Pioneer 1770NEX Carplay Install Thread

Hey boys,

so after beating my head against the wall and trying to solve the weird random volume skyrocketing or all the way down and failing, I decided to lobotomize the factory deck and install one that I have in my lifted AWD astro van, that I've been very happy with.   It's a Pioneer DMH-1770NEX, and I've had it in my Astro for over a year, and I love it.  The screen is capacitive touch, which works great, the carplay works awesome, Waze is invaluable for avoiding speeding tickets, and it sounds awesome.  It also has options to play movies if you bypass the parking brake (I only do this in nebraska at night), the option to install a backup camera, bluetooth phone calls, and if you have an android you can do mirroring.  

Anyway, here is the link; brand new they are $300 but for $200 you can get a factory reconditioned unit, which is what this is and it looks brand new:

https://amzn.to/4acvDyn

I'll post pics as I get it installed, today I just wired up the adaptor harness (link: https://amzn.to/3TUGEyr) and wired everything up using these quick easy solder connectors (link: https://amzn.to/49d8tqe). Nice thing is, idk about other years, but I read that the HVAC buttons will no longer dim with the rest of the dash, but in my 95 anyway, it works fine, so that issue is avoided.

I am now looking into getting the steering wheel controls to work, it looks liek there are a few adaptors so I'll be exploring that in my next post.

Update:  Ordered the Axxess ASWC-1 steering wheel adaptor, installed it about 30 minutes ago.   Install was easy, it was 2 ground wires, a power wire, and tapping into the factory harness in one spot. I just used one of those vampire taps, worked perfect. Setup was easy, just turned the car on, then held the volume up button. That's it!

So now the Volume Up/Down works, and the next/previous buttons work, and the temp button does NOT work. It instead acts as a "mute" button, both temp up and temp down. What I don't understand is that the factory harness was never cut, so you'd think the temp function would still work.

On the left, there is the program/band button, and it does nothing. This thing is programmable, but I'm not sure what function I'd want that button to do, to be honest.

I ordered an antenna adaptor to hook up the antenna, and I am planning on installing 2 rocker switches under the dash, one to disable the power antenna, and the other to trick the deck into thinking the parking brake is on. More later, cheers!

It's been a bit.  I restored a boat, my father died, and been going through a lot.  Back to the Riv.

One thing I realized when I put the dash on, is that the factory HU is some oddball size.  It's shorter in height than double din, but narrower in width.  You can see gaps next to the pioneer in the image below, I will be filling that with something, not sure yet.

For mounting, I removed the factory radio mount sheet metal, and hacked the back of it so that the wiring to the new stereo would fit.  Then I attached the radio to the steel mount w VHB temporarily to make sure it was in the right position.  I used the old HU to estimate the depth it should be mounted, tried to keep the face plate the same depth.

I had to smash out the plastic behind the radio for more clearance for the wiring harness, a screwdriver and a hammer made it come pretty quickly.  Behind that plastic piece was a duct of some kind, so I'm not sure I can make it deeper.

Before bolting it in, I wanted to run the USB cable down to where the factory CD player is and install a storage pocket.  After removing the ashtray/cd player surround (use a small flathead and pry), I removed the CD player with two screws, and then wound up disassembling the CD player itself.  I basically 'gutted' the CD player, so I was left with a metal cage, and the factory CD player metal mount.  This allowed me to slip the storage pocket INTO the CD player 'cage'.  Again it was some trial an error to get the depth correct, but here is where I am at right now



More updates later.