2008 Subaru Impreza WRX

Defeat the "While Moving" DVD/Navigation Entry Lock-Out!!

Install Some Subwoofers for Better Sound on Factory Radio/Nav!!

No warranty or guarantee that this will work is expressed or implied, this is just some info on what I did, and if you mess it up,
or screw up your car in some way, it's your fault, not mine!  Just have to cover my ass-ets.

 

Remove Trim

Pry forward the navigation/sound system surround just by grabbing the top edge (where silver meets black dash) with your fingernails and the trim around the navigation unit (including the 2 vents) will come off.

Remove Screws

There are 4-6 screws holding in the navigation/sound system. Remove only the top 2 and bottom 2 if there are 6. The middle 2 are for the satellite radio and that can stay for this procedure.

Navigatin Connector

This is may not be the true pin-out numbers but pretend pins in this picture are numbered:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24

Pins 1,2,11, 12, 13, 14, 23,24 have no wires attached. There might be one or two in the middle with no wires attached as well but I forgot. Pin 4 is the grounding pin for the Emergency / Parking Brake.

Ground E-Brake

Pin 4 wire(which in my 2008 WRX is like a grey color wire) should be cut, and the end connected to the navigation plug should be grounded. Tape up the other end but do not ground the end going back to vehicle wiring. This may cause your E-Brake light to always be on.

Ground Location

I chose to ground "Pin 4" to the satellite radio mounting bracket because it was close, and it worked. Just remember to only ground the “pin 4 grey” wire connected to the plug, but do not ground the other end that was cut, just tape that off.

Plug all back in and DONE!!

Ground a Subwoofer

I found a great place to ground a subwoofer in the WRX is on the nut/bolt that holds down the rear seat. Just unscrew, sand the paint off the bracket down there, attach your sub wires, screw back in, and perfect ground!

Wires

I ran the positive (connected to battery) and ACC (connected to acc wire on audio head unit plug) wires down the driver side door sill trims. Be careful when removing, because I broke a snap off of the driver rear door sill trim part. No biggie, still is held by others.

Speakers

I ran speaker wire down the passenger side door sill trim, I was told it is better to keep this away from the power lines for quality issues. Once again, snapped more plastic, but still OK. Speaker wire got connected to left and right + & - rear speaker wires behind the navigation system.

Finished Subs with Factory Navigation!!

Once the set of rear speaker wires were run to the trunk, I connected them to a PAC brand Line Out Converter ($20) and then short RCAs connected from that to the amp. My subwoffers are now installed, and after tweeking the EQ on the factory radio, they sound great!!

Got Dirt?

It's only been a week and the new WRX already needs a good cleaning!!



David Carter has information on his site about the radio wiring harness.  I used his info here to pull off ACC power to turn on the subwoofer's amp, as well as the rear speaker outputs of which I needed to tap into to make the subs actually make noise.  He also sells radio forward and reverse wiring harnesses in which you can use for a project like this, allowing you to not have to cut into any of the factory wiring!!

Thanks to David Carter for his info here, you will all find it useful!!
http://ae64.com

 

If you would like to ask a question or comment on my install, feel free here:
I will do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.

Name:
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What's Up??


Q&A:

Q: Hey, very clean install.  I just picked up an 08 WRX with Nav too.  I hope you don't mind, but I have a question. The speaker wires you ran down to the PAC, which speaker wires did you run them off of?  Did you cut/splice the factory harness to run speakers out to the rear from the HU? I was thinking of doing similar work, but was most likely just going to splice into the rear speakers only for the output to PAC/amp speaker-level input. Is the ACC for your amplifier remote/turn-on function? Very smooth install; it looks good!  I got to check out the factory subwoofer, but in really sounded bad so I decided to go aftermarket.  Thanks for your time!
Shaun

A: Shaun, Thanks and congrats!  I was too impatient to wait to get male and female harnesses to make an "extension" which I could tap into without splicing into factory wiring. That is perhaps the cleanest way to do it, but all I did is splice into (factory wiring behind head unit) the rear speaker + and - for both L and R leaving my existing rears still active while running the spliced wires to the hatchback where I connected to the PAC LOC. The 8 awg +12v from the battery was run through an existing hole in the firewall (some sort of rigid tubing for fuel or brake lines). The ACC from the factory wiring behind the head unit was run to the amp's "remote" connection to trigger it to turn on when the car is running.  The power lines (+12v and ACC) were run along the driver side door sills (don't be afraid to partly or completely remove the weather stripping, it just pops back on) and the speaker wire was run along the passenger side door sills.  I read somewhere to run these (power and audio signals) apart from each other to keep from getting static distortion or engine noise out your speakers.  I actually broke a plastic clip or two that holds the door sills in place, I don't think it is possible to do this job without snapping some little plastic clip as they are so tight.  There are plenty of others though that will stand in to take the "load" of holding the 1/2oz door sill so don't worry too much.  I hope that answers your questions, but if not, feel free to e-mail back.  The attached picture shows the path I took to wire the spliced speaker wire to the hatch.  The wire actually fit just perfectly behind the silver trim piece that runs between the vents.  That trim piece can be easily removed shown here, http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1399151 you don't have to take it all the way off for this.

The only draw back to this system is the volume on the stock head unit only goes up to 40.  Most of the time (with good music) I find myself in the 35 range, but on a nice day with the windows open, I might want more power to drown out the wind noise.  Then it will be time to add speaker amps as I love the stock HU.

Here is other info you may want to look at before taking on this job:
Cheap Bluetooth Mic:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1009213&page=7
My HID Lighting Install:
http://www.webjogger.com/WRX/2008hid/08wrxhid.htm