Replacing my MK II Superb's Columbus head unit with a Pioneer AVH-Z9200DAB

[DougT]

(I'll upload some more pics at some point)

 

https://www.pioneer-car.eu/uk/products/avh-z9200dab

 

Et voila! It works! Warning, long rambling read! Moral of story, check what you already have before buying the bits to adapt it.

 

Firstly, thanks to this forum I’ve managed to learn lots of things that have been applicable to this little project. So thanks for all the info! I’m going to share what I learned in the hope it helps someone else later on. I’ve never installed a car stereo in a car this modern before so it was a bit of a learning curve, trial, error and a bit of luck.

 

I bought the car with a factory installed Columbus Nav/Stereo unit (3T0 035 680 A). At first it seemed pretty good, but I quickly discovered it lacked DAB, USB, wouldn’t play lossless audio files from the SD card or internal hard disk, and even though it was equipped with bluetooth I couldn’t connect my iPhone to it.

 

My colleague was selling his van and offered me his pretty s****y Pioneer head unit for a decent price (although the only cables he gave me were the microphone, the GPS, antenna, USB cables, and a damaged DAB antenna) he said if I couldn’t get installed he’d have it back! I checked Pioneer’s website and found that it would be compatible with the right adapters and a fascia kit!

 

I went to a local car stereo install shop to buy the right bits.

 

Fascia kit with mounting brackets. [Connects2 CT24VW12https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CT24VW12# ]

An ISO to QuadLock harness with Steering Wheel control conversion interface box. [Connects2 CTSSK002.2 and Universal patch lead https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CTSSK002.2 ]

A DAB windscreen antenna. 

A twin Fakra to ISO and DIN FM antenna adapter. [Connects2 CT27AA179https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CT27AA179 ]

 

I also had to buy a Pioneer Power/speaker ISO harness from eBay because it didn’t come with the head unit. [https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225423890954 ]

 

I’d already found how to remove the Columbus head unit before I went shopping for adapters and stuff. I followed a YouTube vid, and I turns out it’s pretty easy. You just need a flat bladed screwdriver (preferably a well used one with rounded-off corners so as not to scratch your fascia/dashboard), and a torx T20 screwdriver.

 

You prize the outer fascia off by inserting the screwdriver from the left or right hand edges, and it just pops out. There is an airbag light at the bottom of this bit of fascia which YOU SHOULD NOT UNPLUG from it’s cable (doing so and then tuning on the ignition will give you an airbag warning that will be a pain to reset). Instead I noticed there are clips that secure the whole light unit to the fascia, the clips are on the far edges of the light on the back of the fascia. Release these clips and you can get the fascia out the way without needing to unplug the light.

 

 

 

Unscrew the four T20 bolts from the corners of the Columbus, and it lifts right out.

 

Make sure the ignition is off, maybe even take the key out. Unclip the QuadLock from the back left of the Columbus, slightly fiddly if your QuadLock cable is as short as mine as you have to pull the lever down before you can pull it out. I’m sure there’s plenty of guides on YouTube for this too.

 

Unclip the Fakra antennas, pull the tab out and push gently down to unlatch.

 

So, I’d got the Columbus out, and I’d bought some bits. Time to start plugging stuff in and checking the Pioneer stereo works.

 

The cables in the ISO harness I’d bought from eBay (a Genuine Pioneer AVIC Power Wire, Harness, Loom, Wiring, cable CDP1545 CDP-1545 so the listing said) have some clearly optional cables as part of it, (green, pink, purple) and a red and yellow wire that need to be connected.

I plugged in the red, yellow, pink and purple ones to their corresponding sockets in the ISO to QuadLock harness. I didn’t plug in the green “Parking brake” cable.

I plugged in the Fakra adapter, the double only, into the double Fakra plug and the other end into the DIN antenna socket on the back of the Pioneer.

I plugged the ISO harness into the ISO to QuadLock adapter, one end of the the Universal patch lead into the WR minijack socket on the back of the Pioneer and the other end into the Interface box.

I plugged the Interface box into the cable on the ISO to QuadLock harness.

 

I put the key into the ignition and turned it. Did the head unit power up? It made a whirring noise, so probably. Did the screen come on or any sound come out the speakers? No!

 

Back to the drawing board!

 

It was because I hadn’t connected up the parking brake cable, but what’s the point of having a head unit with a screen that can display your phone satnav if you can only see the screen when the handbrake is on?

 

After a bit of searching I found that if you splice the parking brake cable to the black earth wire the screen will stay on. 

 

Did that, plugged in, turned key, screen came on! Bingo!

 

Not quite. No sound was coming from speakers. The unit seemed to be functioning normally, I was even able to change the volume level, but nothing from the speakers at all. This one took a lot of head scratching, trial and error, testing wires for continuity, realising the pins in my ISO to QuadLock harness didn’t quite match the pins of the car’s QuadLock plug. I was reading the forum looking for info and came across a thread talking about Skoda Sound System, which showed a picture of the speaker grill on the front doors which looked the same as, or very similar to mine. It led me to discovering I had a factory installed amp as part of my setup.

 

I still didn’t know why there was no sound coming from the speakers, but I did know, as the amp and speakers worked perfectly well with the Columbus head unit installed, which meant the speaker cables from the QuadLock plug to the amp worked (although I continuity tested all the cables from the QuadLock plug to the amp plug anyway). I could only deduce the amp wasn’t powering up with the Pioneer installed. I wasn’t able to find much info on the amp I have, it’s a Blaupunkt 10CH amp with 3T0 035 456 on the label, so I got back in touch with the car stereo installers who sold me the parts. I told them what I’d found out and they agreed I had the wrong adapter. They recommended another, slightly more expensive one [InCarTec 49-VW-02], which I bought and returned the other one for a refund. It does the job!

 

Next I had to install the DAB windscreen antenna, the GPS antenna on the dashboard close to the windscreen, and the mic.

 

The mic was pretty easy, as the fascia part I bought had a little grill at the bottom so I stuck it in there. No need for any cable routing there.

 

The DAB and GPS antenna were a bit more effort, but not that bad. I needed a wire coathanger, a torch, some insulation tape, something to clean the windscreen with and a flat bladed screwdriver.

 

I saw on here somewhere how to pop the passenger side windscreen A-pillar trim off, think the post was for a MK III but it’s basically the same. Start pulling from under the door rubber seal, then there are two plastic stand-offs with metal sprung clips, you can pop the top one out with a lever of some sort, I used the screwdriver, then pull the piece of trim upward and it should come off. 

 

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/291482-a-pillar-trim-removal/

 

I also popped the trim off the side of the glove compartment, allowing me to poke the coat hangar through behind and into the recess the head unit and pull the cables through.

 

I offered up the DAB antenna to see where I’d be attaching the earth strip to the A-pillar, scraped some of the paint off where it was going to be stuck, cleaned and dried it, and the windscreen with some isopropyl alcohol before sticking it in place.

 

https://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/pioneer-an-dab1-glass-mount-dab-digital-car-radio-aerial-antenna.html

 

The GPS antenna cable was routed between the dash and windscreen, and along toward the passenger side where it could be pulled through with the DAB cable. The antenna stuck down to the space between the vents with a small piece of nanotape (brilliant stuff).

 

Tidied up the wires, reattached the trim, harder than getting it off.

 

I also disconnected the Bluetooth module under the driver’s seat, as it’s no longer being used.

 

It all works very well.

 

The InCarTec cable displays the reversing sensor info in the white display when Audio is selected instead of MFI, but tbh, I don’t rely heavily on the visual parking guides.

 

There is another adapter cable which looks like it would put the parking sensor info on the screen of the Pioneer head unit, but it was too expensive for me at £169.99 https://connects2.com/Product/Search?searchPartnumber=CTUSK01

 

Things I'd like to do next:

Connect the minijack AUX input under the central console armrest to the AUX-IN in of the Pioneer, should be fairly simple as there are connections for it in the now unused part of the car QuadLock plug.

Connect the mics near the interior light to the mic in of the Pioneer, if it’s possible. I can see that there are mic connections in the car’s QuadLock plug. I don’t know what kind of mic they are, or how the three of them would mix into a single mic signal yet.

Re-route the USB cables under the central console armrest. Will be tidier that having them in the glovebox.

 

 

 

Edited 14 July, 2023 by DougT
Adding photos