Can't find size specs

Discussion in 'Car Audio Head Units' started by clueless, Sep 6, 2010.

  1. clueless

    clueless New Member

    Hi all,
    I'm new here and scanned the general info threads but didn't see anything that would hold the info I'm looking for. My apologies if I missed a thread with my answer.

    My hubby has a 1999 VW Jetta TDI (don't know if the TDI makes a difference in radios, but thought I'd include it). The car was bought used and has a POS replaced HU in it. I mean, the face doesn't stay on correctly and the volume control goes crazy because of that! Anyways, I want to surprise him and get him a new HU, but I can't find what size will fit in the car anywhere! Can someone help me??? I'm sure I could go out and measure the current HU, but that wouldn't tell me how deep it could go and it might become a little obvious to him if I'm sitting in the car with a freaking tape measure, ya know?

    So any help you could give me with the size specs would be awesome!

    I have read somewhere that this vehicle has a double harness (is that what it's called???). I saw that on a step by step guide, but then I looked through wire harnesses on AutoToys and saw that the 1999 Jetta hardness was a rather large square. So I didn't know if there were 2 harnesses coming out of the car and they both plugged into the new harness for the HU???

    I also read that the car needed an antenna adapter. I assumed that since the current replacement HU is working with the radio that I will not need one of those. Would I be assuming correctly?

    Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
     
  2. Klinkster

    Klinkster Full Member

    Hello and welcome to the forums!

    If you have questions about what fits your car, follow this link and input your car info. Crutchfield has an extensive database of car radio info and that should give you the info you need.

    http://www.crutchfield.com/app/car/carselector.aspx?lp=/app/Car/MyCar.aspx

    I just checked with what info you gave here and came up with two sizes.

    I don't know anything about VWs, but apparently that year had two different body styles.

    The new body style is:
    6-15/32" depth; Size code E,S,U

    The old body style with out the bose system is :

    6-3/8" depth; Size code E,U

    Find out what your car came with from the factory and enter it on that site and you'll get exact info.

    Those sizes are depths. Both styles is a single din.

    Depth is the only thing you need to know whether or not if it will just pop right in or you have to trim something to make it fit. The Crutchfield advisor(that link) will tell you after you enter the exact info if the radios they offer will fit exactly or need to be modified.

    As for for antenna, it will depend mostly on what radio you buy. Most aftermarket radios i've seen use Motorola style connectors. You stated there is an aftermarket radio in there currently, so you might have the connector you need already.

    What brand and model radio is in there now?

    Any more questions, please feel free to ask :)
     
  3. clueless

    clueless New Member

    Thanks soo much! The car is the new body style, so I was able to find the right size. I have no clue what the car has in it now. It looks like something you can get from Walmart for like $30. The faceplate doesn't stay on it and when the faceplate starts to come off, the volume control either doesn't work at all (you can't change the volume) or the volume works on it's own and either gets super loud or super quiet. Since hubby drives an hour and a half one way to work, I'm sure he'd like to listen to the radio or a cd without the thing having a mind of it's own! :)
     
  4. Klinkster

    Klinkster Full Member

    Chances are that you already have the correct antenna adapter in the car already.

    Keep us posted on how the install goes!
     
  5. clueless

    clueless New Member

    Forgive me if I'm double posting. I thought I posted something here, but it never showed up.

    Turns out the HU in the car is the original. So we will need an antenna adapter. I do know the antenna is a powered antenna and that it's a slanted antenna on the roof. I'm not sure if I'm looking at the correct adapter. Is this the one we'll need?
    http://www.autotoys.com/x/product.php?productid=2296#tabs

    Hubs was thinking of just splicing all the wires together instead of getting a harness, but if we have to buy an adapter I'd rather him just buy the harness thinger and make life easy.

    Thoughts?
     
  6. Klinkster

    Klinkster Full Member

    LOL, I just gave you specific sizes in my above post according the the Crutchfield advisor. :eek:

    You said you have the new body style so your depth dimension is:
    6-15/32" (depth)

    As for height and width, there is two standard sizes. Din and Double Din. (and Shaft, but they haven't been in cars since the 80s)

    Your car has a DIN style.

    I don't think that is the adapter you need. According to Crutchfield, which BTW knows the car stereo business since the early 70s, this is the adapter you need unless you buy some funky brand of HU that doesn't take Motorola antennas.

    http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12040VW54/Antenna-Adapter.html

    The link you posted looks like it has 2 females. You will need a Motorola male to connect to the receiver.

    Crutchfield has also recommended a removal tool like this:

    http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120869001/Universal-OEM-DIN-Radio-Removal-Tools.html

    You may destroy your dash if you try and remove the radio without the proper tool.

    Have you bought a new HU yet? Can you post a link list the brand and model number here for us?

    As for the double harness, I have seen factory radios that have two harnesses(One for power, one for speakers). They usually both will plug into the one aftermarket harness.

    You can splice them together, but I recommend buying the $15 harness. There is no cutting involved and its a cleaner and more secure connection.

    Also, if you hand on your factory radio, you can easily pop it back in when you sell the car if you want to keep your HU for another vehicle.

    If you MUST splice, please don't twist bare wire and tape. You will be destined for failure down the road. Crimp butt connectors at minimum.
     
  7. TE5LA

    TE5LA Guest

    A DIN is a DIN, it's pretty standard. The difference is in all the junk they connect to the back (cables, wires, filters, etc.). Space around the radio is tight so best to look for something without a lot of cables.

    The antenna is electronically amplified and gets its power from the factory head unit through the cable, something an after-market radio can't do. You will need a special antenna adapter that probably looks like a long aluminum tube with a thin blue wire protruding from it. You need to connect that wire to the blue wire on the new radio.

    I hope you don't listen to AM radio because you probably won't pick up much with the new radio. In my experience, this is nearly always the case with VW.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 9, 2010