tpismyname

I actually paid for Sirius as part of the car, then found out they didn't really have it. I am getting a refund, and in the mean time I bought a Starmate Replay, which fits nicely in hte ashtray area of the IS. I also bought a PAC SN-I-3 Noise Filter from Crutchfield to remove the engine whining noise from the cig lighter. and I am going to take the console apart to run the wires through into the ashtray. It needs power, aux-in, and the antenna, when I ran through the trunk.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions in doing this?

mwaull

So is sirius going to be available later this summer????

Bichon

Sorry, my crystal ball is on the fritz.

A second question, given the number of posts I've read criticizing the reception of other Lexus Sirius radios with the supplied windshield mount antenna, is whether they will have solved this problem.

mvalpreda

I was just at Lexus of Mission Viejo in Southern California and the salesman said all the IS models are prewired for sat (either XM or Sirius) for 595. They go through the nav/ML screen and they have sold some recently.

Why don't I believe him?

looknow12

I had XM first and switched to Sirius. Sirius has better content in my opinion.

Sirius tuner box would be the same regardless of the Lexus model. It all comes down to the fit kit...but more specifically, it comes down to the wire harness supplied in the fit kit. The Sirius radio I purchased for an RX400h was for an ES and the radio connection wasn't a problem it was the other connector for the Amp that caused my issue because the amp was behind the rear seat...quite a distance from the radio and despite all of that, the amp didn't even have the correct connector. I ended up having to splice the power and ground because I discovered that's all the connector was really being tapped for.

Long and short of it is, if you purchase a kit for another Lexus model that has Gen5 software AND you have patience it is possible to make it work. My guess would be at least the radio connector would work as a pass through, the antenna you can use any Circuit City one, and the amp power connector may be just tap a power and ground. Always remember to use a constant power feed not accessory switched or you'll start at channel 184 every time you turn the key on and you'll lose your presets.

I don't mind taking these kind of risks to troubleshoot and get things working ....but not everyone is like me. It requires time, patience and the risk of damage to equipment which may fall out of warranty.

So do so at your own risk!

curious67

My dealer told me that Sirius was avalaible in the IS in summer 2006 (ie in the next month or two) which is what leus.com says on their website. He also stated that it could be added to my IS 250 when available.

Anyone know if this is true?

mvalpreda

Splicing power should be no big deal for the majority of us on here.

I think what we (at least me) want to know is if the sat radio information is on the display?!?!?!?!?!? Sounds like it is..... So.....is it? Huh? Huh? Is it? Huh?

looknow12

I've completed the installation for the GS430 and the RX400h. The GS430 was easy, just used the kit and it was plug and play. Yes, the information is displayed on the radio, but the display is not as nice as a Sirius radio. You presets stay on one screen, you need to press TEXT to see the song title and artist and it only displays 8 characters (as I recall). Clearly the Nav screen (GEN4) was designed to display CD type information and Satellite radio was is a kludged interface (Eclipse, Fujitsu Ten makes the software/hardware for Lexus).

On the RX400 it was much harder. Remember the radio information is displayed on a smaller LCD screen below, not on the NAV. When the installation was completed, the current channel information actually looks nicer then on the NAV screen. Because the presets are different buttons what you see always on the screen is channel number, and channel name, artist and song title cycle/scroll.

The Generation 5 Nav in the IS may be better equiped to display satellite information, I can say for sure. But if you get it right, there won't be a problem.

Just to back track a bit, I didn't mean to say splicing power would be hard to do. Finding the right wires can sometimes be the frustrating part. Always look for heavy guage wire. If you see 22 gauge and lighter wire this may in fact carry data and also might not be heavy enough to carry the load from the tuner. Use a 12v tester only on heavy wire. Otherwise use a volt meter as 12v meters can do damage if you hit the wrong wire. This is because you're in essence grounding the wire you're testing albeit through the resistance of the bulb.

As I said if the wiring harness at least allows you to properly connect the radio connectors (pass through - female/male) the rest might be easy. But I wouldn't get involved in trying to splice these unless I knew the exact pinout of the radio and the wiring diagram of the Sirius tuner. For that techinfo.toyota.com might be helpful for research.

Sewell

iTrader: (9)

Here is a picture of the navigation screen tuned to Sirius Octane. Howard's on memory 6. No splicing involved, all plug in connectors and radio does not need to be removed. Approximately installation time, 30 minutes (1 hour if you're taking your time).

looknow12

Looks similar. Any chance of a screen shot of the TEXT screen?

jc957

I was getting service at the Annapolis dealer yesterday and they said the same as many of the posts. While it was supposed to be available this summer, it has been put on indefinate hold due to problems. They speculated it may be available in the fall but they wouldn't count on it. Seems like lexus-parts may have an inside perspective. I just wish they would get it fixed and out there already.

Sewell

iTrader: (9)

Here is a picture of the text while listening to Octane. After reading previous posts by looknow12, I have noticed that there are only 10 characters that display on my screen.

lfangulo

What tuner did you install in the car? also where did you get it and how much?

thanks for the info!