How do I remove a radio?

[JumboBeef]

Help!

I need to remove the radio/cd player from my Disco this afternoon.  It is a sony one.

How do I get it out?  I've got the front off but how do I get the main unit out please?

Thanks!

[Disco Matt]

The radio most likely clips into a metal frame arrangement that is in turn clipped into the dashboard. If so, you'll need the right type of radio keys - these slide down the sides of the radio to disengage the tabs and provide handles to pull it out with. Halfords or similar may be able to advise on which type you need.

[JumboBeef]

Thanks,

Here is what it looks like and the keys I have (they were kicking around in the barn).  The way I feel at the moment I'm going to remove it with a hammer if I can't get it out!

[Disco Matt]

Right, if you look at the sides of the radio there may be some sort of guides for the keys, failing that try sliding them between the radio and the metal cradle thing about halfway up. It can be tricky to get them in the right place but keep trying and it will eventually come out.

Also worth checking you're using the right end of the key - I'm not sure if they're marked or not!

[JumboBeef]

Which end is the right end?  The wide bit or the smaller bit *stupid smilie*

[JumboBeef]

Done it! Thanks!

This idiot wasn't pushing the keys in far enough!

[ben_haynes]

they should push down the middle of the sides and will click in to the tabs you may have to turn the tools round to get them to engage unless the tools are wrong, you can get them in halfrauds or other auto factors

push the narrow ends in to the radio

[JumboBeef]

Done it now, thanks!

One more question, how do I reconnect the rear speakers (the ones in the rear doors) to the new unit I'm fitting (it has a pre-out, L and R).

[Disco Matt]

The speakers in the rear pillars are the left and right ones, the ones in the door are subwoofers (with their own built-in amp). It should work if you connect the subwoofers to the pre-out and the pillar speakers to L and R.

On mine (same age) the four normal speakers were connected to the standard ISO connector, while the subwoofers were on a small extra connector.

[JumboBeef]

Thanks.

while the subwoofers were on a small extra connector.

Were they just two wires, one red and one black?

[Disco Matt]

I think so - not 100% sure. There are definitely only two wires as the subwoofer is mono (stereo wouldn't be noticable at such low frequencies).

I wired mine across both rear speaker outputs. As they have their own amp they haven't melted the head unit, they're only picking up a signal from there after all. The bass is somewhat amazing and had to be turned down a fair bit to avoid sounding terrible. Not an audiophile solution but my new radio didn't have a subwoofer output!

[JumboBeef]

Right, thanks.

So could I wire the red and black onto one of the L R pre-amp outputs of the unit?  I assume the black would go on the outside and the red on the inside.....?

[Jamin]

 A quick way to find the positive and negative wires on a speaker, if not marked (red i should imagine is positive) is to get a little 9v battery and press the wires on the terminals. the speaker should push out or suck in, you have correct polarity when it pushes out.

[JumboBeef]

Thanks.

I wired my red and black wires to one pre amp out (red to the centre and black to the outside) and......nothing.  Any ideas what I should check now?

[Disco Matt]

Mine refused to work with the subwoofers connected to the pre-out and the rear speakers connected as per normal - seemed like the head unit could either feed the pre-out sockets or the normal outputs, but if you connected something to both it only fed the preouts. I wasn't sure if this was normal for all head units but it seems as if it is.

If you leave the subwoofer disconnected and just plug the head unit into the standard connector, do the rear pillar speakers work? If so then you need to pick up a signal for the subwoofers from somewhere. I connected mine across the rear pillar speaker feeds which works but may well be doing horrible things to my radio. It isn't causing it to overheat though, as the subwoofers are only drawing a signal from the head unit rather than the power they need to work.

[UKJeeper]

Park it near a housing estate and go for a 20 minute walk...