2000 toyota factory amp and aftermarket headunit - installers please - help

[req 5,000+ posts]

hows it goin folks, ive done quite a few installs - and i used to work at circuit city doing this stuff, but i have yet to encounter this.

the 2000 toyota sienna (same as avalon?) that a co-worker of mine has requested i put a overhead monitor and DVD player\headunit in for his children on long trips. well i knocked out the screen and got the wires in place, and built the dash kit (which had to be modified as well, but thats another story)

and i came to the wiring harness, the one he had was this one.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=103000&i=120701761&c=3&tp=736&avf=Y

now, this was completely wrong. one of the plugs was the correct size\shape, but it coupled with the rear window defroster lol. so it was time to find something else, we went to circuit city, best buy, and two local car audio shops and nobody had any ideas. i am determined that there is a factory amplifier but i was not about to start ripping the interior apart to find it.

so i got on the internet and found this;

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=103000&i=120701761&c=3&tp=736&avf=Y

it basically describes a way to bypass the factory amplifier (or integrate? i skimmed the article) and use an aftermarket headunit. well - the last post suggests that a harness was invented to integrate a wiring harness to bypass all the madness listed in the article. listed here;

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=103000&i=120708112&c=3&tp=736

the problem is, it does not look like that harness fits the stock headunit wiring that i have encountered. i looked (i believe) that this harness at best buy and i didnt think it matched. but i could be wrong. this is the pair of harness' that i am looking at in the vehicle currently.

so my question to you is!!!

have you ever encountered this vehicle? what did you do to install the headunit? will this harness work?

any information anybody can lend me would be much appreciated. im about to bring the van to circuit city and see if they will let me bring the harness out to the parkinglot to try in the van, but i think it was a different lexus harness that was not the kind i needed.

THANKS FOR READING MY LONG *** THREAD!

Click to read more...

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

k i just found this thread that gives me a bit more.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=230729

the avalon is a car version of the van pretty much. both built off the camry. apparently the amp is under the center console - pita - and uses the cheap $4 harness (first one listed above) on the output side. if i could use the factory amplifier with that harness i would love that way more as its just a plug and play.

any info on this?

 

[l7runner 10+ year member]

I had a similar problem on my Toyota. I had a factory amp at the bottom of the center console.

What I did was just unplug the factory amp's output, then use a generic wiring harness adapter to connect the new head unit.

This just bypasses the factory amp, and allows the right connectors to be used.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

you had to extend all the wires for that harness didnt you?

Not to mention your factory tweeters are henceforth inoperational as well?

these are two things im trying to avoid. if it comes down to it i suppose thats the final answer however.

i did find this wiring diagram. and it shows what you just clarified.

http://crutchfield.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/crutchfield.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7559&p_created=1191436563&p_sid=es7pkSUi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=2259&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MyZwX3Byb2RzPTQ2OSw0NzYsOTIzLDU1MTgsNTY3MCZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9NS41NjcwJnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[l7runner 10+ year member]

In my case the factory harness + aftermarket adapter was long enough to connect to the new headunit.

And my tweeters were fine.

Your install seems that it might be different than mine. Mine was on a 4runner with the factory amp.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

gotcha. ill give it a try.

thanks man.