Used car, factory plug clipped, how screwed am I?

[Elkins45]

I bought a 2009 Scion xB this week. It has a P.L.Z MP-901 touchscreen media player and backup camera installed. Unfortunately I hate it because:

1. The steering wheel controls don't work.
2. The AM radio doesn't work at all.
3. The Bluetooth randomly mutes itself. It stays connected and the phone still thinks it's playing but there's no sound.
4. The appears to be no balance control anywhere in any of the menus.
5. There's not a physical volume knob.

On the bright side, at least the backup camera works, not that I really care because none of my other cars ever had one.

I dropped $30 on a used factory Scion radio in the hopes I could pop it right in, but whomever installed the aftermarket unit chopped off all the plugs rather than wiring in an adapter. I discovered this when I pulled it out today. Here's what I saw:

How much of a mess is this for someone to fix? At this point I figure I might as well buy a new, working aftermarket unit rather than the factory radio because most of the cost will be in paying someone to fix the wiring and a decent head unit will only add $250 at most. Maybe a bit more if I buy one the camera can plug into. Thoughts?

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[Elkins45]

So to close this out, I found another cheap touchscreen radio on clearance at Walmart for $55. I armed myself with a marker and a roll of masking tape, then pulled the old unit out and marked each side of the wires as I disconnected them. I also wrote down the color of each wire and the function it mapped to on the old connector.

The power antenna wire from the old unit was hooked to what I assume was an added wire that must have fed the aftermarket amp that had been mounted in the back. I took my best guess based on some of the links people were kind enough to share as to which of the many remaining loose wires fed the factory powered antenna, and much to my delight I must have been correct because I now have good radio reception.

There’s one wire on the new connector I left disconnected: the one for the dimmer input. I can’t figure out which loose wire it goes to. In the grand scheme of things that’s a minor problem at best. Even the backup camera still works. I’ll admit that was a nice surprise.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Sweet! Sometimes patience is the answer with pen and paper and masking tape and a marker. Kind of like the old days when we used to install with the High level inputs from the HU to amplifier then to speakers. Fun and patient times. Thank you Bic and Papermate pens and cheap Kmart masking tape

 

[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

So to close this out, I found another cheap touchscreen radio on clearance at Walmart for $55. I armed myself with a marker and a roll of masking tape, then pulled the old unit out and marked each side of the wires as I disconnected them. I also wrote down the color of each wire and the function it mapped to on the old connector.

The power antenna wire from the old unit was hooked to what I assume was an added wire that must have fed the aftermarket amp that had been mounted in the back. I took my best guess based on some of the links people were kind enough to share as to which of the many remaining loose wires fed the factory powered antenna, and much to my delight I must have been correct because I now have good radio reception.

There’s one wire on the new connector I left disconnected: the one for the dimmer input. I can’t figure out which loose wire it goes to. In the grand scheme of things that’s a minor problem at best. Even the backup camera still works. I’ll admit that was a nice surprise.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.

Sounds painful. Glad you figured it out.