Topic: My Vehicular History Thread by DKaz

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Nice Job.  Little things at a time, and you'll eventually have a perfectly sorted truck.

Are you planning on doing something on the piece of body work beneath the grille and headlights that has peeling paint?

I wasn't going to mention that.....that would cause my eye to twitch and sleepless nights lol

I wonder how it would look if you just plasti-dipped it black or something.  Matching the existing paint colour could be hard. 

[Fobroader]

I would clean it up, get some paintable rocker guard and a can of matching paint from Ukranian tire and call it a day. I think that would easily resolve the issue coming back for the life of the vehicle.

[dkaz]

Thanks, they’re new headlights lol. Yea that lower panel will be next, it appears to be plastic.

[dkaz]

Nice job and great pic with the truck/clouds/sky.

Thanks, I just got an iPhone XR and the camera is really good.

[johngenx]

I'd like to get new headlights for the Highlander but I'm too lazy to take the bumper and grill off, so I just polish them occasionally.

[dkaz]

Ouch! It was two screws and three bolts each side.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Nice job and great pic with the truck/clouds/sky.

Thanks, I just got an iPhone XR and the camera is really good.

XR probably cost more than your SUV   

[dirtyjeffer]

Ouch! It was two screws and three bolts each side.

mounting, sure...but did you flush and change the halogen fluid while you had it apart??...you don't want that to fail during a night ride home unless you happen to have darkvision of some sort.

[Firm]

I would clean it up, get some paintable rocker guard and a can of matching paint from Ukranian tire and call it a day. I think that would easily resolve the issue coming back for the life of the vehicle.

Yep, that's what I'd do too. The texture of the rocker guard would hide the imperfect paint match (it's always a shade off).

[dkaz]

mounting, sure...but did you flush and change the halogen fluid while you had it apart??...you don't want that to fail during a night ride home unless you happen to have darkvision of some sort.

Already on it.

XR probably cost more than your SUV   

Lol just about.

[carcrazed]

Nice find!  And great job on the headlights too!

[dkaz]

Grabbed a couple of Sony XAV-AX100 head units that supports CarPlay and Auto, one for each of our vehicles, for $298 each at Visions. Good way to get some 2015 tech into older vehicles. Plus side is that Sony is one of the few units with a rotary volume knob, albeit a bit small. Doesn’t matter on the Mazda 3 with steering wheel controls but the Sequoia has no steering wheel controls.

Also tried to install a backup camera but no luck getting it to turn on yet.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

^^That's a pretty nice upgrade, and one that will make your vehicle a lot easier to live with on a daily basis. 

I wish mine had Android Auto. 

I would have a hard time upgrading the factory head unit to an aftermarket one.  A lot of the vehicle functions are tied to the factory headunit.  You can track fuel economy through the big screen, as well as set a whole bunch of maintenance reminders.  You also set vehicle options like how long you want the headlights to stay on after you shut off the truck, or how long the locks stay unlocked after you press the unlock button (they will lock automatically if you don't get into the truck). 

[tortoise]

That's a great price! Looks like they are now out of stock.

Did the sound quality improve?

I like that it has a volume knob.

[dkaz]

^^That's a pretty nice upgrade, and one that will make your vehicle a lot easier to live with on a daily basis. 

I wish mine had Android Auto. 

I would have a hard time upgrading the factory head unit to an aftermarket one.  A lot of the vehicle functions are tied to the factory headunit.  You can track fuel economy through the big screen, as well as set a whole bunch of maintenance reminders.  You also set vehicle options like how long you want the headlights to stay on after you shut off the truck, or how long the locks stay unlocked after you press the unlock button (they will lock automatically if you don't get into the truck).

I hear Toyota is finally bringing Android Auto support soon, but not sure if it’ll be retroactive like Mazda (for a fee). I wouldn’t hold my breath though since they did not make CarPlay retroactive to older Entune 3.0 models.

I feel like picking up a cheap Android phone like Motorola Moto G6 to try out Auto.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

^^That's a pretty nice upgrade, and one that will make your vehicle a lot easier to live with on a daily basis. 

I wish mine had Android Auto. 

I would have a hard time upgrading the factory head unit to an aftermarket one.  A lot of the vehicle functions are tied to the factory headunit.  You can track fuel economy through the big screen, as well as set a whole bunch of maintenance reminders.  You also set vehicle options like how long you want the headlights to stay on after you shut off the truck, or how long the locks stay unlocked after you press the unlock button (they will lock automatically if you don't get into the truck).

I hear Toyota is finally bringing Android Auto support soon, but not sure if it’ll be retroactive like Mazda (for a fee). I wouldn’t hold my breath though since they did not make CarPlay retroactive to older Entune 3.0 models.

I feel like picking up a cheap Android phone like Motorola Moto G6 to try out Auto.

I would LOVE if it was retroactive, and would probably consider paying.  The Entune 3.0 App for Android (which I need on my phone to have message/audio support between my phone and the truck) is absolutely crap. 

[dkaz]

That's a great price! Looks like they are now out of stock.

Did the sound quality improve?

I like that it has a volume knob.

There’ll probably be other deals on Boxing Day. The screen is resistive as opposed to capacitive so there’s one downside but it’s not an issue for me. The screen is also on the smaller side but that’s the only way they could add the volume knob. The volume knob is tiny so it’s not easy to use with gloves on. Also I haven’t been able to find a way to activate Hey Siri or OK Google if connected to Bluetooth so I’ll be looking into that.

I’m using the stock JBL amplifier which already sounds good so no difference in sound quality. I’m sure there’ll be a noticeable increase in sound quality once I get it in the Mazda however.

[draghon]

Did you need any additional interfaces to get the steering wheel controls to work with the headunit?

Also, you are much braver than I working with plastic trim in cold temperatures.

[tortoise]

Does it need to be plugged in for AA to work, or can it be done over bluetooth?

[dkaz]

Did you need any additional interfaces to get the steering wheel controls to work with the headunit?

Also, you are much braver than I working with plastic trim in cold temperatures.

For the Mazda, I bought a wiring harness that retains steering wheels controls, then for added fine tuning, the settings in the head unit offers customization of buttons and what they do.

The Sequoia was beyond easy to access, two screws and a gentle pull of the panel that includes the HVAC controls.

Does it need to be plugged in for AA to work, or can it be done over bluetooth?

You'll need a wireless Carplay/Auto head unit to use it wirelessly and the cheapest head unit that supports it is $899. I wanted wireless but I didn't think it was worth an extra $600. I'll wait until it comes down in price.

https://www.crutchfield.ca/p_1304400NEX/Pioneer-AVH-W4400NEX.html?search=pioneer_avh-w4400nex&avf=N&skipvs=T