The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

So I picked up the XM tuner and install kit from my dealer and did the install myself. I lol'ed at the instructions when I saw it asked for the rear bumper removal and install of the XM antenna on the trunk lid. Insteadm I opted to get the antenna inside. Problem: How the hell to route the wires to the rear deck. It took me about 30 min of figuring it out. The was to route the antenna cable inside the cabin is to run the wire between the center of the rear seats backrest and down right behind the ski trap. TA-DA! the rest is a piece of cake. It's all plug and play. You gotta cut your carpet/trim that goes underneath the rear deck and that's about the only place where you can screw up, but even then, it's easy as hell.

hopefully this post helps people who wanted to get their antenna inside and couldn't! Oh...one issue...the head unit keeps flashing "antenna" but the reception is perfect and after driving it around, it only cuts out under that one bridge where my last 3 cars used to cut out as well... anybody know what the deal is? Is it b/c reception is perceived as poor by the system?

Lexaholic

A better way (without cutting) is running the wire through the rubber gromet that is behind the passenger side rear seat. From there you can tuck the antenna wire between the rear deck and the side of the car/rear windshield. That's the way I installed my Sirius. I thought I would have problems with an inside antenna, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

NavyDoc333

Did you install the unit in the trunk and plug it into the ML amp? Or did you run plug it into the headunit...and stash it under one of the seats?

The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

I installed it in the trunk. I got the OEM tuner. It's all plugged into the ML amp.

The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

Ok so finally I decided to see what was up with my install. It says "ANTENNA" where it should show the channel name and it wouldn't show the track/artist. So I figured it was because the antenna was getting poor reception inside the car. then again, everywhere I drove, it's just fine! So I decided to try it w/ the antenna out...and same thing. at the point I figured I might have connected the wrong leads to the antenna and swapped, but then nothing. Ok so I readjusted the antenna cable leads so that they go further into their plugs and TADA! it worked! I guess I didn't have it far inside their plastic housings. For those who are doing their own installs, you'll know what I'm talkinga bout.

So now the antenna is back inside and I got all my channel names and tracks showing just fine woo hoo!

ecount00

Well done! Sometimes that kind of problem can bug the crap out of a person. Touchy that you had a good enough connection to get signal and sound but not good enough for the display. It's nice when it's something easy isn't it? Maybe I'll go rejam the connections on my nav override and see if I can get more than 30 seconds of freedom. Nah.

NavyDoc333

If you don't mind me asking... how much did everything cost? Did you get any good deals from XM..or were you already a customer?

The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

lexus-parts.com got it for $306 shipped using their clublexus (I think) 15% code. I got mine from my dealer for slightly better as a favor for 291. That included the tuner antenna, harness and hardware.

I am already an XM customer, so I just added a 2nd account for 6.99 a month.