What kind of stereo harness is this?

[Kimber]

I recently acquired a 2000 NB GLS 1.8 Liter Turbo. The factory stereo came with my car, but it didn't work. My husband removed the stereo to view the existing hardware, and find out what we needed to upgrade to an aftermarket stereo. We purchased a VW harness from a local electronics store, as well as the stereo installation tool in anticipation of purchasing a new stereo, but decided to wait on buying the new stereo to see if the existing radio was usable first. This afternoon he removed the radio to find it wasn't even connected, and a newer looking harness was already installed. We figure the previous owners installed an aftermarket stereo in the past, and when they traded my Bug in, they removed the aftermarket stereo, and put back in the factory stereo, but didn't hook it up because the new harness they installed wasn't compatible. We also found an extra stereo front framing in our glove box, which made us suspect that an aftermarket stereo had previously been in our vehicle. Looking at the pic I took of the existing harness, what type of connector is this? Is it a standard harness? What type of stereo should we be looking for?

Thanks for your help!

Kimber

[Blugg]

Standard connector



I've always taken out the dash to do things with my Radio, much easier to work things out



You used to get the new harness for connecting an aftermarket radio when buying the surround. Can't find any on ebay now though

How to: http://www.evvo.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=9293

[sean_fabanich]

that harnes is brand specific. im not sure which brand it belongs too...but i almost guarentee its an older model and no new aftermarket radios use it.

the previous owner hopefully had it installed properly. which means that if you follow that harness back it is somehow connected( either taped or wire crimped) to similar color wires that run into a large squareish connector. it probably looks like what you went and bought. if not then they hardwired and chopped up the original harnes....if this is the case....sorry.

but if it was done properly then you will see the vw harness that you recently bought already connected to that brand specific harness. just pull out the harness and disconnect the 2 or 3 harness that go into the squarish connector. then take it outta the car and simply cut the brand specific part of what you removed off and connect it to your new radio harness. you should be able to take the vw harness you just purchased back.

its pretty simple...

taking off the whole dash like suggested is not neseccary...however i suggest it as well...when you take it out...(on the back half of it)cut out all the stupid plastic that was just there to support the orginal radio.....its very flimsy plastic and just gets in the way of the new harness sliding back into the radio. u wont need it anyways. as i think its more there as a product of the cast molding then anything.

if your smart youll buy a radio.....pioneer, kenwood, or alpine; that has a feature called hpf or high pass filter...also known as a crossover. it will help prevent blowing out your door speakers...and flat out sound better. if you wanna spend a lil more then get one with whats called time correction...it really makes a huge improvement in sound quality.

alot of radios are very deep when counting the heat sync...you want air space around that heat sync. if you dont have it...you stand a good chance of burning up your new radios amplifier sooner then later. if you buy the brands i suggested it shouldnt be an issue...jensens and duals and phaselinear tend to have this issue of being deeper...so steer clear...unless you want the radio not seat properly...or have to do some modification to internal of the dash...or just sound crappy cause they are crappy brands.

anyways.

good luck

[macdave]

That looks like a Clarion connector, hopefully it plugs into the VW plug pushed back in the dash somewhere.


Metra Electronics - Clarion Plug

[Kimber]

Thank you so much for the wonderful and helpful input! Thanks for pointing us in the right direction. I know it will help a lot!

I think we'll be doing some stereo shopping this weekend!