C5 Metra XSVI-2004 Pioneer MVH-P8200BT - Completed how-to- [now with pics]
 

I just finished installing a single DIN Pioneer MVH-P8200BT with the Metra XSVI-2004 adaptor kit. I used a Maptech bezel.

BLUF= the install was very easy—It was truly a plug-and-play setup. I retained all of the original Bose speakers, amps, subs, wires and factory connectors. I did not have to cut/splice or solder a single wire in the car. Everything powered up as advertised the first time and it sounds great. RAP still works. The car is a 2003 Vert. [NOTE 1]. Here are the details:

Attachment 48155284

1. Connect the Metra Harness to the Pioneer Harness. The Metra directions are sparse but the EIA color codes match PERFECTLY to the pioneer wires. These are the wires you connect: a. 8 speaker wires (colors matched exactly), b. Red to Red (accessory power) c. Yellow to Yellow (battery/constant power) d. Black to Black (ground) e. Orange to Orange/White (illumination) f. Blue/White to Blue/White (amp turn on/remote on) I used solder connections and double heat shrink. All this was done on the work bench.

Attachment 48155285

2. Fit the mounting sleeve to the Maptech bezel. This took a little more time than I expected as I had to remove 1/16” top and bottom and about 1/8” on each side. In the end the fit was tight/perfect. Bend the appropriate tabs on the sleeve to secure it.

Attachment 48155286

3. Disconnect the negative cable from the battery

4. Remove the waterfall, center console, driver side knee panel and radio bezel IAW the previously posted sticky.

Attachment 48155287

5. Unplug and remove the stock H/U and place it in your recycle bin!

6. Unplug and remove the HVAC and put it on you workbench. (I did the dim HVAC fix IAW the sticky at this time—worked like a champ and only took ten minutes)

7. Next you will have to remove the stock radio bracket (the one the radio sits on). I used a 90 degree drill to remove the four rivets. Make sure to stuff some shop towels in the area and use a vacuum while drilling to catch the metal shavings.

Attachment 48155288

Attachment 48155289

Attachment 48155290

8. Test the system: plug the Metra harness to stock connectors C1, C2 and C4 (they only fit one way, so there is no way to screw this up…) [NOTE 2]

Attachment 48155291

9. Plug the other ends of the Metra Harness into the silver Metra box and the new Pioneer H/U.



10. Reconnect the battery. Turn the key ON for 30 seconds and then OFF to initialize the XSVI.

11. Turn the key to ACC and turn on the radio. Check the functions of the H/U. Try various volume settings on AM/FM/USB/SD card and see how it sounds. If you need to adjust the XSVI box to get more/less from the Woofers now is the time (I did not have to adjust at all and just used the default settings)

Attachment 48155292

12. If everything is working, turn the key off and unplug the radio.

13. Next you need to tuck the black and silver boxes behind where the HVAC sits. There is plenty of room and you can use a couple of zip ties to secure them. Make sure air can move around the silver box. If you are using an optional iPod cable, Satellite or HD radio receiver now is the time to place them behind the HVAC and run the cables/antenna connectors.

14. Use the supplied bracket and double-sided tape to mount the microphone on top of the steering column. Tuck the wire on top of the steering column, around the top of the ignition switch and thru the radio bracket.

15. Bolt the Maptech bezel in the using the stock screws/location.

16. Pull the H/U connector AND microphone wire thru the bezel from back to front.

17. Reconnect and reattach the HVAC unit—double check that the Metra boxes are where you want them and that there is enough play in the H/U cable.

18. Run the long light green wire from the H/U thru the bezel from front to back. Route this wire behind the HVAC and thru the center console area to the parking brake.

19. Slide the H/U into the bezel until the mounting tabs on the sleeve click and secure it. Make sure not to pinch and wires or unplug the microphone cable.

20. Use the supplied connector to clip the light green wire to the tan/white wire from the parking brake switch. (I shortened the wire and repositioned the wire clip)

Attachment 48155293

21. Turn the key to ON, power up the radio and make sure everything still works. Now is the time to check video playback. Remember, the lawyers at Pioneer have designed the thing such that you have to “double clutch” the parking brake to enable video mode. [NOTE 3]

22. Replace the center console, knee panel, stock bezel and waterfall.

23. Prepare to enjoy your new system—sorry no cassette deck!

http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...ette_radio.jpg

NOTE 1: as guys on the forum helped me figure out, the Vert’s power antenna does not need a 5V source to power the amp. If you have a Coupe, you may have to supply 5V to “the pink wire on the driver side pillar” to get good reception.

NOTE 2: for you experts, the Metra harness pinout is: C1 pins 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10. C2 pins 17, 18, 19, 20. C4 pins 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

NOTE 3: if you hook the parking brake wire to a constant source, the radio will not turn OFF even with the key in your pocket and video will not work. You could probably use a constant 12V source and a small toggle switch tucked away somewhere to bypass the parking brake switch—follow all local laws, codes, customs, practices and procedures and don’t run with scissors.

Update
 

After two weeks I ended up needing about 1/6th of a turn on the 4 pots the silver Metra box to get the subs just right. Put slightly more in the rear speakers. Everything sounds/works great. Gotta love having 1000 songs on an SD card.

u are supposed to ground the parking break not give it a constant source

The 8200BT unit connects to the positive side of the parking brake circuit--from the manual:
"Light green, used to detect the on/off status of the parking brake. This lead must be connected to the power supply side of the parking brake switch"
The tan/white wire works as advertised. I added this note to my write-up because other guys had problems where they could not get video enabled H/U to turn OFF--this may be where they had problems

that really doesnt make sense to me but ok... its also early in the day for me

Hope you don't mind my reviving this thread but I'm about to install a Clarion NX500 in my C5 using the Metra Axxess XSVI-2004 adapter, similar to what you did. I noticed in your description that you hooked up the orange to orange/white wires. I assume that the orange wire (Illumination) from the Metra was used and the orange/white was the receiver? I also assume you did not use the orange/white (dimmer) wire from the Metra? Since your receiver is a bluetooth unit, did it have a brown wire called "Phone interrupt". If so where did you hook it up to? My instructions are poor and I am not really sure what the purpose of this wire is, and have no idea where to hook it up.

Thanks,

Phil

Phil,
It's just like the writeup said. There was no "brown" wire on the Pioneer. It does mute the music when the phone rings. PM me and I'll send some photos of the harness on the bench after I wired it.
Gunner

now with pics
 

original post now has pictures added

I am trying to install a new head unit (a Sony) using the Metra Axxess XSVI-2004. Although I wired it as best I could to the very poor documentation that came with the Metra unit, I cannot get it to work on accessory power - it has constant power all the time and can only be turned on/off via the head unit's on/off switch. Correspondingly, the RAP feature does not work.

Any suggestions? Any help would be appreciated.

K9Leader
1999 C5 Convertible

K9,
It sounds like the accessory (RED) and constant 12V (YELLOW) are reversed.
The EIA color codes match PERFECTLY to the pioneer wires. These are the wires you connect: Red to Red (accessory power) c. Yellow to Yellow (battery/constant power) d. Black to Black (ground) e. Orange to Orange/White (illumination) f. Blue/White to Blue/White (amp turn on/remote on)

No, the red and yellow are okay - Crutchfield tech support had me re-do the initialization of the Metra unit. The Metra instructions just say to turn ignition to on, wait 30 seconds, then turn off and you're done. Crutchfield added in some key steps - open door, get in car, close door, wait for car to go back to sleep, then do the 30 second thing. This worked and the RAP works.

My problem now is that the subwoofers have no bass. The Metra unit's digital line converter (the box with the potentiometers) does not appear to be getting power - the power light does not come on and no bass. The blue/white wire from the HU harness is labeled Amp REM. There is a blue/white wire from the Metra harness but I hooked that to the blue Power Antenna wire from the HU harness - there is no blue wire from the Metra harness. At the time, I did not realize that the Metra digital line converter takes the place of an amp so I left the blue/white wire unconnected. I've tried patching the HU blue/white wire into the Metra harness' blue/white (along with the antenna and which connects via the connector to the Pin #8 dark green wire in the OEM harness) with no luck. I also tried connecting the HU blue/white wire into the red accessory power wire but, again, nothing.

I've seen some postings suggesting that I need to reset everything - disconnect everything and then disconnect the battery for at least 10 minutes, then reconnect battery and try the install of everything again. But, even if I do that, I am not clear to where do I connect the HU blue/white wire? To the Metra harness blue/white? Directly to the dark green wire at Pin #8 of the OEM harness? Or to the red accessory power wire?

Or do I just have a bad interface unit and should get Crutchfield to send another one? I note that all of the other comments and all the pics I've seen online for the Metra XSVI-2004 show the digital line converter as a silver box and the one I have is black and has the potentiometers arranged differently, so is probably an updated model.

Any thoughts?

OK,
I think you are almost there: Make sure blue/white connects to blue white. You have a VERT, right, so leave the BLUE from the H/U DISCONNECTED for now. [I don't think it is needed]. Make sure that you have connected the parking brake ["safety"] wire if req'd. Next, disconnect everything and then go thru the 30 sec turn on sequence. I don't ever remember seeing the LED on the silver box light up, so don't worry about it. Finally, if you have sound and RAP, then CAREFULLY adjust the POTs on the silver box (no more than 1/16 of a turn at once!!) to get BASS.
Good Luck and keep us updated.
Gunner

Okay, it is a problem with the Metra unit. The harness that plugs into the OEM harness is bad. I did manage to get the bass working by doing a reset by disconnecting the battery, initializing again, and connecting everything up. I spliced the blue/white amp wire from the HU into the blue/white wire in the Metra harness (that was already being used for the the blue power antenna wire from the HU) and . . . success . . . sort of.

While I got bass, when I went to push all the wiring and connections into the cavity and lifted the HU into place, I lost the bass. Pull it back out and the bass was back, push it all in and the bass would go away. It appears to be a bad connection in the Metra harness either in from the HU or out to the digital line converter box. Anyway, Crutchfield has a new one on the way to me. So I should be able to try it all again in a couple of days.

K9Leader

When I first hooked it all up, I left the power antenna blue wire disconnected and the antenna did not power up, so I think that it does have to be connected. Anyway as you can see by my last post, it appears to be a bad harness on the Metra unit.

Thanks for your help, I would still be flailing around if not for the wisdom of those on these forums.

K9Leader

Hi so mine has a black box The cable that's wired to stereo itself has one loose end does that go to input side ?

Huh? Just what is your question? What black box? What cable? What input side? Add a little bit of specific detail and guys will try to help you out.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchfield.com/ImageHandler/fixedscale/400/300/products/2011/26/120/x120SVi2004-o_front.jpeg

Mine looks like this link above.
I have wired my Sony stereo wiring harness to the cables of main harness like posted above. My kit came with a second cable and the black box with the gains you adjust. I don't know what to do next if I just plug in the big harness stereo plays but no base coming out of doors. The extra cable kit came with doesn't fit any of my connections in the vette its a 98 a4 with bose system thanks hope this helps

OK, Here is the deal. Read my writeup again. Where I refer to the "Silver box" you have the "Black box". If I am deciphering what you mean by extra cable, you need to look for a matching (male/female) cable from the car harness--you will then disconnect the two connectors from the car harness and put your cable between them. The beauty is--these cables ONLY fit in one place, you can't screw it up. Good luck,
Cheers

After speaking with metra they came to a conclusion that the box I got was miss packaged from factory so my extra cable was incorrect I'm waiting on replacement from them thanks for your help guys

Issue with XSVI2004 part number
 

Ordered the correct kit by year on Amazon, console is correct but the XVSI 2004 is incorrect for the car. Harness plugs don't match and it comes with a steering wheel adapter....waiting