The "Murphy's Law" Installation

Installing this head unit has been the installation from hell. Whatever could go wrong, went wrong.

- Head Unit - I started off with a different head unit. Long story short, but after installing I found out that it would not do some of the things I believed it was supposed to do. I don't know if this was due to misleading/misunderstood information, or a flaw. I ended up sending it back and getting a Pioneer head unit


- Pioneer Genius - with Pioneer, you either need to wire to the parking brake, or use a bypass. I ordered the bypass and installed. Didn't work. Spent an hour or two troubleshooting and still nothing. Reached out to Microbypass for help. After 30+ emails and several phone conversations, we were able to determined that the bypass was faulty. Had to wait for Microbypass to send a new one. Finally got it to work!

(side note - Matt from Microbypass is the gold standard for customer service. His email response was always within minutes and very detailed. He responded even late evening and early weekend morning. He talked me through the steps to test the product, and overnighted a replacement as soon it was determined that the product was bad. I would buy the bypass again just because of the level of service I received).

- Backup camera - I still can't get this working. I bought a CAM TY11 harness, but the instructions didn't match my wiring. I emailed PAC for help. Their response was to refer me to the PAC RD4 installation document, which talks about what to do if you don't have a CAM TY11 harness. So, I'm even more confused that I was before. Also, I've been trying to find the reverse indicator wire to get signal from the head unit (because apparently the CAM T11 doesn't take this into consideration). However, every example/guide/video I can find looks different than my wiring. Either I have different harnesses, or the wires are different color/layout. I guess I'm going to have to test every possible wire. Just going to put that off for now.

- Microphone - head unit came with a mic, so just be plug and play, right? Well, this is where Murphy's Law really came into play. When I was threading the included mic through the dash, it somehow got wedged back where I couldn't reach. While trying to get it out, I broke the wire. So, I had to order a replacement. Installed the replacement...…...it doesn't work. Guess I'm ordering a 3rd.

I really like this head unit, and it's going to be great when I get it done. But the Toyota gods didn't want me to mess with their stuff, so it's been a battle.

 

See replies in bold

 

Heh, yeah. I fell for the hyped up sales pitch. Which is odd, because I'm usually the opposite of that.

 

Finally got the mic working. Had accidently cut the wire when I was buttoning everything up.

Now everything works but the backup camera. I can live without that.

 

Does it display in the mirror?

 

Nope. Head unit.

 

I fully expected this to be @medic2230s thread... saw "Murphy" and let myself in.

My apologies.

 

I’ll post the link when I get home for the backup camera wiring.

 

Ok, here's the how to on how to make the harness for the backup camera to go to your HU. This is the one I used years ago and worked perfect. I didn't have to run any wires to indicate when the truck is in reverse. When the camera feed turns on and is plugged into the rear view camera RCA's on the back of the head unit it automatically switches the screen over. I have a Kenwood HU though so Pioneer may be different.

I know pioneers are different with the brake indicator needing that damn box. Kenwood you just ground the wire and done.

Hope this helps.

Link to How To: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oem-camera-connection-below-dash.30889/#post-476677

 

What year model truck? 2nd gen have the wires in their own plug, trim, solder your rca on and done.