Radio connections

[Russ59]

Does anyone know if there’s any difference in the connections on the back of the radio between the pre facelift and facelift ??

I’ve been looking at Bluetooth / iPod adapters and they state the connections are from 2005>>

Mines a 2004

[Lexiguy]

Hi Russ

I don't know the answer to your enquiry but could you check the part number for a pre facelift model and post facelift and if there part numbers are the same then it would sound like it would work.

Great looking car mate, it looks terrific in white 👌 

Anthony 

[Russ59]

Anthony,

I contacted Grom about the connections and sent them a picture of the connections on the back of my radio and they said it would fit.

When I installed it following their instruction, it wouldn’t work.

So even though the connections were the same, it wasn’t compatible with my facelift.

It does look nice in white.

I’m having a few issues with it but gradually sorting through them.

 

[Neil E]

4 hours ago, Russ59 said:

Anthony,

I contacted Grom about the connections and sent them a picture of the connections on the back of my radio and they said it would fit.

When I installed it following their instruction, it wouldn’t work.

So even though the connections were the same, it wasn’t compatible with my facelift.

It does look nice in white.

I’m having a few issues with it but gradually sorting through them.

 

Unusual to see one in white, is it a UK car or imported?

I think there are some subtle differences in the wiring looms. There certainly is between the Europe and US cars but I would think it's just a case of getting the radio pin-outs for each model and matching the wires to the Grom connector. If Grom were as professional as Beat-Sonic they would know the answer and help you. The Grom unit appears to use the CD port, did it actually power up?

Search for the pinouts of your head unit model number. It will probably be 86120-24_ _ _ . The early model Pioneer were 24400 or 24420 and I can see in the US they had 86120-24392 

Metra list the same harness for the early and later model SC430 so it appears the Toyota 20 pin connector is the same.

 

 

[Russ59]

Neil, It’s a Uk car.

But sadly finding it’s not been a loved car 😟😟 but I’ll get all the niggles sorted eventually.

The Grom unit powered up but as their instructions to press the CD button to be able to use it through CD player, nothing changed and just wouldn’t work, they even talked me through it over the phone but still no joy, so I sent it back.

My CD player works fine as is, so I wouldn’t have thought my player would have been the issue.

I’ve bought one of the cheap Bluetooth transmitter’s which plugs in the fag lighter socket and it’s fine with my phone, memory stick and iPod. I didn’t really want anything stuck there on show, but hey, for a fraction of the cost of the Grom and it works.

In my other post, I meant to say it wouldn’t work with my PRE facelift.

 

[Neil E]

If it does what you need it to do then I would suggest settling for that. The audio quality of the standard system is pretty good, better than most modern Lexus, it's just not very versatile or convenient by today's standards.

The ML audio and nav system in the SC430 is one of the most tricky to work with. For the best options and least compromise, I would suggest the expensive Beat-Sonic interface and a new double din unit is the way to go. Not cheap or for the feint hearted if installing yourself.