra #71-2001 is the other adapter you'll need, and it plugs into the '95 and '96 RM radios.
I just used crimp/heat shrink connectors to connect the 2 adapters, but you need to remove/cut a few wires from the Metra #71-2001 adapter harness.

Wires to be removed from row "E":
1. Pink
2. White/Blue
3. Blue/White
4. Orange/Black
5. Green/White
6. Green/White
7. Gray/Red
8. Green/Red
9. White/Red
10. Red/Black
11. Blue/Black

Wire to be removed from row "F":
7. Brown

A ground wire to be added to row "F" into PIN #8.

I didn't take a real good pic of this adapter, but this is what I ended up with. Connect all 3 grounds from the radio harness to the 1 ground in the car's harness. Try and keep the wires short, but not too short, you need to be able to bend them around in the small space in the dash when installing.




Next, remove the dash to get access to the radio.



Once you remove the '94 radio you'll have to remove a plastic bracket located in the back of the radio "compartment". You won't be using this bracket with the '95 and '96 RM radios.


Your going to have to fiddle with all the wires a bit to get them to fit with the new radio. Once your done fiddlin', try out the radio and see that everything works.... Then put it all back together.




I found a '95 dash in a junk yard, so I didn't have to cut my '94 dash up.
This swap is really easy, the instructions/paperwork that come with the Metra harness adapters are very good, and there is no cutting or modifying the dash or brackets to make this work and look factory.... Unless you are using your '94 dash. Have at it.

Thanks again to Mike (GN1220) for all his hard work to figure out the wiring, and to Tim (BigBlackBeaSSt) for the radio.

Mike

Hmm... that's interesting. I thought only the Fleetwood had a real double din radio.

200OZ wrote:

It's all done and I love it, buy I have one issue.... The hvac display is always on the brightest setting, just like when you install an aftermarket head unit, kind of a pain when it's dark out, but not the end of the work,.I didn't take a real good pic of this adapter, but this is what I ended up with. Connect all 3 grounds from the radio harness to the 1 ground in the
Mike

connecting all three grounds together,. would this be the cause of the lights on bright? does the rheostat on the light switch control voltage or ground?
just thinking here,.

the ECC lights run through the radio and the radio puts out a PWM signal instead of a variable voltage.

There was a writeup here..... I'll see if I can find it....

Nice write up Mike!!!!

The '95-96 radios should put out the right PWM signal to dim the climate control in your '94 because the climate control units didn't change over time. Make sure you've got it wired correctly. And no, just putting a dimmer wire to it won't work.

EDIT - it's in your instructions - #4 VF PWM. That needs to go to the right wire in the vehicle wiring harness so it can get to the climate control.

I have an aftermarket radio in my car and have the bright display. One of these days I'll figure out the circuit and then make a bunch for everybody...

Been trying to find 1 of those radios myself but no such luck yet!Still looking for it though!
Jim

Any '95-00 LeSabre or Park Ave will work. Possibly regals and centuries too.

Do all the backlights on your new radio work? The bulb behind my Bal and Fad markings went out. Drives my nuts at night, feels like something on my car is "broken".

Also I'm on my 2nd one of these radios, and neither of them have had a working cassette player (yes I still have some tapes). When I bought the car it didn't have the CD option, was just the tape player...and it didn't work, so bought a radio at the salvage yard with the CD, and it plays CD's fine, but tape never has worked on it either.

Just curious!

-Mike

The CD player and the tape player assemblies are most likely modular. If you find several radios amongst which certain components work, you should be able to swap subassemblies to make a fully working radio.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

The CD player and the tape player assemblies are most likely modular. If you find several radios amongst which certain components work, you should be able to swap subassemblies to make a fully working radio.

The radios are cheap at Wrench-A-Part, will grab another one soon....that is unless someone comes up with an adaptor for one of those Chrysler radios with the in-dash CD changer. I love the look of that mod!!

-Mike

81X11 wrote:

Do all the backlights on your new radio work? The bulb behind my Bal and Fad markings went out. Drives my nuts at night, feels like something on my car is "broken".

Also I'm on my 2nd one of these radios, and neither of them have had a working cassette player (yes I still have some tapes). When I bought the car it didn't have the CD option, was just the tape player...and it didn't work, so bought a radio at the salvage yard with the CD, and it plays CD's fine, but tape never has worked on it either.

Just curious!

-Mike

All but the seek lights work, the tape is inop, and the cd skips all the time now. Not too excited about this radio.

As for the MOPAR set up, I just got a '08 Chrysler single CD player Friday. Last night I ordered the correct wire harness adapters for it, so hopefully I'll get you an update in a few weeks on how it goes.

Mike

200OZ wrote:

81X11 wrote:

Do all the backlights on your new radio work? The bulb behind my Bal and Fad markings went out. Drives my nuts at night, feels like something on my car is "broken".

Also I'm on my 2nd one of these radios, and neither of them have had a working cassette player (yes I still have some tapes). When I bought the car it didn't have the CD option, was just the tape player...and it didn't work, so bought a radio at the salvage yard with the CD, and it plays CD's fine, but tape never has worked on it either.

Just curious!

-Mike

All but the seek lights work, the tape is inop, and the cd skips all the time now. Not too excited about this radio.

As for the MOPAR set up, I just got a '08 Chrysler single CD player Friday. Last night I ordered the correct wire harness adapters for it, so hopefully I'll get you an update in a few weeks on how it goes.

Mike

Very cool! If you are able to make that work, I bet a lot of folks on here will be doing that mod. Good luck!

81X11 wrote:

200OZ wrote:

As for the MOPAR set up, I just got a '08 Chrysler single CD player Friday. Last night I ordered the correct wire harness adapters for it, so hopefully I'll get you an update in a few weeks on how it goes.

Very cool! If you are able to make that work, I bet a lot of folks on here will be doing that mod. Good luck!

I know I'd be interested!

Mike, thanks for the credit and your install looks good. I figured there had to be a wire that would dim the cc but I just didn't want to pull it apart again and look. The light doesn't even bother me anymore. And I hate when things don't work as they should. What is this MOPAR radio you guys speak of?

Have you guys replaced the drive belt(s) in the non-functional cassette players?

I've repaired a few of them over the years and it's usually just a disintegrated drive belt that keeps them from operating properly.

JoeT wrote:

Have you guys replaced the drive belt(s) in the non-functional cassette players?

I've repaired a few of them over the years and it's usually just a disintegrated drive belt that keeps them from operating properly.

What the hell is a cassette?

What the hell is a CD?

GN1220 wrote:

Mike, thanks for the credit and your install looks good. I figured there had to be a wire that would dim the cc but I just didn't want to pull it apart again and look. The light doesn't even bother me anymore. And I hate when things don't work as they should. What is this MOPAR radio you guys speak of?

Said MOPAR radio.


Still trying to figure out how this will work. The Chrysler radio is turned on by the BCM, through a system called CAM BUS. It's some crazy system the Germans use. Thanks Mercedes for complicating our simple American junk. Apparently different years are easier to work with, just have to figure it out.

Mike

Are you done yet,Mike?

Flasheroo wrote:

Are you done yet,Mike?

No, that is a pic of someone else's RMW with the Chrysler radio.

Nice job on your '94 radio! Do any of the '95 and later radios used by other GM cars have an auxiliary jack? My '95 RM has the factory radio/cassette and I'd like to add XM, but not via FM adaptor. I'd prefer a GM radio over aftermarket.

Or, is there a Pioneer or other aftermarket AM/FM/CD/HD/XM that fits in the '95 dash without mods?

Just popping in to say thanks for the note about the ECC dimmer in this thread, the ECC in our 94 RMW doesn't dim. The PO said his aftermarket radio was stolen at some point, so I bet whoever put the stock radio back in didn't hook that up. Something else for me to fix!