Car Stereo

Replacing a car stereo is a relatively easy task. These days most people will do this on their own instead of having the car stereo installed by a professional.

There are two types of stereo installation methods, the spring mounted clips and bolted on. With the spring mounted clips the stereo is held in place with four clips, if your stereo is installed with this method you will need a set of DIN tools; these are U shaped tools that will slide into the clips and when you hear a click you can remove the stereo.

When a car stereo is mounted with bolts it will be a little more difficult to remove, but there is no need to buy special tools. To remove a stereo that is bolted in you will have to remove some of the dash trimming in order to reach the bolds and undo them.

Once you have removed the stereo from the dash you will then have to disconnect the wiring. Start with disconnecting the antenna. This is the cable that is closest to the driver’s side; next remove the power connector. The power connector will be the wire closest to the driver’s side. Next you will need to remove the plastic power harness that connects all of the stereo wires.

After you have finished removing the old stereo you are ready to install your new car stereo. You will need a wiring harness adapter; your stereo will not likely come with this so you will have to purchase one from an electronics store.

If the new stereo you are installing is smaller than your previous stereo you will also need to buy an adapter so that the stereo fits properly in your dash; these are not too expensive.

After you have the adapters that you will need, your first step will be to install the wiring harness to the stereo. This is simply a matter of matching the color-coded wires to their mates; you will then need to crimp the wires.

Once you have installed the wire harness you will then need to plug in the antenna cable and power wire. When this is done, check the stereo to see if it works before you finish installing it.

At this point all you have to do is slide the stereo into the slot where it will sit and mount it with the provided screws.

When your stereo has been installed, you can then replace any of the dash’s trimming that you had to remove during the installation.

Replacing your own car stereo isn’t really difficult at all, plus you can save some money by not having the electronics shop install it.

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