I Put Apple CarPlay In My Wife’s 2006 Toyota 4Runner And I’m Never Looking Back

Cars are too expensive lately, even used ones, so individuals are holding onto their old cars longer than ever. My wife isn’t any exception, along with her 20-year-old Toyota 4Runner creeping up on 300,000 miles while still going strong. But our old Toyota is starting to indicate its age. I had to exchange all eight ignition coils last 12 months, and we needed to fix a coolant leak a couple of months ago.

The worst problem, nonetheless, was that the auxiliary audio input jack stopped working, meaning she could not pipe Spotify from her phone through the stock stereo. This was a significant emergency, because she has to have her music, and even the stock six-disc CD changer doesn’t hold enough variety for her.

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That is after I suggested upgrading her head unit to at least one that supports Apple CarPlay. While manufacturers keep taking it away from latest cars, it’s fairly easy so as to add to an older automobile like her 4Runner. Not only wouldn’t it bring her Spotify back, it could modernize the experience and put navigation on her dashboard as well. Despite its age and mileage, we’re not eliminating the 4Runner anytime soon, so it was price making a small investment to bring its infotainment into the twenty first century. It’s actually much easier and inexpensive to do that for an older automobile than a more recent vehicle. That is why her 20-year-old SUV has CarPlay, but my 2021 Ford Transit camper van doesn’t. (My previous van, a 2003 E-250, did.)

It does take some easy tools, just a little little bit of mechanical aptitude, and sometimes some problem solving skills to put in a stereo. Fortunately, the data is on the market and available to guide you thru the method. Vehicle-specific forums are all the time an excellent source, particularly for older vehicles that got well-documented before everyone moved to Facebook groups, then enshittification made it unimaginable to go looking for any useful information. Not that I’m bitter.

Personally, I have been buying automobile audio from Crutchfield for years. (This shouldn’t be a sponsored post — I paid retail price for the CarPlay head unit and am only a satisfied customer.) Not only do they determine what equipment will suit your automobile, but additionally they include any mounting hardware and wiring harnesses you would like, in addition to detailed instructions on how one can install it which have never led me astray. 

After ejecting all of the CDs (you possibly can’t leave Johnny Money stranded), I followed the instructions to dismantle the dashboard and center console enough to remove the unique head unit. It might look complicated, but Crutchfield’s instructions discover every screw and bolt you might want to remove. Basic hand tools will do the job. For this, I used a Phillips head screwdriver, plus 10mm and 8mm sockets. That is it. Also, I’m quite impressed how well the plastic interior pieces have held as much as the test of time. Our Dodge farm truck’s plastic is falling apart badly, but I could gently pull the Toyota’s panels apart with my bare hands, no pry bar required, and without damaging them.

Once the unique head unit is out, the true fun begins. Every vehicle is different, but in my case I needed to transplant the mounting brackets from the old CD changer to the brand new CarPlay head unit. I also had to connect a few trim pieces to fill within the gaps that might have existed on either side, for the reason that Toyota head unit is barely wider than the usual double-DIN size. It took just a little work to work out which of the various mounting holes on the side of the CarPlay head unit to make use of, but I figured it out.

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I needed to barely modify the unique mounting brackets. There are small metal indentations that help position the bracket properly for the stock head unit, but they prevented an ideal fit on the brand new CarPlay unit. I used a Dremel to grind these nubs off. This may not prevent me from swapping the unique head unit back into the 4Runner later if we ever eliminate it. I also needed to trim a part of the side trim pieces off, since they didn’t need to fit into the dashboard. Even Crutchfield’s instructions don’t cover each thing you will need to do, so you’ll need to make just a little bit up as you go along.

One part you will not must work out, nonetheless, is the wiring harness. The top unit comes with one part, and Crutchfield includes its counterpart that plugs into your vehicle’s factory wiring. You will not need to cut, splice, or alter any of your automobile’s wiring. You only must match up the colours of the wiring on either side of the harness, splice them together, and plug every thing in. I’ve used crimp connectors successfully previously, but I do know how one can solder, so I soldered the entire thing together. It might be overkill, but it surely should outlast the automobile. The perfect a part of using the wiring harness and mounting kit is that in the event you ever sell your automobile, you possibly can easily reinstall the unique head unit and keep the CarPlay unit in your next ride.

Because the Haynes repair manuals prefer to say, “Installation is the alternative of removal.” First, I did the bare minimum to make the CarPlay unit functional, paired my phone, then placed on some tunes to be certain that sound got here out of all of the speakers. Then I installed the included microphone and GPS antenna, mandatory so the top unit can disable video playback when you’re moving. I also ran this unit’s two USB pigtails through the dashboard innards so that they stick out and are accessible after reassembly. The top unit supports a backup camera, however the old 4Runner doesn’t have one, so I could skip that part. Finally, I put all of it back together before my wife saw her exploded dashboard and got scared that I could not put it back together.

Justin Hughes / Jalopnik

I called my wife out to indicate her the ultimate product, and to pair her phone to robotically connect wirelessly. (I’ll use a wired connection so her phone may have priority.) I showed her how one can access Spotify, Google Maps, and whatever else she needed. I also showed her the quantity controls on the side of the brand new head unit, for the reason that steering wheel controls she used aren’t connected anymore. We could have bought an adapter to enable them, but it surely would have cost roughly $250, which is how much this particular head unit cost. It wasn’t price doubling the project budget only for that, and she or he’s completely satisfied with the result.

That is right, it cost about $250 to bring the convenience of Apple CarPlay to a 20-year-old vehicle, as well to bypass the audio problem that prompted this upgrade in the primary place. That is a fraction of a contemporary automobile payment. In the event you’re an Android person, every unit I’ve seen that supports CarPlay also supports Android Auto, so that you’re in luck, too. So in the event you wish you had modern infotainment in your older automobile, wish no more. Adding it may possibly be relatively inexpensive, and it’s even easier than adding it to a more moderen automobile.