Threading wires to rear of Columbus

[fredfred]

GPS lost the satellites, as seems to happen - garage said the rear fin aerial was broken.

 

I bought the cheap £5 fakra antenna from ebay. It works, ish, but at the moment the antenna is just stuck behind the Columbus and I'm guessing one of the reasons it keeps losing a fix is because it doesn't have fantastic visibility. Where I'm stuck is:

 

(1) how to thread the wire into the rear of the Columbus unit - I can't work out what panels to remove or how to get the wire in there

 

(2) how to remove the trim on the side panel to position the antenna in there. I don't really want it on show on the dash and that seems to be a good position. 

[chimaera]

The A-pillar trim just prises off, but be careful doing it as there's an airbag behind it. I've mounted the GPS antenna for my dash cam in there and it works fine.

 

As for routing to the rear of the Columbus, I'd imagine there's some access from under the steering wheel if you pop off the lower panel that holds the small glovebox in place. It's going to be quite a fiddle to get the wire through though. What occurs to me actually is do a search for people who've done the reversing camera retrofit: that requires running wires along the door sills on the driver's side and around to the back of the head unit through the dash.

[fredfred]

1 minute ago, chimaera said:

What occurs to me actually is do a search for people who've done the reversing camera retrofit: that requires running wires along the door sills on the driver's side and around to the back of the head unit through the dash.

 

Great minds, etc... I had just done that and there seems to be some room to poke a wire up through the driver's side somehow. Might just be worth fiddling around with a wire and see where things go...

[Mully57]

I take it you have taken the Columbus unit out of the dash, when you do right behind it is a metal bulkhead the fakra is magnetic stick it on the top of the bulkhead there is room if your worried about it coming loose stick some duck tape over it. Then just plug it in the back of the unit and screw the unit back in simples did mine over a year ago and it works perfectly.

 

Mully57

[fredfred]

I couldn't find the bulkhead but found that if I attached it to the actual Columbus unit on the top near the back edge of it, I could just about wiggle the Columbus back in under the plastic housing with the antenna staying attached. And it immediately picked up 3-4 satellites and was happy. 

[Mully57]

Put your hand up towards the windscreen you will then feel the bulkhead ,stick the antenna on top there is room , then plug in the lead . Screw the unit back in it really is that easy.

 

[26DIPP]

If you need more room to feed the wire up, just remove the vents and you get straight under the dashboard to place it.