Neil350
04-04-2015, 08:05 PM
Years ago I had a Pioneer head unit with a PAC box for the steering wheel controls. Every time you shut the battery off it would lose programing and you had to go through the sequence of reprogramming it. Needless to say, I got tired of it and put a regular LS1 era Monsoon head unit in. The volume knob never worked right but the steering wheel controls worked with out having to mess with a PAC box so I was happy. Recently I replaced the speakers in my TA with Focals, I had some older speakers in that were budget to say the least. A few stopped working, lose connectors, etc. The Focals distorted pretty bad at mid range. Decided to go with a new head unit, apparently a double din head unit is a lot cheaper now than they were 10+ years ago. Any case, I read that the Axxess modules retain programming so I wanted to give it a try.
Wiring:
Just like any other module, it taps power from the radio harness as well as ground, and taps in to the factory steering wheel control wire. I believe for a F-body it was the number 3 wire on the axxess module. Most are unused. You have an aux jack that doesn't go to the aux on the pioneer head unit. It goes to the WIFR port.
Programming
I had it in to the aux jack and couldn't get it to program. I called the tech help and they said use the WIFR port, did that and followed the auto program sequence and the thing worked.
Testing
I killed the battery switch and turned it back on, still retained programming. Killed the battery switch for a week and it still retained programming.
Overall
If you want to keep steering wheel controls with an after market head unit, this is the way to go. The retained memory is really nice. Cost wise they're about the same price as the PAC and you can get them all over the internet.
Sidenotes:
I have an 00-02 ebony wheel in my car, the 93 wheel is long gone. If you have a 93 and want to convert to a later wheel you need to rewire the radio controls from the harness side. They sell these because I imagine thieves are just going to cut the factory wiring to get your radio. To keep steering wheel controls and use a later radio, you need to repin the steering wheel control wire to the main radio harness plug in the spot the later cars had it in. The 93s had a separate plug for the radio controls. If you have a 93-94 wheel, not sure because the 94s had the later radios. Might be science project.
Wiring:
Just like any other module, it taps power from the radio harness as well as ground, and taps in to the factory steering wheel control wire. I believe for a F-body it was the number 3 wire on the axxess module. Most are unused. You have an aux jack that doesn't go to the aux on the pioneer head unit. It goes to the WIFR port.
Programming
I had it in to the aux jack and couldn't get it to program. I called the tech help and they said use the WIFR port, did that and followed the auto program sequence and the thing worked.
Testing
I killed the battery switch and turned it back on, still retained programming. Killed the battery switch for a week and it still retained programming.
Overall
If you want to keep steering wheel controls with an after market head unit, this is the way to go. The retained memory is really nice. Cost wise they're about the same price as the PAC and you can get them all over the internet.
Sidenotes:
I have an 00-02 ebony wheel in my car, the 93 wheel is long gone. If you have a 93 and want to convert to a later wheel you need to rewire the radio controls from the harness side. They sell these because I imagine thieves are just going to cut the factory wiring to get your radio. To keep steering wheel controls and use a later radio, you need to repin the steering wheel control wire to the main radio harness plug in the spot the later cars had it in. The 93s had a separate plug for the radio controls. If you have a 93-94 wheel, not sure because the 94s had the later radios. Might be science project.