Any upgrades to do for the old radio head unit on the Volvo's?

jakebvrs · Post by **jakebvrs** » 09 Jul 2021, 19:30

I've been driving this 2001 Volvo V70 2.4T. Beautiful and fast car don't get me wrong but I couldn't stop hating on the stereo header and all of the nobs. It's so outdated and i was just wondering if i could get by an apple CarPlay display and plop it in my car. If anyone knows anything more about this please let me know!! I just wanna know what i would need, all the sizes and if its worth it. Thank you all so much!!!

SkyVolvo · Post by **SkyVolvo** » 10 Jul 2021, 01:05

I'm no expert but I just did something similar with my wife's Honda. My advice, go to Crutchfield.com and look up what's available for your model. They are excellent, and you can buy confidently from them and get all the support you need. Or you can look at the sizes and kits they make for your car and piece the same things together from another supplier if you want.

As for whether it's worth it? Well, if you're in the car a lot and the cost seems reasonable to you, make it what you want it to be.

jakebvrs · Post by **jakebvrs** » 10 Jul 2021, 06:58

Hey thank you so much for the reply!!! Just one more question before i do more research , any ideas if i’ll lose my steering wheel button uses like volume up and down or anything else ?

SkyVolvo · Post by **SkyVolvo** » 10 Jul 2021, 08:03

Actually you should be able to connect those wires into the harness as well. I don't know if you'll run into any Volvo-specific peculiarities but your new head unit should include steering wheel control wires to splice in (or it may require an additional wiring harness - again, Crutchfield should have what you need).

Since you'll be splicing the new unit's harness to an adapter harness that plugs into the existing one, you might want to buy a set of posi-twist wire connectors. Quick, solid connection and dead simple to use.

Crutchfield sells them, although I got mine on Amazon.

Posi-Products Posi-Twist Wire Connectors 18-26 gauge https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I1PFD4Y/re ... 9RKGPH0HSP

Post by **scot850** » 10 Jul 2021, 09:17

The recommendation of Crutchfield is a good one. Not cheap but have a wide variety of stuff and I found them helpful with advice.

However, just checking. This is the P80 chassis threads for cars made to 2000 MY (except the C70 to 2004). I suspect you have a P2 chassis first year as it has a 2.4T model.

One of the moderators may be able to move this thread to the correct section where you may get more hits on your model for advice.

I also have an 03 Toyota V8 4Runner. When I got it, it had a lousy OE JBL head unit. I had a local electronics store swap it out for a Sony unit with back up camera support. The JBL amp in this vehicle is known to not play nice with anything other than JBL but they got it to work fine and also got it to work with the steering wheel buttons. That is programmable from the head unit to which button is used for what as well as the hands-free phone capability.

Good Luck!

Neil.

Post by **FireFox31** » 11 Jul 2021, 21:37

Years ago, I found the USA Spec PA11-VOL iPod adapter for a P2 2004 XC70. It's a white box which mounts behind the glove box, converting the iPod output to Volvo CD Changer input. It retained the radio and steering wheel control and song changes were emulated as CD track changes. No wire cutting and splicing was required.

All that is old tech now, but the point is that someone made an Apple audio adapter which interfaced with the P2 CD changer port. A similar one may exist for Car Play, perhaps even by USA Spec. If nothing else, they have a Bluetooth adapter.

Post by **scot850** » 11 Jul 2021, 22:01

There was a brand that sold on Ebay called Yatour I believe. They did a unit for the P80's that included Bluetooth capability. Maybe worth checking if they do one for P2 head units like the HU-850 and similar.

Grom Audio do one I believe. If you check the model number of your current head unit and put in a search for Volvo + HU-XXX + Bluetooth adapter.

Good luck,

Neil.