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This install was pretty straight forward, and the instructions are really pretty good. I suggest having them in hand and taking a good look under the dash to orient yourself to where the different brackets are situated before your start as this will help as you work your way through the instructions.
The install itself took about an hour, but it should have. I think I spent as much time trying to figure out how to get the upper glove box off the truck! I never did get it off and not wanting to force it and break something, I finally just gave up and put the iPod in the lower glove box. Which still works quite well!
The only other tip I have is to remove the mirror adjuster and cargo lamp switches from the lower dash section on the driver’s side to get that piece out of your way.
Wiring it up was a simple plug and play operation. They supplied plenty of cable to go from the SAT pre-wire connector behind the hood release to the interface, and it needed to be wrapped back and forth under the dash a couple time to use up cable. This tells me that the more adventuresome installer could probably find other places to put the interface so that the iPod could be connected and stored elsewhere, like the center console, for example. Nissan supplied plenty of self adhesive foam pads to protect the cables as they are wrapped around the brackets under the dash. While we’re on the topic of protecting things from those brackets, I’m here to tell you, one would think there were razor blades under the dash after looking at my bloody right hand after then install! Word of caution, wear gloves if you can, my hand looks like it’s been drug through a brier patch! They also supplied plenty of tie straps as well, so don’t be afraid to use them.
As I mentioned earlier, I put my iPod in the lower glove box. Anyone wanting to do the same need not remove a single screw on the passenger side of the truck! I fed the iPod cable through, connected it to the interface and then secured it to a couple plastic tabs you see along the black plastic piece behind the glove box. You will have to squeeze the sides of the lower glove box drawer to fully extend it out of the way. The little spring loaded string can be removed as well for more clearance. I looped the end over the little tab sticking up on the white plastic guide just so it wouldn’t disappear on me. I also used a couple self adhesive cable tie mounts I had laying around and attached them to the back of the glove box drawer (see pics below) to keep the cable out of harms way as you open and close the glove box. Nissan even supplies a small black cloth bag to put your iPod in while it attached to protect it in the glove box! It probably also helps keep it from rattling against the hard plastic glove box as well.
After everything was connected, I connected the iPod and switched on the truck. You have to press the “Radio” button a couple times to cycle through till the HU display shows XM. This is the iPod option, and it started to play! I thought it sounded better than the Radio and the MP3 player on this HU. The CDs sound good, but the sound from the Radio is somewhat flat, and the MP3’s tend to have clicks, pops and static between tracks. This sounds just like it would if you had your headphone on listening to your iPod! The Owner’s Manual that comes with the kit does a pretty good job of explaining all the functions and how to use them from the head unit, so I won’t go into a lot of detail there. The steering wheel controls, however, are somewhat confusing, and the manual does not give much of an explanation of how they work. From what I have discovered by playing with it is: The Volume control works just like with any other mode, it adjust the volume! The mode will switch between FM, AM, CD and iPod (except is says XM on the display). The bottom toggle is the tricky one. To change to the next song you have to press it down and hold it for a couple seconds! A quick flick of that toggle will give you the next preset radio station! Quirky, but if you know to press and hold it for the next song, you’ll be okay. Overall, I’m happy with the sound quality and the convenience of having an iPod connection that I can control from the head unit (and somewhat control from the steering wheel), it keeps the iPod hidden and out of sight, and charges the iPod while it’s connected! Here are a couple picture of my iPod Mini connected to the interface, and how I routed the iPod cable. The rest of the installation is just as described in the instructions, and I was racing against an approaching storm and darkness last night, so I didn’t take pics during the installation.
The install itself took about an hour, but it should have. I think I spent as much time trying to figure out how to get the upper glove box off the truck! I never did get it off and not wanting to force it and break something, I finally just gave up and put the iPod in the lower glove box. Which still works quite well!
The only other tip I have is to remove the mirror adjuster and cargo lamp switches from the lower dash section on the driver’s side to get that piece out of your way.
Wiring it up was a simple plug and play operation. They supplied plenty of cable to go from the SAT pre-wire connector behind the hood release to the interface, and it needed to be wrapped back and forth under the dash a couple time to use up cable. This tells me that the more adventuresome installer could probably find other places to put the interface so that the iPod could be connected and stored elsewhere, like the center console, for example. Nissan supplied plenty of self adhesive foam pads to protect the cables as they are wrapped around the brackets under the dash. While we’re on the topic of protecting things from those brackets, I’m here to tell you, one would think there were razor blades under the dash after looking at my bloody right hand after then install! Word of caution, wear gloves if you can, my hand looks like it’s been drug through a brier patch! They also supplied plenty of tie straps as well, so don’t be afraid to use them.
As I mentioned earlier, I put my iPod in the lower glove box. Anyone wanting to do the same need not remove a single screw on the passenger side of the truck! I fed the iPod cable through, connected it to the interface and then secured it to a couple plastic tabs you see along the black plastic piece behind the glove box. You will have to squeeze the sides of the lower glove box drawer to fully extend it out of the way. The little spring loaded string can be removed as well for more clearance. I looped the end over the little tab sticking up on the white plastic guide just so it wouldn’t disappear on me. I also used a couple self adhesive cable tie mounts I had laying around and attached them to the back of the glove box drawer (see pics below) to keep the cable out of harms way as you open and close the glove box. Nissan even supplies a small black cloth bag to put your iPod in while it attached to protect it in the glove box! It probably also helps keep it from rattling against the hard plastic glove box as well.
After everything was connected, I connected the iPod and switched on the truck. You have to press the “Radio” button a couple times to cycle through till the HU display shows XM. This is the iPod option, and it started to play! I thought it sounded better than the Radio and the MP3 player on this HU. The CDs sound good, but the sound from the Radio is somewhat flat, and the MP3’s tend to have clicks, pops and static between tracks. This sounds just like it would if you had your headphone on listening to your iPod! The Owner’s Manual that comes with the kit does a pretty good job of explaining all the functions and how to use them from the head unit, so I won’t go into a lot of detail there. The steering wheel controls, however, are somewhat confusing, and the manual does not give much of an explanation of how they work. From what I have discovered by playing with it is: The Volume control works just like with any other mode, it adjust the volume! The mode will switch between FM, AM, CD and iPod (except is says XM on the display). The bottom toggle is the tricky one. To change to the next song you have to press it down and hold it for a couple seconds! A quick flick of that toggle will give you the next preset radio station! Quirky, but if you know to press and hold it for the next song, you’ll be okay. Overall, I’m happy with the sound quality and the convenience of having an iPod connection that I can control from the head unit (and somewhat control from the steering wheel), it keeps the iPod hidden and out of sight, and charges the iPod while it’s connected! Here are a couple picture of my iPod Mini connected to the interface, and how I routed the iPod cable. The rest of the installation is just as described in the instructions, and I was racing against an approaching storm and darkness last night, so I didn’t take pics during the installation.
