Hi,
I’m soon about to install an aux cable via the external CD changer port on my 2006 MX-5. All instructions for this found online says to disconnect the battery, but I wonder if it would be enough to remove the radio fuse instead? Reason for asking is that removing the battery would mean I have to drive for an hour or so with the annoying idle drop while the ECU re-learns all parameters.
So, is it safe enough to pull the fuse for the radio (or are there more than one?) before removing the head unit, and leave the battery attached?
Cheers,
Oskar
I would follow the advise you have, let’s not try to be too clever but your car and your choice.
We had something similar recently were someone managed to short out an unrelated circuit whilst setting up some ICE. OK it’s pain relearning the idle …
Cool, battery will be pulled!
I would think that the ‘disconnect the battery’ instructions are because of airbags. If you are going to be taking things to bits and fiddling with wiring around the dash area then if a bag went off it could be very nasty. Highly unlikely but you can see why the manufacturer would want to cover all eventualities.
If you’re agile you can get to the CD changer port without removing the radio. By removing the glovebox you can just gain enough access.
Cable installed and all working fine. Battery removed first as suggested, and it took less time than last to get the idle back, 5 miles of mixed driving around town and all was normal.
Whilst I can see how someone could possibly reach in through the glovebox area and insert the cable it was clear my hands were way to big, but pulling stereo was easy as someone else done it before and forgot the hidden 10mm bolt when putting it all together so only two screws to remove in total.
Before putting the glovebox back I routed the cable to come out close to the little luggage net in the passenger foot well and strapped the cable to one of the metal supports behind the dash using a cable tie leaving a bit of slack before the stereo so the connector at the back of the stereo wont come loose by someone pulling on the cable by mistake.
After testing I can report that the cheap ebay cable works really well, and I now look forward to a more varied music selection on long drives :)
Cheers,
Oskar
Is your unit a Bose Nilfiskin?
Yep, original Bose 6-cd changer (2006 sport, no mp3 capabilities), works perfectly well with the external cable even if some sellers (including the one I used) insist it is only for the Mazda units. Pressing the media button changes the panel to ‘AUX’ and sound quality is good as far as I can tell.
Could you post a link to the one that you ordered please?
Here’s the link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-2-3-5-6-MX-5-CX-5-iPod-AUX-Audio-Cable-Interface-Adapter-Lead-iPhone-/131513735336?hash=item1e9ed458a8
I seen some forum posts on other Mazda communities where people had issues with substandard cables with bad connections so before fitting it I just checked with a multimeter that pin 1 and 13 where connected with no resistance and that 3 and 5 led to left and right channel on the input and that pin 7 was leading to the shield.
Good luck!
The cable works perfectly, thanks for the heads up ![]()
Good to hear it worked! Only issue I noted so far is that charging your ipod/iphone while listening to music from the same device through the AUX cable leads to an interesting wining noise that is perfectly matched to the engine rev. I guess the transformation coils in the charger picks up the ignition pulses(?), but thats not to much of an issue as I only use the charger as an emergency solution anyway.
Cheers!