Possibly one of the best how to vids I have ever seen. Concise. Good camera work. Easy to understand. Best of all no mumbling stumbling audio. Thank you Steve
@@speedkar99 yeah. I'm gonna give this a shot. Even tho the last time I tried to do the simplist soldering possible I failed miserable and ruined everything, I'm going to give this a shot. but if I mess up you owe me homie
I cannot thank you enough for sharing your wealth of information not only on this instructional but countless others too. As someone who generally mechanically inclined and not afraid to take things apart it is ever so helpful to have an instructional video like this, and better yet your videos are always to the point with lots of good info and minimal junk. The production quality and editing are always top notch too! Especially glad I stumbled into this video because now I can replace those pesky dead back light in my stereo : ) many thanks once again!
+SK4869 Thanks. I try to present it in a way that is clear and easy to understand. Of course you need hands on experience to undertake something like this (i.e. soldering, wiring, etc).
when i was growing up my father used to do a lot of work in his shed, he used to fix everything electrical. he had his soldering iron & wire, you name it he had it. just last year i had my stereo upgraded in my Toyota Rukus, had professionals make me a fiber glass frame around my 8' Alpine touchscreen with navigation + a sub woofer in the back also had a fiber glass framing around it. cost me a little, but it was well worth it. thanks again for the educational videos. have a great day :)
Thanks so much for this video. My ES300 had a similar layout for the tape deck and It helped me install my own Bluetooth kit. Worked like a charm, and the sound quality is so much better than those Bluetooth Cassette tapes I was using before.
theres another way, if you find the pinout diagram for your particular model then you can splice into the L+, R+ and SGND (speaker ground) wires externally without the need to open the head unit, thats what I did last night
Just want to confirm that this worked perfect in my 1999 LS400 with Pioneer radio (NOT NAKAMICHI). You can tell if your radio is Pioneer because it will say "Lexus Premium Sound" above the AM radio button. Thanks so much for the video! I may add a ground loop isolator as I am getting some strange buzzing whenever I have my phone playing music through this and charging at the same time. I am using an AUX cassette with the wire chopped off to give me a never ending tape to play.
+CyFi6 Sweet, that's good to know. Unfortunately the cassette deck in this GS kept acting up and my brother decided to solder aux/Bluetooth to the CD player line and play a silent cd instead.
This is great! Thanks for making this video. A few questions; 1. What year and model is your Lexus? I have an 04 gx470 and your head unit looks somewhat similar to that time period. 2. I've done radio work before, but never soldering. What tools do I need to solder a 3.5 jack in like this? can you give me a list of everything needed to get the job done? Thanks again.
+Bo G Thanks. If your Lexus has a separate CD changer I recommend connecting to those lines at the back of the radio or changer and inserting a blank CD. Theres a writeup on the ES forum at clublexus. This cassette method is kinda fidgety if the player isn't working properly. This was a 2000 Lexus gs300.
I tried this in my Lexus LS400 and did not have good luck soldering to the cassette player PCB, so I removed the main board and found that the pins where the cassette player plugs into are labeled on the bottom of the board. I soldered two wires to the pins labeled TapeR and TapeL, and kept the signal ground wire in the same place show in the video. I also soldered two more wires near the connector for the harness for switched power and a power ground to provide power to a panel mounted MP3/bluetooth board, which I hid in the ashtray beneath the head unit.
Cassette adapters work surprisingly well if you get a good one. But you have to get a good one. Lot's of cassette adapters are crap especially ones that are recently made. The older ones are usually a lot better. I use one in my ES300 and the sound from a decent phone or MP3 player is surprisingly close to the built in CD player. There is a small audible difference but I didn't expect it to be that close.
You have any leads on what constitutes an “older” cassette adapter? Got a Monster brand one recently that I thought would do the trick but there’s too much random hissing and static... drives me nuts. I thought it was just the nature of the device, but sounds like I got a crappy one despite being a well known brand.
But it'll suck if the aux jack gets damaged from time to time from all the plugging and pulling. Then you'd have to replace it at times. But great video and awesome idea.
SwiftHelix just better off getting the cassette player with the six cord or an fm transmitter, they sound just as good. Not worth the time and aggravation. Plus you can damage the radio in the process
Absolutely useless mod. The same as using proper cassette adapter. Not talking about the fact that this unit designed to recognise and run cassette adapters ( you should see small letters "METAL" on a left side when it's recognises)
@@speedkar99With all respect to your good intentions, it will be indistinguishable by objective and subjective qualities from just a decent cassette adapter. It is not an AUX input. Don't make me to get in technical details.
+staticshock1646 The procedure is exactly the same. In fact, I took apart an ES300 radio and compared it to the GS300. The layout is very similar, and the L & R ports are labeled as is here. The only downside with the cassette method is you need to play a blank cassette to fool it into reading from the cassette player, but as long as you pull the wires going to the head there should be no interference or hiss.
If its a pioneer unit you can easily connect a 3 pin connector on a white male connector that is soldered to on the circuitboard on the right side of the cassette mechanism. the trick is to put a blank cd in the cd changer and voilas you have a functional aux input without having to use a cassette. You can also put in a cd upside down in the changer and the radio thinks there is a cd error, but the audio input of the radio still works.
+peterdevreter - I'm having trouble locating the white male connector you mentioned that is soldered to on the circuitboard on the right side of the cassette mechanism. Is that on the circuitboard with the L & R? I have a 1997 Lexus ES300 w/ 6-disc CD changer. Thanks!
Well, here's a DIY I made for the 1997 Lexus ES300, www.clublexus.com/forums/es-1st-to-4th-gen-1990-2006/859175-diy-install-aux-input-to-1997-lexus-es300-w-original-cd-changer.html. Enjoy!
@@speedkar99 hey, I did the exact same thing. But I have a hiss and a whine that goes up with the RPM. I think it's a grounding issue. What do you mean pull the wires going to the head? How do I do this?
Think this works on a 2000 gs400 with navigation? And if I have my ipod plugged in and on FM or CD does it override it or does it only work when you hit the tape button? Please let me know, my mom got a gs400 and I would love to get ride of the stupid tape to aux adapter that sounds like shit.
hey speedkar great video. quick question what is the normal rpm when your car idles with the AC on? I have a 99 solara sle v6 and replaced the alternator. when runs with out AC the voltage is 13.9 dc volts. when AC kicks in the number drops to 11 almost 10 volts. The battery is less then a year but standing charge is at 13.5 volts. I adjusted the throttle for now to maintain a higher rpm at 1000 but would like to know what would cause this. sorry so long.
is that player is similar like is200 player, i have err1 and err3.Now im playing aux from cassette head unit ,but i think should be better quality from port out
I have a question. I have a ford premium radio with satellite button but the car isn't wired for SAT. How do aux adapters work? Can I just buy a female pigtail and wire it to aux?
How does the audio quality of this compare to cd? You mentioned briefly that it goes to an EQ chip, I was just wondering if it applied any weird curves before hitting the main eq/tone knobs you can configure/amp.
I have an 99 lexus ls400 with the Dolby System. IT is identical to yours but if i plug IT in and hear a Song i have Hard scratching noise.. you know maybe why?
I followed these steps except I didn't wire a Bluetooth adapter. I'm having volume problems with a direct auxiliary connection, if the vol is more than 80% on the phone it distorts the sound coming out the speakers. But, if it is under 80% on the phone, the sound is too quiet even with the head unit turned all the way up. Suggestions my friend?
gentlemen, i got sound and everything, but first of all the tape deck itself is makibg a mechanical clicking noise constantly, and it seems like it's sending both stereo channels to both sides. if i pan hard right i hear sound from both sides. what have i done wrong?
speedkar99 yes it does. You're smart dude. Tapping into the sound inputs like that on the pcb. Im getting my ls430 tomorrow I'm so stoked. Gotta save some more to get it registered and insured but 3500$ for an ultra luxury ls430 with 113k. I feel like I won the lotto
So the tape has to be playing.... I don't see why you wouldn't just use a tape to aux converter. I was hoping this video would mimic the Honda one where it can be soldered to the radio. So does the aux input only override the radio on a weak signaled station?
Any squeaks or rattles after all that plastic prying inside the cabin? That is one of my number one concerns about messing with the radio is screwing up how quiet my car is.
+Vaping ForHealth No rattles for removing the radio. I got some rattling after removing the entire interior on my Solara to suede the headliner. I already know there's one clip missing that I have yet to fix. Just take your time when taking things apart and don't break any clips and it should all be good. I've taken my cars apart many times.
This might be a dumb question but could I just get a longer aux cord and cut it and use the wire inside of it to connect to the terminals and ground? Also is there a specific order the wires go in (like by color)?
@speedkar99 I have an 88 RX7, all stock and I want to keep it that way. Instead of patching in a 3.5mm jack, I would have done a bluetooth transmitter. I said would have because I caved and bought a double din screen a few Weeks ago. I immediately hated it. It's stored now bit once I get the car out next spring, I'm putting the factory radio back In.
You're one intelligent dude. Thanks for this video. I recently purchased a 1998 Lexus GS400 and I'd like to add an auxiliary jack so I can listen to music with my phone. I really don't want to destroy the stock stereo, so I wanted to verify with you if you know if this hack in the video also applies to the Lexus GS400. Do you know if the solder points and layout of the stereo in my car will be the same as the GS300? I see they look slightly different from the face. Thank you for any input. I greatly appreciate your expertise.
+graphicartdude it should. But I recommend tapping into the CD player lines. There's a writeup on the ES300 forums on clublexus. Thats ultimately what my brother ended up doing to this car after the cassette tape unreeled on him. He even hookedup a Bluetooth module for cheap
Best how to of all time. Unfortunately you can just buy a 10 dollar cassette converter, put it in the cassette deck and still have a working cassette player and option to have aux.
You could solder a BT aux connector and leave it back there, no cords and no mess, power it off the radio, and there you have it, bluetooth Nav & Voice, plus OEM styling.
Can you help? 98 gs400. I did NOT do the aux input, my problem is the volume control doesn't always work properly. Sometimes I turn the radio on and the volume is already loud and I cant lower it. Is it the amp or the volume control knob??
+billy greenhorn the potentiometer on the board is probably burning out or has a loose connection. Open it up and check its condition with a multimeter or oscilloscope
+Gabriel Espinoza I don't have an ES with navigation. I assume you can solder to the CD player wires and play a blank CD. Or just buy the iPod / Bluetooth adapter that goes into the plug at the back.
I've got my 2006 Lexus RX deck taken apart following this awesome video, to the part where I can take out the tape deck. The board on the tape deck looks almost exactly like the one in this video, I can see the R and L they are little metal donuts just like in this vid. But how do I do the ground, you just scratched right through the green coating? How did you choose where to do that? Thanks!!
Any screw that goes thru the casing is ground. You can tie it to that or solder in the wire to a point on the board (usually a big point found in multiple places)
hey this is a pretty useful hack thanks for the info. I was wondering if you knew how to wire a douledin install which will integrate the factory amp and sub? if so please let me know I have a 2003 gs300 no ML or navi
+Yasharth Swamy I'm not familiar with the aftermarket systems. Have you checked if there was a Metra wiring kit for plug and play? That's how it was in my Camry. Single or double din shouldn't matter, just the bracket that holds it.
Hey so I don't know if you'll see this, but this was done to my car prior to me owning it. Recently I took it apart to redu it since there was a popping or kind of like a poor connection. I replaced the cord, and cut it and pretty much set it up how I figured it was done before. However when I put it back together audio only comes out of the front left speaker, but the actual aux cord itself works. I can hear my phone through it...any ideas? I know it's probably my fault but I don't even know where to look. I put it back EXACTLY how it was before.
@@speedkar99 yea I'll take it apart again later this week. I just noticed last night on the way home that the radio light are not on so maybe I forgot to plug something in. The balance knob isn't working so that may have something to do with it. Thanks! Great video btw.
+C Bake FlightSchool Thanks but I don't work on others' cars. There's a writeup here you can follow: www.clublexus.com/forums/es-1st-to-4th-gen-1990-2006/654164-possibly-cheap-diy-aux-input-for-97-radio.html
that's a lot of work. why not just get $25 cassette 3.5mm aux adapter or bluetooth or bluetooth fm transmitter. or pay $200 to have a professional install the best $195 bluetooth DVD player like they charged me
+EsDACcompany We tried to hack the tape player to get it to work without the cassette. The player uses two encoders, one on the drive wheel, the other on the slave wheel. If the encoders read the same speed, the tape plays, if not it knows it hit the end of the reel and stops. Therefore I'd have to trick the chip into thinking the slave wheel is still rolling....not easily electronically.
hi, i did this hack on my es300. everything went great. only thing that seems to act funny is when i plug my phone into the audio jack. sometimes itll shut my phone down and not even recognize it. sometimes i hear loud static when the phone is plugged in only. does anyone have answers?
thanks!! ill try that. another thing on my mind is that i saw you solder the ground near that white part of the circuit board. i placed mine on the opposite side of the board (i have an es300 97). would that affect it at all?
I am deep into this repair and cannot for the life of me get this to work. I soldered the wires nearly in an identical way. The issue is the tape deck doesn't seem to be recognizing that there is a valid tape inside. It says play but then stops and goes back to the radio.
