I had an 04 F150 FX4 Screw and went through the process of upgrading the standard HU to the Audiophile HU and installing the Audiophile sub which required making a wiring harness since the truck didn't have the sub wiring under the rear seat. I had a long commute and as gas prices rose above the $3/gal mark in late 2005, I traded the F150 for a Honda Civic. While I loved the gas mileage of the Civic (35+ mpg), I've always missed my truck. My commute is much shorter now and so I traded the Civic in for an 06 F150 XLT Scab this past weekend. This truck has the single CD w/ Sirius radio HU in it and I'd like to upgrade this to an Audiophile unit as well. I've read through the posts on this forum and have the following questions.

1. I would like to keep the Sirius functionality. Does this connect to the AUX connector on the HU and will any Audiophile HU have Sirius compatibility?
2. It is my understanding the 04 HUs were made by Visteon and now I'm seeing HUs made by Delphi and Pioneer. Are there any that aren't compatible with my 06?
3. When I made the wiring harness to connect the sub to the HU on the 04, I used the following connectors:
3U2Z-14S411-DLA: Connector w/ leads that plugs into head unit
3U2Z-14S411-CAAA: Connector w/ leads that plugs into sub/amp
Will these same connectors work on all of the different varieties of HUs?

This forum has always been a great resource and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

FordNoobie

 

1. Late 2005 and newer Audiophile head units are Sirius compatable. The Sirius comes through the secondary connector along with AUX and other "premium" functions.

2. Most 2004 and 2005 Head units came from Visteon. Now Delphi is the main supplier of 6 CD units for F-150's, though my 2007 6 CD "Premium" unit came from Visteon (not listed as Visteon in the catalog, but that what she is). Visteon still makes Expedition and other passenger vehicle 6 CD units. Pioneer makes F-150 DVD and 2007+ Audiophile units.

3. Yes/No. F-150 head units are plug-n-play with Phase II connectors. You'll find a lot of passenger vehicle head units will still have the older style connectors. Also, most passenger vehicle head units need to be programmed, something the F-150 is not designed for. Besides that, passenger vehicle head units, like Mustangs, are often wired differently though they are Phase II. For instance, bezel back lighting for the F-150 is on pin 18, it's pin 19 for passenger vehicles. Be aware that 2007+ F-150 head units are not backwards compatible without an adapter due a change in the antenna connector (coax was replaced by triax).

When it comes to F-150's, my advice is to stick with F-150 head units. Passenger car head units are "typically" not 100% compatible without some rewiring and/or programming. I typically have to sit down with schematics of both vehicles and try to figure out what is different in the wiring. Not to mention trying to program the unit to work with F-150 steering wheel controls. If I had a dollar for every time a guy put a Mustang head unit in an F-150 and brought it to me to figure out why some functions don't work... I'd be a rich man.

 

worland,

Thanks for your reply. Your information was helpful.

UPDATE

I purchased a 2007 Audiophile HU to install in my 2006 and there were a few issues.
1. I had to purchase the antenna adapter (already knew about that one)
2. The backlighting and speed volume compensation did not work on the 2007 HU. The display worked fine, but the backlighting would not work.
3. The 2007 HU did not fit like the original stock radio. It stuck out of the dash a little further and wouldn't allow the trim piece to snap in completely.

Otherwise, everything worked great. However, items 2 & 3 are somewhat of a deal-breaker for me and I will change to either an 04-06 HU or aftermarket.

 

Hey, I am in the same position as you for items 2 & 3 (04 F-150 with a 08 F-150 Audiophile HU), just installed mine tonight. I have read that there might be a chance that you can take the radio to the dealer and have them reprogram the new HU to match the old HU lighting (I would image you can also reprogram the speed control), but I am not sure if this is true or not. Worland, do you know anything more about reprograming the new HU?
As for #3, I have to assume some trimming or tweaking of the brackets will fix this problem. Again, I am sure someone out there has done this.