Android Auto install

I spent yesterday pulling the old MP3 CD player out of the Bug and installing a 7-inch Android Auto head unit with a pair of 4-inch speakers.

The good news: it works.

The bad news: it’s stuck at 90% complete and I had to walk away.

What I started with

The previous owner had installed an aftermarket MP3 CD player at some point. When I pulled it out, I found a rats nest of spliced wiring behind it — the kind where you can’t tell what’s intentional and what’s just leftover from three different head unit swaps.

I cut it all out and started fresh.

The install

I clipped the wires, stripped them, and soldered the new Android Auto adapter to the factory plug. No crimp connectors. No butt splices. Just solder, heat shrink, and electrical tape.

The new unit slid into the dash (but didn’t click in), the speakers sat in the styrofoam half-box it came in, and when I plugged it in, Android Auto loaded on the first try. I connected my phone. Google Maps came up. Music played through both speakers.

For about ten minutes, it felt like a finished project.

What’s broken

Two things are keeping this at 90%:

1. The head unit won’t turn off.

The previous owner jumpered the 12V constant wire to the ignition input wire. That means the head unit thinks the ignition is always on as long as the battery is connected. It never goes to sleep.

I need to trace the actual ignition wire back through the harness and connect it properly. I haven’t done that yet.

2. The DIN latch won’t catch.

The head unit slides into the dash opening but the spring clips that hold it in place won’t engage. These clips are notoriously finicky, so I need to mess with them for a while. Either way, the unit sits loose in the dash. I would hate for it to fall out.

I could fix both of these in an hour or two. But I’ve been putting off the full high-voltage bench test for weeks now, and I need to move on to that before I lose momentum.

90% complete is the worst kind of complete

It works. It’s installed. But it’s not done.

The head unit stays on when I disconnect my phone and walk away. The DIN cage is not solid. Every time I look at it, I see the two things I didn’t finish.

I know I’ll come back and fix it eventually. As always. But right now, I need to let it sit at 90% and move on to the next thing.

That’s where this project is: working but not finished. Installed but not done. Good enough to use, not good enough to stop thinking about.

I’ll circle back after the HV bench test.