How to install a new radio into a Land Cruiser 120/125

The radio available as standard in my car is quite old and is missing mp3 and bluetooth connectivity.

 

 

the key thing is that this radio drives an ampliflier so it is not immediate to install a new radio.

 

To open the cockpit and uninstall the radio you can follow this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hwj9ay0dhs

 

 

The back of the radio is this one.

 

There are 3 connectors

 

 

 

 

This connector is the one which power on the original radio.

 

- the bottom right pin is ground,

- the bottom left is +12 (under key)

- the top left is +12 for memory

Wiring:

 

1  - Memory +12C

11  - Red: Power +12 V (ACC)

20 - Black: Power GND

 

Honestly I wasnt able to make these work, I guess due to my inability in understanding how to use TX+/- to activate the amplifier:

 

- Green: AVC-LAN “TX +”

- Grey: AVC-LAN “TX -”

 

- Red RCA: Audio Line IN “Right”

- Black RCA: Audio Line IN “Left”

 - Orange: Balanced Line Out “Right +”

 - Blue: Balanced Line Out “Right -”

 - Yellow: Balanced Line Out “Left +”

 - Brown: Balanced Line Out “Left -”

 

 

So.... bad news is that to use these connectors it's not easy.

Taiwan/china producers sell a cable but it's quite expensive and I was not sure that it would have worked.

 

 

I bought this  cable with the proprietary toyota connector on one side and the 2 ISO connectors on the other side (let's call it Y cable).

BUT ... when it arrived it appeared to be"wrong" for the original radio connector in the cockpit....

 

Lukily it turned out to be "good" for the amplifier plug which is under the  driver seat!!

 

 

In this picture you can see the connector on the left side (it's below the "9"): just disconnect the cable from the amplifier and connect it to the Y cable.

 

This connection will:

- connect the new radio to the existing speakers

- power the new radio

 

Issue is that the Y cable was quite short so I had to cut and extend it in order to make it arrive from the seat to the cockpit whjere the radio is.

 

I passed the cable under the carpets into the plastic cover of the hand-brake following other electric cables.

In my case the new radio wanted to be fully switched off to work properly the bluetooth.... so i kept the audio connections from the Y cable  BUT took the power from the connector from the original radio.

 

in this way when you extract the key from the ignition block, the new radio is fully switched off.

 

 

 

 

Cable Toyota-ISO

il connettore l'ho adattato togliendo due linguette ed adeso è preciso rispetto al cavo che alimentava la radio toyota originale.

la autoradio si accende ma purtroppo - ovviamente collegando il bianco-nero e però l'amplificatore no

https://www.ebay.it/itm/402483300659?hash=item5db5dfc933:g:ZKcAAOxyRhBS2WTo

To install the new radio you should get an adapter frame loike this one.