[drag79stang]

If a person was thinking about installing an aftermarket radio/cd player in his 2002 beetle, is there a difference in the stock radios, and the monsoon radio harnesses?

 

[D2Beetle]

Yes, they are, the Monsoon system uses an amp, the others do not. You might want to read this thread, it might be helpful.

 

[alg]

Before you do anything with the stock radio, please be aware that it can go into a mode where you have to enter a code to make it work. And, when you do not have the code, there are other things in the car that will no longer work.

A friend tried to replace his monsoon (w/o CD) with a newer Alpine system and got into a huge mess with the stock radio.

It was also a bear to find any speakers that would fit in the stock spaces. The ones that do fit are fairly thin and don't sound very good when you go Full-Metal Alpine Amplifier crazy.

He had to go to a dealer to get something done with the stock radio, and it ended up being re-installed and the Alpine was mounted under the dash.

When I wanted to add a System I actually added it to the car without touching the stock radio or speakers.

You can run a power wire from the battery into the back of the dash on the drivers side to get 12v into the car for the new radio. Do not try to hook anything to the 12v behind the stock radio or you may find the wires cannot handle the load.

Drop us some more questions if you need any assistance.

 

[Jeff2]

Before you do anything with the stock radio, please be aware that it can go into a mode where you have to enter a code to make it work. And, when you do not have the code, there are other things in the car that will no longer work.

I replaced the stock radio in our '05 NBC with an aftermarket Pioneer unit and it was fine (the stock radio had a broken CD player and it was draining the battery). The only issue I'm aware of is related to the k-line (Ross-Tech: VCDS: Afterrmarket Radio Problem). The problem there is quite simply not wiring up the aftermarket harness correctly. You should not need to keep the stock radio in the car.

 

[drag79stang]

all done

Took about an hour and a half to install the Pioneer stereo in my beetle today.
LOTS of cuts/abrasions on my hands from all the nice sharp metal parts inside the dash, but it's a done deal.
Hardest part was stuffing the 10 lbs of **** into the 5 lb. hole behind the stereo.

Wire install/kit was a cakewalk.
Sounds great. Looks acceptable. (most of the blood wiped off). :>)

Thanks for all the words of advice.

 

[Jeff2]

We've been quite happy with the Pioneer in our '05 NBC. Hope you enjoy yours!

 

[D2Beetle]

... Wire install/kit was a cakewalk.
Sounds great. Looks acceptable. (most of the blood wiped off). :>) ...

lol

 

[teyoung2000]

No Sound after Market Boss 752uab stereo

Problem is, no audio, power is good, I pulled radio to clean up the install from previous owner apparently I did not rewire this thing correctly, not sure. New boss speaker installed old ones dry blown, I soldered all the connections except unsure where the blue wire goes from the vehicle after hardness to the stereo connection. I assume the blue wire goes to the Antenna please look at the photo and tell me what I have wrong.

 

[Diablo760]

all done

Took about an hour and a half to install the Pioneer stereo in my beetle today.
LOTS of cuts/abrasions on my hands from all the nice sharp metal parts inside the dash, but it's a done deal.
Hardest part was stuffing the 10 lbs of **** into the 5 lb. hole behind the stereo.

Wire install/kit was a cakewalk.
Sounds great. Looks acceptable. (most of the blood wiped off). :>)

Thanks for all the words of advice.

Did you have to swap the red and yellow wire or leave them matched? Having issue with my 02 Turbo S. Cleaned all the wiring up from previous owner (twisted wires wrapped in tape) and saw somewhere that the switched power needs to be swapped with the constant.