Black box with wire by windshield

There is this black box with a wire on the driver side of the dash on my 2008 sr5 trd off-road. Maybe something to do with the security system? JBL? It has to be factory, so that may narrow it down.

 

How I feel

 

What radio is installed? That looks like the GPS that comes with some aftermarket radios.

 

Stock JBL head unit without navigation. And this was bought new, so no previous owners could’ve done it

 

That was added at some point. Definitely not OEM.

 

Aftermarket GPS or Satellite Radio antenna.

 

2nd the Satellite Radio antenna. I had one years ago when I got Satellite Radio with a vehicle that's radio was not set up for. Ran on an FM radio station that was not in use. Looks exactly the same

 

Maybe satellite. There’s no gps and I bought it new

 

I'm confused lol. So you bought the truck new in 2008 and it's been there since then?

 

Yes.

 

Looks alot like the gps antennae in my 2008 jbl with nav. Mounted on a metal plate just underneath the dash in about that spot.

 

What’s weird is that I don’t have factory nav. Maybe it’s just prewired

 

Probably. The things are dirt cheap, maybe they meant to put a nav unit in then the order got changed.

 

Good possibility

 

It sis pretty loaded up for an sr5. Leather with gel, backup camera, JBL, steering wheel controls, power and dimming rear view mirrors, dual temp A/C, info screen thing on dash, and some other stuff I can’t think of lol

 

I highly doubt that it would have been left like that.

 

Navigation antenna or satellite radio antenna. Since you said the truck does not have navi, I would assume satellite radio.

 

I'm assuming he means that its been underneath the dash since he's had it. Even the metal plate its resting on looks like the mounting plate for the antennae from under the dash (at least as well as I can remember).

 

Looks like the satellite radio antennas we use to install back in the early 2000s in cars

 

OP did you recently pull the dash and find it? Or have you had the truck for 15 years and just finally noticed that? Color me confused also.

If it's the former, I'd guess GPS antenna. All of the 2.5 gens have a GPS antenna even if the head unit doesn't support the factory Nav. I'm guessing that's your situation.

 

I’ve seen it all this time, just kinda looked past it, but got curious lol. Call me a 2.5 gen!

 

Ha! sorry I should clarify - I know you're a 2nd Gen, I was just saying that since all of the 2.5's have the GPS antenna it wouldn't be out of reason to presume that the 2nd Gens did too regardless of head unit.

 

The oddest thing about this pic is the splice.
It's a shielded cable and a bitch to splice.

I can't see this being OEM, it's too sloppy.
A metal plate stuck to the dash and a magnetic satellite or GPS antenna?

Do/did you have a satellite radio, maybe an external unit?
It looks a lot like the satellite radio antennas I used in my work tractor over the years.

Have you ever pulled the HU and seen if the other end is in there?
Ever pull it up and see if anything is written under it?

 

I do have satellite radio. And it does plug into the factory head unit. And as for it being sloppy, maybe they got frustrated, or the truck just took a long time to build. When I pulled the sunglasses holder thing above my head, there where hearts and smiley faces drawn into the roof, and had surface rust on em. Point is, they can be known to be “sloppy” haha

 

100% aftermarket XM or Nav antenna installed by a monkey that gave 0 fucks.

 

To me the most interesting part about this is that you looked at it for 15 years, and then one day suddenly went

 

100% gps antenna from an aftermarket stereo with navigation.

The magnetic plate under it is a dead giveaway.

 

I’m thinking another dealer did this. It was bought in Arkansas, but a dealer in Texas put a few goodies on it

 

That dealer in Texas has been tracking you since 2008.