JBL owners with aftermarket headunit via idatalink maestro

I miss the physical volume dial, but getting rid of the 1998 Entune system far outweighs losing that for me

 

so ive seen people mention that if you replace the Headunit with a JBL system you lose stuff on the cluster? what exactly do you lose that you wont have any more? I prefer not to lose anything at all.

 

If you don't want to lose anything in the cluster, get a HU with built in GPS and get the STO2 adapter

I have a pioneer 4200nex with no built in GPS, so I lose the turn by turn and compass in the 2018 cluster, everything else works as normal

 

I guess I am confused on what the cluster does? How is GPS any different than just nav?

 

I just ordered the new Pioneer 4400NEX with wireless carplay. Going to use the idatalink maestro RR and a Scosche dash kit. I have read that the Scosche fits better than Metra and AI.

I was also trying to keep the factory head unit, but I'm just about sick of the daily rebooting of the Entune when I have my phone paired on bluetooth, and since I've been thoroughly enjoying my roll-down rear window, the volume (or lack thereof) is getting to me.

I'll post some pics once I get it installed, hopefully next weekend. I plan on doing the armrest wireless charge mod as well, to keep the phone charged while using carplay. I also have a nice JL amp and some Hybrid Audio speakers, JL sub to install, but that's way down the road.

 

The cluster seems to rely on the presence of the factory GPS antenna to display the next turn and compass, whether it's the OEM HU or Maestro. Google maps/waze don't seem to work with it

 

I'm gonna wait until my second set of tweeters gets installed to make my final decision on whether to switch the HU out. I figure just switching HU's should improve sound tremendously. I'm really leaning towards switching it out though.

 

I thought I would miss the volume knob but have not had any issue using the volume buttons on the lower left on the Kenwoods. They look really small in the pictures but because the bottom of the Kenwoods have a little "shelf" at the bottom for those buttons they are really east too use without even looking down.

 

I just installed my

$450 AVH-W4400NEX In Dash Multimedia Receiver with 7" WVGA Clear Resistive Touchscreen Display

AVH-W4400NEX last night, with the Maestro kit. Pretty easy install, minimal wires to connect and the Maestro pretty much takes care of everything. Some stuff is a little quirky, where holding the volume down button automatically mutes, so you can't ramp the volume down quickly. I'll probably re-map that feature. I'm also using an iPod plugged in while using wireless CarPlay, and I've found that I lose song information in the cluster when I get a phone call. I have to change sources, then change back to iPod to get the song info to display. Don't know if that's a Maestro firmware thing or a Pioneer firmware thing. I'm very happy with both units so far. The sound is far better on the new deck, and the wireless CarPlay is awesome!

 

nice job Joe! the Scosche, does look better than the metra kit too

 

so your telling me the cluster shows song info? I am confused. All my Platinum tundra shows in the cluster is like TEMP, miles to empty, fuel economy, miles per gallon, and probably navigation turns (i havent used that part yet). I have not seen any other info display on my gauge cluster area. Am I missing something?

 

What year is your Tundra? Mine is an '18 with the new cluster display. It shows everything you mentioned, but also shows metadata from the audio source. I lost the compass and turn-by-turn directions since the factory JBL had NAV and the Pioneer does not.

 

My tundra is a Platinum 14. JBL.

 

(2015 here) you will not lose any cluster info, EXCEPT, you will lose navigation pop up display...
with entune, your navigation turns would come up in the middle of the instruments on the LCD. When you swap out the HU it will simply not be present. There wont be a blank screen, or incomplete screen, it just wont show Nav when you select over through the options like instant MPG ect. the rest of the options will all be present and function exactly as they would from the factory.

 

well that is not so bad then. I never use that anyway.

 

its not bad at all... the nav mode never even comes up as you cycle through the display so it doesnt feel like anything is missing. if you buy a HU with carplay or android auto, the HU will use its own (or the trucks) GPS antenna. when you plug the phone into the HU (pinoneer has wireless) you'll get navigation right on the headunit, google maps, waze... 10x better than entune... and still retain all of the vehicles customization / configuration settings with the idatalink.

 

The Phoenix HU has a programmable button for nav, had it set up for Google maps but now just have it programmed for Google voice search.

 

right, but he was asking about center dash display and the OE vehicle settings.
Phoenix unit is not going to put turn by turn in middle of dash, and that thing is a disaster.

 

which headunit has waze built in? Thats cool AF! I want that.

 

Not built in, but fully integrated. You can get waze on the HU via Android Auto, and via Apple CarPlay (soon if google allows, but CarPlay w iOS 12 is now open to waze).

 

Hey did any of you guys with tundras that have the parking sonar lose the graphic of which sensor(s) are going off in the instrument cluster after going to an aftermarket head with a Maestro?

 

No it’s all still there

 

Ugh... need some serious help here guys if anyone has seen this before.

Today i installed my new Kenwood DDX-9904S with the idatalink Maestro-RR. I also used the harnesses to keep my factory gps antenna, and my factory USB slot. so i wired up the harnesses and took the old unit out of the truck, and before physically putting the new head unit back into the dash i hooked it all up and tested everything.

it all worked perfectly, sounded excellent, carplay worked like a charm. Even all the vehicle info was showing correctly like the TMPS etc. but then i shut the truck off and the head unit stayed on (a few times.) so i called crutchfield and they said the OBD2 doesn't need to be hooked up in the 2015 Tundra via that 1 wire with the OBD connector. so with everything off, i unplugged the OBD2 connector. Turned the truck on, the radio came on, turned the truck off, the radio shut off. perfect...

except now the vehicle info was gone. No more TPMS, etc. but all the other stuff worked fine, steering wheel controls, usb connector, car play... all of it. so i put together the dash kit and put the radio in it. began to tuck everything back into the dash cavity and sort of dry fit the radio into the dash and connected it all up, and decided to test one more time before putting the bolts back in that hold the radio....

here's when tragedy strikes... the truck and all the interior lights sort of shuddered, the head unit came on, went off, came on, went off and then didn't come on again. AND the truck won't start. it makes a weird electrical groaning noise but the starter wouldn't engage at all, and then it does some weird click click click behind the dash which continues after the key is turned off and pulled out. the cluster stays on dim, the headlights don't come on even tho it says they're on on the dash and it does this for like maybe 15-20 seconds, then there's like a relay click, the dome lights go to full brightness and its just like when you first shut the truck off before you open the door to get out. I seriously cannot figure what happened as literally NOTHING had changed from the first time i had it hooked up to test it, other than the head unit being in the dash kit.

I searched thru a bunch of fuses and couldn't find one blown anywhere... not the one on the radio, not the one on the harness, and i looked in both fuse boxes in the truck... nothing. and i can't get the Kenwood head to come back on so i don't know if that's fried. I definitely know some thing in the truck is fried since i took everything out and put the stock head unit back in so its completely back to stock, and still wont start, head unit gets no power, same clicking noises, etc.

The maestro unit is fine tho because i hooked it to my pc and it was recognized and i was able to reflash it, so i think that thing's fine.

does ANYONE know what i might have done to the truck???? there's no plastic smells anywhere in it, out of it, so i'm out of ideas, and as of now have a 7,100 pound paperweight in my garage!

 

Try getting your battery checked out, I'd guess it got discharged with whatever's causing the headunit to stay on.

Also, it's definitely not supposed to stay on even with the obd2 cable. My 2018 doesn't do it and neither did my 2008 using the same maestro box.

 

Yup, you nailed it dude. i just jumped it and everything came back to life.

All that constant power while i was working on it and not running the engine killed it.

Also I've read that the Pioneer units don't do it but the Kenwood ones do. there's some work around for the kenwoods where you apparently "cut a diode that's on the grey/red wire in the T02 harness where the little 2 pin white plug from the OBD connects to the main harness." it must be buried inside the big cable wrap they have on that section of the main harness. also once i unplugged the OBD connector it stopped with the constant power thing, so its backfeeding thru the connector. So obviously just not connecting the OBD connector results in no vehicle info sent to the head unit, but its unclear whether cutting out that diode has the same effect. supposedly leaving it "open" removes that circuit from the power backfeed. but no one has reported back yet whether the OBD info still makes it through.

 

This is exactly what happened on mine last saturday when it was installed. The OBD plug kept the radio on even with the key out. I just left it unplugged, but plan to tackle it later with crutchfields help. I hope their answer isn't to not hook it up.
OP, I killed my battery too with all the tuning and whatnot and had to jump it.

 

This is the stuff I didn’t miss about aftermarket components.

So I finally got it all back in and have the truck running again, tho now I don’t trust it. Which is a crime cuz Its never been anything but reliable.
So NOWWWWW my passenger window won’t go down. And if
You put it up... it closes and comes back down halfway.

 

I think that is your window regulator going out. I remember reading about that happening here somewhere.

edit: Not window regulator.
This is from a Rav4 forum. Give it a try.

1. Push the auto down button and hold it at the bottom for a few seconds,
2. Push the auto up button and hold it at the top for a few seconds.

This should recalibrate the window's perception of "TOP" and "BOTTOM"
The problem is that after the battery is disconnected the window can switch the top and bottom a bit higher than it actually is, so when you push auto up, the window tries to push the window up a lot more than it has to, (it thinks the top is a lot higher than it actually is) this way, when the window reaches the top and pushes against the door frame, it is perceived as a jam and the window goes down to the 'bottom' to avoid damage. Just follow the steps above and it should reset the top and bottom to where they need to be.

 

Hahaha that’s redonk. But I’ll def give it a try. Weird thing thing is that the down function doesn’t do anything at all. So like when it’s stuck halfway it won’t go down. And when I put it up it’ll ONLY go all the way up. As if I pushed auto up, whether i did or didn’t. But I’ll give er a go. Thanks for the info!

 

Same here... its wired into the harness and the connector is just zip tied above the OBD2 plug.... for now.