Here are Instructions for Installing Stereo Head Unit
Aug 2, 2002, 11:33 PM
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Here are Instructions for Installing Stereo Head Unit
Due to a lack of specific instructions for installing a new head unit (i.e. cd/tape deck), I am providing the steps I recently used in installing my own HU in hopes that it may help out others on this board.
It took me a few days to summon up the courage to finally start tearing apart the dash around the stock radio on my brand new 2002 Lancer. After some experimentation, tinkering, and thinking, though, it was suprisingly easy and anyone could do this. So, try these instructions out, and maybe - just maybe - you'll save yourself $50 in installation costs!
Here's the tools/materials I used:
Phillips screwdriver
Flat-head screwdriver
Rubber-tipped pliers
Electrical tape or Masking tape (optional)
Mitsubishi wiring harness (available at CircuitCity, BestBuy, anyplace that does car stereo installations)
Wire cutters (handy, may not need them)
Wire strippers
Wire crimpers
Crimps
Electrical wire crimps
Cloth shop towel
Here we go:
1. With the phillips screwdriver, unscrew the two screws found UNDER the climate controls. If you feel inside the little storage tray near the top of the opening, you'll see them. (Note: I don't like to lose screws and other small parts when I take something apart so I am always sure to place such things in a safe container - for this installation, I used the ashtray, as it's convenient.)
2. From the floorboard of the passenger side of the car, reach your hand back behind the dash to find the backside of the little storage tray. Once you find it, slowly but firmly push the tray back, towards the back seats. With minimal effort, the tray and some of the lower dash facade (it's all one piece) should pop out.
3. Now, it's time to tackle the upper portion of the facade that surrounds the stereo and climate controls. This was the most time-consuming portion of this process for me, mainly because I needed to figure out how all the pieces fit together and what connections were involved.
With the rubber-tipped pliers, gently pull off the 3 climate-control knobs. They take a bit of effort, but do eventually slide off. Behind both the left and right knobs you'll notice single screws. Using your phillips-head screwdriver, remove those screws. (Note: There seems to be some slight disagreement on this board about whether the knobs need to be pulled off or not. I don't see any other way to complete this project without pulling the knobs to get at these screws - unless you want to disconnect the climate control electrical wiring AND wire cabling in the back - trust me, it wouldn't be fun.)
With these screws removed, the facade is now disconnected from the climate control housing. It's time now to remove the facade itself.
Get your electrical/masking tape or shop towel and flat-head screwdriver out. I used the shop towel as a cover for the screwdriver so I wouldn't gouge, scratch, or otherwise damage the external dash area as I went about removing this piece of the facade. After completing this project, I started thinking that maybe using some electrical tape or masking tape around the edges of the dash-piece joints might have helped a bit too. It's all speculative, but if given the chance again, I probably would have done that in combination with the shop towel-covered screwdriver. I'm pretty careful though.
With the shop towel-covered screwdriver, begin going around the perimeter of the facade that surrounds the stereo and climate controls and pry the facade off. There are some pretty decent clips holding that piece on, so be gentle and slow. It will come off in due time and effort.
Once you get that off, pat yourself on the back. I consider this the toughest part of the entire project.
4. From here, things should start looking a bit more inviting. With the facade gone, you'll see the stereo head unit just sitting there in it's mounted state. To take it out, remove the screw on both sides of the deck. They're very obvious. Once those screws are removed, grab ahold of the deck and pull it out towards you. Be careful, as the wiring harness will still be connected to the back of the deck. Disconnect the wiring harness and antenna connector. The deck should then be completely removable.
5. On the factory deck, you'll notice mounts on both sides. You will need to attach these mounts to your new deck so that it mounts properly. Depending on your deck, you may need the screws it came with to attach these mounts - or you might be lucky enough to be able to use the factory ones. Obviously, you also want to make sure you deck is the appropriate size for the Lancer's opening.
With your phillips-head screwdriver, remove the screws that hold the mounts on and then attach the mounts to your new head unit, making sure the left mount on the factory deck goes on the left side of the new deck and same thing with the right mount. Depending on your deck, you may need to test out different mounting-screw cominations to get the proper fit in the dash.
6. You now need to wire the new deck's wiring harness to the Mitsubishi standard wiring harness you bought. (Note: Some people may prefer to not purchase the wiring harness and just hard-wire the stereo to the factory wiring. I prefer the harness approach, but it's personal preference. I think it's easier to work on this way.) You'll need to strip the ends of all the bare wires on both the Mitsubishi standard wiring harness and the harness that came with your new deck. In most cases, it's just a matter of matching color to color, and sometimes the wires have
words on them telling you what they are for. If any confusion exists, consult your installation manual for your new deck. It should have wiring diagrams. Once the wires are stripped, bring them together inside a wire crimp and then using the crimping tool crimp on both ends of the crimp to ensure a tight connection. Do this for all wires, as applicable.
Plug the end of the Mitsubishi standard wiring harness (the one you just wired to the deck's harness) into the Lancer's factory plug. It should be a male-female type of plug. The ground wire for the Lancer has been wired into the factory plug already for you, so I didn't see a need to worry about that. Don't forget to plug in the antenna cable to the back of your new deck as well!
7. Carefully tuck the wires back into the rear of the dash as you mount the new deck into the hole. The mounts will guide the seating of the new deck, so be patient and it will slide in. Make sure there aren't any wires pinched once the deck is in place.
8. At this point, it's a good idea to turn the key onto accessory and see if the deck comes to life. If so, Congratulations! If not, you might want to re-check your wiring job and all connections.
9. Reverse the process you undertook for removing the head unit. Replace all screws (You didn't lose any, did you?
) and snap the facade pieces back into place. Re-attach the climate control knobs. If you used tape to protect the dash, obviously you'll want to remove it. Get everything back to how it was before you undertook this grand adventure.
10. Pop in a CD or tune in your favorite station - and CRANK it!
Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
That's it! Not too hard, eh?
I hope this helps those of you wanting to install a new head unit. While each individual install may deviate a bit from these instructions, hopefully I have provided some useful information for getting your install off the ground - while keeping the $$ in your pocket!
BTW, I'm not by any means a car stereo installation expert so please take these instructions for what they are. The process decribed above worked perfectly for me, and I'm sure they are numerous other ways to accomplish the same task. I'm not the authority on this, I'm just sharing my experience. Maybe others in this forum would like to share their experiences as well.
Have fun! Thanks,
Karizma23
2002 Lancer OZ Rally Thunder Gray
It took me a few days to summon up the courage to finally start tearing apart the dash around the stock radio on my brand new 2002 Lancer. After some experimentation, tinkering, and thinking, though, it was suprisingly easy and anyone could do this. So, try these instructions out, and maybe - just maybe - you'll save yourself $50 in installation costs!
Here's the tools/materials I used:
Phillips screwdriver
Flat-head screwdriver
Rubber-tipped pliers
Electrical tape or Masking tape (optional)
Mitsubishi wiring harness (available at CircuitCity, BestBuy, anyplace that does car stereo installations)
Wire cutters (handy, may not need them)
Wire strippers
Wire crimpers
Crimps
Electrical wire crimps
Cloth shop towel
Here we go:
1. With the phillips screwdriver, unscrew the two screws found UNDER the climate controls. If you feel inside the little storage tray near the top of the opening, you'll see them. (Note: I don't like to lose screws and other small parts when I take something apart so I am always sure to place such things in a safe container - for this installation, I used the ashtray, as it's convenient.)
2. From the floorboard of the passenger side of the car, reach your hand back behind the dash to find the backside of the little storage tray. Once you find it, slowly but firmly push the tray back, towards the back seats. With minimal effort, the tray and some of the lower dash facade (it's all one piece) should pop out.
3. Now, it's time to tackle the upper portion of the facade that surrounds the stereo and climate controls. This was the most time-consuming portion of this process for me, mainly because I needed to figure out how all the pieces fit together and what connections were involved.
With the rubber-tipped pliers, gently pull off the 3 climate-control knobs. They take a bit of effort, but do eventually slide off. Behind both the left and right knobs you'll notice single screws. Using your phillips-head screwdriver, remove those screws. (Note: There seems to be some slight disagreement on this board about whether the knobs need to be pulled off or not. I don't see any other way to complete this project without pulling the knobs to get at these screws - unless you want to disconnect the climate control electrical wiring AND wire cabling in the back - trust me, it wouldn't be fun.)
With these screws removed, the facade is now disconnected from the climate control housing. It's time now to remove the facade itself.
Get your electrical/masking tape or shop towel and flat-head screwdriver out. I used the shop towel as a cover for the screwdriver so I wouldn't gouge, scratch, or otherwise damage the external dash area as I went about removing this piece of the facade. After completing this project, I started thinking that maybe using some electrical tape or masking tape around the edges of the dash-piece joints might have helped a bit too. It's all speculative, but if given the chance again, I probably would have done that in combination with the shop towel-covered screwdriver. I'm pretty careful though.
With the shop towel-covered screwdriver, begin going around the perimeter of the facade that surrounds the stereo and climate controls and pry the facade off. There are some pretty decent clips holding that piece on, so be gentle and slow. It will come off in due time and effort.
Once you get that off, pat yourself on the back. I consider this the toughest part of the entire project.
4. From here, things should start looking a bit more inviting. With the facade gone, you'll see the stereo head unit just sitting there in it's mounted state. To take it out, remove the screw on both sides of the deck. They're very obvious. Once those screws are removed, grab ahold of the deck and pull it out towards you. Be careful, as the wiring harness will still be connected to the back of the deck. Disconnect the wiring harness and antenna connector. The deck should then be completely removable.
5. On the factory deck, you'll notice mounts on both sides. You will need to attach these mounts to your new deck so that it mounts properly. Depending on your deck, you may need the screws it came with to attach these mounts - or you might be lucky enough to be able to use the factory ones. Obviously, you also want to make sure you deck is the appropriate size for the Lancer's opening.
With your phillips-head screwdriver, remove the screws that hold the mounts on and then attach the mounts to your new head unit, making sure the left mount on the factory deck goes on the left side of the new deck and same thing with the right mount. Depending on your deck, you may need to test out different mounting-screw cominations to get the proper fit in the dash.
6. You now need to wire the new deck's wiring harness to the Mitsubishi standard wiring harness you bought. (Note: Some people may prefer to not purchase the wiring harness and just hard-wire the stereo to the factory wiring. I prefer the harness approach, but it's personal preference. I think it's easier to work on this way.) You'll need to strip the ends of all the bare wires on both the Mitsubishi standard wiring harness and the harness that came with your new deck. In most cases, it's just a matter of matching color to color, and sometimes the wires have
words on them telling you what they are for. If any confusion exists, consult your installation manual for your new deck. It should have wiring diagrams. Once the wires are stripped, bring them together inside a wire crimp and then using the crimping tool crimp on both ends of the crimp to ensure a tight connection. Do this for all wires, as applicable.
Plug the end of the Mitsubishi standard wiring harness (the one you just wired to the deck's harness) into the Lancer's factory plug. It should be a male-female type of plug. The ground wire for the Lancer has been wired into the factory plug already for you, so I didn't see a need to worry about that. Don't forget to plug in the antenna cable to the back of your new deck as well!
7. Carefully tuck the wires back into the rear of the dash as you mount the new deck into the hole. The mounts will guide the seating of the new deck, so be patient and it will slide in. Make sure there aren't any wires pinched once the deck is in place.
8. At this point, it's a good idea to turn the key onto accessory and see if the deck comes to life. If so, Congratulations! If not, you might want to re-check your wiring job and all connections.
9. Reverse the process you undertook for removing the head unit. Replace all screws (You didn't lose any, did you?
) and snap the facade pieces back into place. Re-attach the climate control knobs. If you used tape to protect the dash, obviously you'll want to remove it. Get everything back to how it was before you undertook this grand adventure.10. Pop in a CD or tune in your favorite station - and CRANK it!
Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor! That's it! Not too hard, eh?
I hope this helps those of you wanting to install a new head unit. While each individual install may deviate a bit from these instructions, hopefully I have provided some useful information for getting your install off the ground - while keeping the $$ in your pocket!
BTW, I'm not by any means a car stereo installation expert so please take these instructions for what they are. The process decribed above worked perfectly for me, and I'm sure they are numerous other ways to accomplish the same task. I'm not the authority on this, I'm just sharing my experience. Maybe others in this forum would like to share their experiences as well.
Have fun! Thanks,
Karizma23
2002 Lancer OZ Rally Thunder Gray
Aug 2, 2002, 11:51 PM
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Could not have said it better myself!
Just one thing, good luck unscrewing the mounting brackets on the stock stereo. Those things were srewed on tight, well at least in my car. I eventually said screw it and drilled the screws out. Every other part of instalation was a breeze.
Oh by the way, if any of you are thinking of fitting the new head unit flush with the dash, there will be a small gap around the head unit. You need to close the upper gap off, well you need to in you want to avoid headaches. Trust me, that upper gap is really close to where the cd slot is on my cd, and well theres been a few times I put a cd in the wrong slot. At that point, the dash needs to be opened back up to get the cd out.......
Just one thing, good luck unscrewing the mounting brackets on the stock stereo. Those things were srewed on tight, well at least in my car. I eventually said screw it and drilled the screws out. Every other part of instalation was a breeze.
Oh by the way, if any of you are thinking of fitting the new head unit flush with the dash, there will be a small gap around the head unit. You need to close the upper gap off, well you need to in you want to avoid headaches. Trust me, that upper gap is really close to where the cd slot is on my cd, and well theres been a few times I put a cd in the wrong slot. At that point, the dash needs to be opened back up to get the cd out.......
Aug 3, 2002, 12:19 AM
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The screws...
No lie about the tightness of the screws on the mounting brackets! LOL Those things were amazingly tight, but did give a satisfying *pop* when they finally came loose 
Better bulk up before tackling those babys - or, do as Tristar did - drill them out.
Regards,
Karizma23
Those things were amazingly tight, but did give a satisfying *pop* when they finally came loose Better bulk up before tackling those babys - or, do as Tristar did - drill them out.
Regards,
Karizma23
Aug 3, 2002, 12:56 AM
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when i installed my head unti on an older car that i had, i remember that it came with a frame that snapped around the perimeter of the unit to hide the gap. do newer head units not come with this frame? it was a pioneer premier super turner III. like 6-8 years old now.
Aug 3, 2002, 01:19 AM
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They come with the frame, but I wanted the stereo to be flush with the dash, not stick out a 1/4 of an inch. I hate how cheap it looks with the trim ring. Ill just keep my current set-up, and fish cds out of my dash,lol
Aug 3, 2002, 01:25 AM
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lmao, damn thats funny. 
i saw on crutchfiled they are offering 180 days of no payment, and if you pay off in the 180 day period you dont pay interest. i think im gonna hook myself up with a unit and some speakers.
i saw on crutchfiled they are offering 180 days of no payment, and if you pay off in the 180 day period you dont pay interest. i think im gonna hook myself up with a unit and some speakers.
Aug 3, 2002, 09:30 AM
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Removeing the Climate controle knobs he alot more work then needs to be done. If u look under neithe the steering wheel u will see to cables a black one and a blue one these simply snap on and off if u disconnect these u can pull the climate control panel out far enough to work on mounteing your new head unit with out and restraint. plus it cuts about 5 minutes off the time it takes to install a new head unit. I discovered this little trick installing my 3rd head unit in my Oz_lancer. I had tech problems with the first two. mainly a Dumb @$$ brother who like's to play around with wireing. Simply put he was sending the signal back to the head unit but comeing out of an Amplifier was a bad thing. Besides that part u did it the easiest way possible
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Sep 5, 2002, 06:09 AM
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i did this instalation recently and i put it together and everything was great until night time when i realized that i couldnt see my climate controls. I dont know what i did but they dont light up. ive taken everything apart again but i still cant figure it out....HELP!!!!!
Sep 5, 2002, 06:12 AM
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can't really help you, your the only one whos knows what you did and that can see the problem.. just check all the wires, and once your done checking the wires check the wires again. cuz i followed these steps and mine work. sorry man, or just take it to get it fixed,.
Sep 18, 2002, 09:24 AM
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ok i had a sony and now have a pioneer in my lancer and the plastic ring will not go around the head unit there is nothin to attach it to and thats not jus me i had it pro installed if anybody nkows how to puy it on please tell me can you make it flush wil the good pioneer that has 2 screens i plan on gettin that soon
Sep 22, 2002, 10:07 PM
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Originally posted by lancer02Josh
ok i had a sony and now have a pioneer in my lancer and the plastic ring will not go around the head unit there is nothin to attach it to and thats not jus me i had it pro installed if anybody nkows how to puy it on please tell me can you make it flush wil the good pioneer that has 2 screens i plan on gettin that soon
ok i had a sony and now have a pioneer in my lancer and the plastic ring will not go around the head unit there is nothin to attach it to and thats not jus me i had it pro installed if anybody nkows how to puy it on please tell me can you make it flush wil the good pioneer that has 2 screens i plan on gettin that soon
