Fitting new stereo

[karlovy4]

Can anyone help, please? - I'm fitting a new Pioneer unit to my Fabia. After endless struggles, finally managed to get the old one out. The old one locates at the rear with a rubber bung which pushes into a hole in a bracket on the bulkhead. But the instructions for the Pioneer show how I'm meant to attach the unit with a screw bracket at the rear. I can't see how this is possible, and no instructions on this forum or anywhere else mention anything other than getting the cage in place and then pushing the unit in until it clicks in place. And there's no bung or post for one on the back of the new unit.

Is a unit ok fitted without a rear support of some sort - will the cage alone hold it in place, and not let it rattle?

Thanks - appreciate any advice.

[Gobsheene]

Sometimes there can be a threaded metal bar for the back of the head unit that you would screw into the locating hole and it lines up with the recess in the dash.

TBH I've never used one, had 2 different alpines in my car and my wife's Ibiza and not had any issues at all.

As long as the cage has a good tight fit it wont rattle at all

[Blanco]

I just fitted my pioneer tonight mate, no need to fix it to the back. Took all of five minutes to remove old unit and fit new. ( pioneer removal keys fit symphony perfect)

[karlovy4]

Thanks for the advice, & reassuring to learn that it's ok without rear location. Just waiting for the fitting kit to turn up. The Fabia only has the front speakers - I'm wondering if it's one standard loom and the wiring for the rears is already there?

[Oli3000]

If it came with fronts only the wiring for the rear will be absent.

Yes you can screw the metal bar into it as a locating pin, but this is definitely not a requirement.

[Burroughes_Fabia]

If you want to have rear speakers I'd advise you to buy the skoda fabia rear speaker kit, its made by blaupunkt. Search it on eBay, comes with wiring and instructions on how to run.

[karlovy4]

Thanks chaps. £23 for the speakers & wiring sounds reasonable, probably sort that out once I have the unit in and working.

[karlovy4]

All done - thought a couple of tips might be worth recounting. The fitting kit someone here pointed up, £10 on Amazon, is a cheap way to get the antenna 'booster' and a fascia surround. But it also includes a wiring loom that's completely useless. I fitted a relatively basic Pioneer unit and that came with the necessary adapter harness to connect straight to the Fabia loom. The loom in the kit is simply a pin-for-pin extension, terminates in exactly what the Fabia's loom does, and would give you another 20cm of leads and two connectors to stuff in behind the unit in the dash! Gave me quite an extended "Is it me, or..." moment.

Also the fascia surround doesn't slope with the dash, so leaves a small part of the top of the cubby hole exposed.

The Pioneer adapter has a blue antenna power lead which ends in an odd (to me) tiny clip. The antenna booster lead had a bullet end, so both were removed and a joint made. The P adapter also has bullet connectors in the red and yellow leads, so the VAG swap was easy to make.

The fit was extremely tight, good thing as far as rattles etc are concerned, but it does require an amount of faith and shoving. Fortunately sharp metal cage beats softish plastic dash structure, useful, in fact, that the edge of the cage is so sharp. My first reaction was that it would never fit, but the trick is to distort the cage very slightly by lifting one side a mm or two. This makes it a tiny bit narrower, and you can re-straighten it once it's some way into the opening.

With hindsight, I see that the antenna booster alone is available for under four pounds, so it might be worth checking if the Skoda fascia surround has the correct slope and, if so, how much it costs. If it's one of their saner-priced items, it would probably be the better route.

[karlovy4]

If you want to have rear speakers I'd advise you to buy the skoda fabia rear speaker kit, its made by blaupunkt. Search it on eBay, comes with wiring and instructions on how to run.

Do you know where this kit attaches the wiring for the rear speakers - does it involve pulling out the stereo unit, or is there some other junction point?

[Burroughes_Fabia]

Yeah you need to pull the head unit out, wires plug straight into one of the blocks in the back. I removed the glovebox and sill trim, and trim at the side of the back seats to run the wires. Ran both down the passanger side and split the two to each speaker under the seat to the speakers in the boot. It's all explained with pics in the instructions. It's a bit of a fiddle with trim (a few skin pinches to be expected lol) but not too bad of a job :-)

[karlovy4]

Thanks - your advice much appreciated. After a couple of days trying to navigate a Pioneer manual seemingly written by a drunk who 'did' car stereos on a Friday afternoon, it's refreshing reading something clearly written!