Technical no factory-fitted radio- how to install a Visteon?

[mar_elx]

I bough my Stilo without a factory-fitted radio. It was a display car at dealers' and they offered a very reasonable price . But the car has not a factory-fitted Visteon radio! When I asked the service to instal the radio, they said that it was impossbile because "it would cause an irreversible change of Body Computer parameters". They could not give any more detailed explanation....

Anyway - is it possible to install the Visteon radio (casette or CD) in this car? The car has 6 speakers, antenna etc. - and a standard car stereo can be installed - but I WANT THIS BIG MUSIC-BOX-LIKE unit in my car.

Perhaps an electronic device to simulate the CAN network would work? Do you have any idea?

 

[Scorg]

Thats the first of that being heard of. I think some people here have swapped thier tape units for the cd units (found on ebay) and there hasnt been a problem in doing so

Scorg

Stilo Dynamic 1.6
Sky Blue

 

[mar_elx]

That's right. You can replace a casette unit with a CD unit or remove the OEM radio and install a universal cd- or casette player in Active or Dynamic versions.

But when you have the Stilo "Actual" without factory-installed "451 option", the Body Computer is unable to control the Visteon radio through the CAN network. Actual version WITHOUT the 451 option (that means without a radio) is offered probably in Italy and in Poland only. They have a special fascia adapter in the place of the Visteon radio where you can instal a universal unit. You can remove the fascia adapter easily and fit the VISTEON radio. The mechanics said that the radio would be operational, but a Body Computer failure may occur! I asked what happens and they said that for instance air-bag failure, ESP-failure etc. indicators may be displayed... It is not a matter of software - you cannot UPGRADE the Body Computer software to control the Visteon radio.

So, I think it may be possible to install a kind of a CAN network simulator to "cheat" that radio that it is connected to this network (you cannot turn the radio on, when it is not connected to CAN even if you know the code provided with a new Visteon radio).

I think my car (1.6 16V) was configured by a crash-safety-obsessed person. It has 6 airbags, ESP, ASR and no radio that might distract your attention from driving .

 

[James M]

Personally I'd go for a double DIN install, with a head unit and changer, or equaliser, it'd fill the dash up nicely, and you could get a decent aftermarket set up for what it'd cost you to get your visteon.

53 3d Stilo Dynamic JTD - Sprint Blue

 

[Shminkypinky]

Who wants a tape player anyway - the first thing i did when i got my Stilo was take the crappy visteon 'fridge freezer' sized head unit out, bought a single din facia from fiat for £9.00 and fitted my own Sony CDX-MP40 head unit (much better than crappy visteon and cheap too!!!) then I stcuck a dynamic badge £8.00 from fiat under the stereo to fill up the extra space....sort of like the SLR badge inside the mclaren mercedes SLR.
It looks Pukka and as if it had been put there by Fiat!!!!!!!!Cunning!!!!!

Fiat Stilo 3dr 1.6 Dynamic, Sassi grey with 17's

 

[janevj]

Shminkypinky can you post a pic ... id love to see how you managed to fill the empty space and how does your stereo looks like.

The Visteon head unit might be not with best quality but one thing it does best is FITTING EXACTLY ... I love that ... and one more ... you do not need to take the head of the radio with you every time you park the car ... the Visteon wont be stole because it cannot be fit it other cars.nice indeed.

FIAT STILO 1.6 3dR Tiziano Red
Sub=Pioneer TS WX20LPA
AUTOMOBILE SK

 

[James M]

I had a CDXMP40 too, from my last car, just given it to my Dad

Like the idea of an iterior badge...

53 3d Stilo Dynamic JTD - Sprint Blue