Success!
As promised, here's a report on my XM install experience....
For starter, I ordered PriusXM and not from Coastal (because no one ever answered my phone call or email). The PriusXM came with an instructional DVD (and a few pages of instructions) of which Jon from PriusXM walks you through every step of the process. I had watch that DVD once last night, and felt confident to tackle the task today -- the running time on the DVD was around 40min with scenes shorten to eliminate the obvious....so that told me not to expect to finish the task in an hour.
After all said and done, it took me approx. 1hr 45min from beginning to end. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 easy, 10 requiring a rocket scienist), I would put the install at a 5. It was time consuming, but not difficult. And it CANNOT be rushed!
Here are a few things that I've learned:
- Most of your "pain" will come from removing the vent panels from the dash. I would say at least 10 mins of my time was trying to figure out how to remove the one closest to the driver door. As recommended in Jon's written instruction, test your luck on the vent panel closest to the front passenger door first. This will give you an idea what kind of effort is required to remove the driver side -- once you have that under your belt, multiply the effort required by 2 for the driver-side. (Yes...that bugger is hard to get out!).
- There were a few steps in the DVD that I thought unnecessary or can be abbreviated:
- * Not really necessary to remove any cables from the MFD. They are long enough where you can gingerly lay it to the side of on dash
- * The panel with the cigarette lighter adapter (round panel) does not need to be removed.
- * Not necessary to unplug and remove the radio unit first -- this is what I've done...unscrew the 4 screws holding the radio unit in. Then snake the cable to the radio as instructed. Now pop the radio out with all cables intacted, then plug the XM cable in. That's all. Now you can pop the radio back in.
- Flat-head screwdriver wrapped in electrical tape, fish-wire, long ratchet extension (3 - 4") are very important to the success of the install. It will save your hair!
A little scare I experienced at the end of my install....I was bright enough (for once) to test m connection immediately after I plugged the XM cable to the back of the radio, so I knew that was solid. But, after I buttoned everything back up, I put the card in READY mode....the radio worked...BUT the red upside-down warning light came on the dash as well as a message on the MFD that said "problem" (very helpful message for diagnostic). Immediately I thought....crap....I sliced a cable somewhere...or worst....the car can't handle the XM unit.
So after much pondering, I decided to leave the car running in READY for a while, with the AC off for another 5 min or so while I look through the owner's manual for hints. I then proceeded to turn everything off, headed into the house and was about to call Jon (from PriusXM) for assistance. It then dawn on me that I had all the doors open (dome-light et al) for almost two hours, what if the V12 battery is low on juice?! So I decided to start the car up once more....bingo....the warning went away. So my speculation was indeed the v12, but just a guess. Nevertheless, that saved me an embarrassing call to Jon/Dealership.
That's all I have....let me know if you have any specific questions about my experience. (Sorry for the long post).
