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REC install w/ Pictures

69K views 67 replies 28 participants last post by  Excaliber07 
#1 · (Edited)
Yesterday I got my REC navigation unit installed works great, it was very easy and cost me $978 shipped vs the $2399 the dealer wanted. Parts came from United Radio and Shores Electronics below are the steps I took.

Step 1: Disconnect NEG batt terminal. Remove shift knob, there is a small clip at the base of the shifter that pulls down one release, the knob pulls up and off without issue (only a single hand required)



Step 2: Once removed the lower shift bezel must be removed, I gently pried with a butter knife to raise it slightly and left no marks. A firm tug at that point released it. Prying/tugging was required to remove the main bezel but it did come off fairly easy.



Step 3: this was probably the least fun, removal of the hazard flasher control/ HVAC controls. The HVAC controls are attached to the bezel not the dash! they are attached to the car by cables with not so much slack, the hazard assembly is held by 4 screws as are the HVAC controls, just requires patience and maneuvering to get them removed.

Step 4: Remove Radio (REF) this was nothing special, 4 screws to remove and 2 plugs plus the antenna. Once removed, inside the dash is a metal support bracket for the REF Radio its held by 4 more screws and must be removed.



Step 5: Install REC bracket, this CAME with my bezel kit, it wasnt a mistake, the MOPAR bezel kit included it, too bad I got the bracket from the dealer first, I now have a spare, at least it was only $5



Step 6; Install REC radio, plug and play really just the reverse of the removal of the old. only differnce is the mounting of the GPS antenna.

Step 7: Install GPS antenna, it actually can go anywhere inside the dash, it has a long cable. Orientation is very important, it needs to be mounted upright, I first put it sideways and it was all screwd up, had me on wrong roads wrong direction, etc. I put mine inside the airduct just clearing the bezel, it cant be seen and works great. The antenna had double sided tape to attach it, hopefully it doesnt come loose.

Step 8: Reconnect Neg batt terminal and powered up to test, worked fine, woohoo!!



Step 9: Attach HVAC and Hazard controls to new bezel. I attached the hazard assembly first as it could be removed from the car. Attaching the HVAC controls was just as tedious as removing it due to such little slack.

Step 10: Reattached bezels working from top down, replaced shifter knob.



Thats all, didnt take long even working slowly and carefully, It did a neat thing too, on first power up it showed a Chrysler logo on the screen, oh well. must have been pulled out of a 300 or something (it was reconditioned) when I cranked the car, the screen went out and came back with the Dodge emblem!! Must have pulled the vechicle ID from the ECU or something, way cool! NAV works great! Aside from that, I got some cool new features, 6 Disc MP3 player, Station/Artist/Song Title readout for my Sirius (That worked too without any reprogramming), RDS for FM radio, and my favorite part, a vehicle maintenence menu, The service interval of tasks like oil change, tire rotation, etc are entered and tracked. Once they come due, the unit will prompt that the particular maintence is necessary. Should be quite helpful

rmurad38
 
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#9 ·
The REC unit came from http://www.shoreselectronicsautoradio.com

It was $900 as a kit that included the REC unit, NAV disc, GPS Antenna, the Factory User Guide, and some photocopied installation instructions (without the caliber) Ground shipping (they are located in Michigan) was $25 The unit was double boxed, outer box used shredded newspaper (yuck) as packing material, inner box had contents wrapped in bubblewrap, good if not overkill packing job. If you look elsewhere, make sure what you get is a complete kit like this, if you get just the radio, the antenna goes for like $50, the manual for about $25 and the DVD nav disk for like $150!!

The Bezel came from http://www.unitedradio.com

It was $52 and was the actual Mopar kit, not a knockoff. It came in a Mopar box and it included the metal bracket required for the larger REC radio. They shipped overnight for $6 I believe. Make sure to specify your dash color before ordering.
At a dealer, I think this bezel would cost about $150

I would def. recommend both of these companies, I knew united radio, they also are a repair facility for both stock and aftermarket radios. Shores is an Ebay reseller (I didnt use Ebay myself, I called them up in person to order) but they have 100% feedback on Ebay.

hope this helps,
rmurad38
 
#11 ·
overall works well, love the better features of the radio, major improvment, also love the maintenence screen, will be great to stay on top of things. as for the nav, kinda a mixed bag, i had a garmin sp320 unit that could always get me from one point to another would always find a route. this unit will tell me my destination, or the area im in is not in an area where turn by turn guidance can be preformed. at that point it wont give me directions but rather give me the general direction i need to go. its up to me to figure it out, that sucks imho, but apparently the norm for dvd navs (gf's moms acura tl does the same)oh well, good overall, cant complain so much, and really makes the dash look way cooler
 
#12 ·
What revision of the REC's DVD do you have? I found many roads updated in my area with the AE revision over the older AD or AC. I also like the AE's added features such as Avoid Road.

I also applied the patch thats available on the internet that disables the In-Motion limitations so a passenger can fully use the GPS while I drive. Works great!
 
#17 ·
It looks really nice! personally I would have changed the whole benzel to a dark blue ones like a carbon fiber colour. Doesnt that void the warranty if you install it yourself?
 
#18 ·
I stayed with the silver since thats how my caliber came, also, im not a fan of the painted bezels, but it would have been easy enough as united radio had the other colors available too (not sure about the shift bezel tho) As for the warranty, I suppose it would depend one what my car was going in for. Generally something like a radio isnt going to effect anything (unless you went in with an electrical concern i guess) Since the REC unit and bezel are genuine Mopar parts I wouldnt expect the dealer to even notice it since its a factory option anyway. If i was that concerned, I could always put my old REF unit back in and swap the bezels, would probably take a half hour. Didnt want to sell off the REF for just that reason.

rmurad38
 
#19 ·
I just got my REC off ebay. I have heard some people have problems with a code (maybe a Theft deterrent, maybe?) I haven't installed mine yet, so I am not sure if this is the case or not. I also am interested to know about the installation. Did your REF unit come with the Sirius? I have the components but my original radio never came with that serius. Did you install the sirius reciever and cable and the atenna yourself too? If you did do you have any tips? Thanks for the posts here I got the Sunburst orange bezel to match my car and I am going to put in the seats like the factory RT. When I got my car all they had was the Sunburst orange (which I wanted anyhow) with the the fog lights and 17" wheels, because I couldn't come to buy anything less! They didn't have an RT or one with options so I am optionaing it out little by little. My next 2 projects are a Sun/Moon roof and those orange seats. Then I am going into the performance so I can trade it in, looking good for the SRT 4 next year. I can't wait. But any tips on this installation of the sirius would be GREAT!
Thanks rmurad38!

Esko:b1:
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
My REC had no theft code or anything like that, I plugged it in and it worked (briefly showed the chrysler logo though) I dont believe the unit has any theft deterrance function. In my case, my car already had the factory sirius, the receiver for it is independant from the radio. It is located in the rear behind the spare (its underneath the black cardboard cover) When I plugged in the REC, the Sirius was just "there" and it was also improved, I now have Station/Artist/Title info whereas before with the orginal REF i had a crude CH 001 and no info. As far as putting it in, I believe that shouldnt be a problem but could be some work, I would check under your cardbard cover (in the spare tire well) look on the left hand side, you wont have the receiver but do you have an empty harness? if so, the reciever can go there. If not, theres the first problem. The antenna is quite another story, it mounts in the back and requires a hole to be drilled in the roof for it. not something I would ever want to attempt, I'd be too afraid of it being off center, damaging the headliner or worse, the side curtain airbags. or to have it leak. But anyway it mounts in the rear center, a few inches in from the spoiler, and id assume the wire runs down the rear side in front of the rearmost windows and comes out by the receiver (thats what it looks like by mine anyway) If you are comfortable with drilling holes in your roof, id say go for it, (link removed)has the kit ($125 i think) If not, if just go with an external add on unit, less trouble and you can move it to other vehicles too. good luck

rmurad38
 
#22 ·
the sunburst orange shift bezel is available though your dealer, shouldnt be an issue. however painting would also be easy (just mask or remove the shift indicators) Too bad on the cost of things, but its the price we pay for integration. Have fun this weekend! if you have any questions while doing the REC part of your install, be sure to post, I check often as do lots of others who have done this before. Just go slowly and dont force anything, you should be fine. If you have the wiring in place for the sirius (check the back for that unused harness) you can at least do the REC part of the install first, all of the sirius work is done in the back of the vehicle

rmurad38
 
#23 ·
the sunburst orange shift bezel is available though your dealer, shouldnt be an issue. however painting would also be easy (just mask or remove the shift indicators) Too bad on the cost of things, but its the price we pay for integration. Have fun this weekend! if you have any questions while doing the REC part of your install, be sure to post, I check often as do lots of others who have done this before. Just go slowly and dont force anything, you should be fine. If you have the wiring in place for the sirius (check the back for that unused harness) you can at least do the REC part of the install first, all of the sirius work is done in the back of the vehicle

rmurad38

Well, the worst has come to light! Ladies and Gentleman, I believe I have been had by the crooked eBayer who sold this to me! I installed it and when I turned on my car it went DING DING from the speakers. The navigation had a backlight but nothing was on the screen. I could turn up the volume and hear the static from no station. Also I tried to load a CD and nothing! It would not load! can you believe it! So I tried a bunch of things to trouble shoot and I still came up with the same problem. I already contacted eBay. Does anyone have any idea about this? maybe is it a theft thing? It said it was made in 2004 and the model number ends in AJ. Please anybody help me out here! I am very very dissapoined. I plugged in the harness for the stereo the GPS antenna the regualr and antenna and everything! I turned on the car after putting the battery back online. Maybe I am missing something? Please hellp!!!

Esko:BL:
 
#26 ·
That's the trouble with eBay. You never know if the mechandise would fly or crash. I do have reservations on buying stuff from there. I have friends that got burned on similar situations.

I would rather buy a brand new one. That way I could hold mopar by the nose if ever things go wrong.

Sorry to hear about the lemon, ekoware1. Hope someone can help figure it to fix it.
 
#27 ·
Wow man sorry to hear that, esp on such a high dollar item. One of the many resons I dont trust Ebay, my REC was purchased from an ebay reseller, but I insited on only dealing with someone that I could call up and deal with in person, that reseller was more than happy to deal with me directly and take my credit card (none of that paypal crap) Did you use a credit card? they may offer purchase protection and could reverse the charges.
As for the radio, I dont believe the REC has any sort of theft protection. You could maybe try (with everything connected) removing your negative battery terminal for a few min to reset everything. Also look on the top of the unit, there is supposed to be a shipping bracket to protect the cd player while shipping(mine didnt have one but it did have a notice saying to remove it, go figure) make sure if you have one that its removed. As for repair, (if you cant somehow get your money back) I'd try actually the 2 places I got my parts from, United Radio and Shoreselectronicsautoradio. United Radio is a well known huge repair facility. Shores is the ebay buyer that I used, they recondition the units they sell and provide a 30 day warranty, plus the option to buy an extended, mines been working great so far (knock on wood)
Keep us updated, even if it cost a couple hundred to repair you will still be way under what the dealer charges, right? I hope? and the integration of all those functions right in the dash will be great.

Best of luck
rmurad38
 
#28 ·
Wow man sorry to hear that, esp on such a high dollar item. One of the many resons I dont trust Ebay, my REC was purchased from an ebay reseller, but I insited on only dealing with someone that I could call up and deal with in person, that reseller was more than happy to deal with me directly and take my credit card (none of that paypal crap) Did you use a credit card? they may offer purchase protection and could reverse the charges.
As for the radio, I dont believe the REC has any sort of theft protection. You could maybe try (with everything connected) removing your negative battery terminal for a few min to reset everything. Also look on the top of the unit, there is supposed to be a shipping bracket to protect the cd player while shipping(mine didnt have one but it did have a notice saying to remove it, go figure) make sure if you have one that its removed. As for repair, (if you cant somehow get your money back) I'd try actually the 2 places I got my parts from, United Radio and Shoreselectronicsautoradio. United Radio is a well known huge repair facility. Shores is the ebay buyer that I used, they recondition the units they sell and provide a 30 day warranty, plus the option to buy an extended, mines been working great so far (knock on wood)
Keep us updated, even if it cost a couple hundred to repair you will still be way under what the dealer charges, right? I hope? and the integration of all those functions right in the dash will be great.

Best of luck
rmurad38

Ok as mad as I have been I have calmed down. I must first say thanks guys! Because When I am needing help you all are hooking me up with some good info! And as a matter of fact rmurad38, I happened across the United Audio website while looking for repair facilities, I contacted them by phone and they seem so legit not a question in my mind about them! Plus now you recommended them and I have piece of mind. The damage......$450 for repair REGARDLESS they said. IF they have to replace it they will they said. If they can fix it they will they said. SO it is actually a pretty decent deal. Now the bad news I am pretty rediculous for buying this from that RAT for 835 shipped! I should have got the one from Shores on ebay where you said 100 bucks more but with customer sevice. My Plan: I have been talking with this guy over the Ebay messages so I am going to ask for a refund in the amount of $450 That way I can pay for the costs. If he agrees I leave positive feedback if NOT, We go through Ebay and Paypal claims service! Then I leave negative feedback. I think the MAX Ebay and Paypal will get you back on buyer protection is 200 bucks I may be wrong. and if it comes to that I will have a total bill of 1085 after buying it from the RAT and repairing it. 835+450=1285-Ebay Refund 200 =1075. It is better than 1900 from a reputable seller online and even better than 2000+ from Dodge themselves, although I have a tough situation it may not be that tough to fix. Hey RMURAD, I have one other question for ya, Did your REC unit come with a wire hanging out the front face plate with an RGB connection, that looks like a computer monitor connector? that could plug to a video out? Mine did and it is kind of strange. It had another box to connect to it called NAVI+ and had another video (yellow) input to connect an external video source (camera, DVD, Video Game). I think this is going to be a painful process but It will be resolved!

Thanks everyone for the Help!

Esko
 
#29 ·
Well, thats good to hear, even at $1085 its a good deal. No my rec doesnt have the rgb cable/input and navi thing, thats a hack and a cool thing to have but maybe in your case it was a hack gone wrong. When working it allows you to play video on your screen from a dvd game console, whatever, its actually worth some money, heres a link: http://www.tvandnav2go.com/ if you can actually get that unit working you got a good deal. i was considering that myself so the GF could watch movies on trips, just a little nervous about sending my unit to Brooklyn to get it done lol. one other thing, could it be that because the navi unit wasnt hooked up that you didnt get anything? could your rec be in the navi mode, showing black due to the fact it has no signal on it? be sure to press the mode button a few times to see if it gets out of it, also just for fun, hook up a source to that navi box and see what happens,

rmurad38
 
#35 ·
Well, thats good to hear, even at $1085 its a good deal. No my rec doesnt have the rgb cable/input and navi thing, thats a hack and a cool thing to have but maybe in your case it was a hack gone wrong. When working it allows you to play video on your screen from a dvd game console, whatever, its actually worth some money, heres a link: http://www.tvandnav2go.com/ if you can actually get that unit working you got a good deal. i was considering that myself so the GF could watch movies on trips, just a little nervous about sending my unit to Brooklyn to get it done lol. one other thing, could it be that because the navi unit wasnt hooked up that you didnt get anything? could your rec be in the navi mode, showing black due to the fact it has no signal on it? be sure to press the mode button a few times to see if it gets out of it, also just for fun, hook up a source to that navi box and see what happens,

rmurad38
So today I finally got back a working unit from United Audio....WOW!!!
Their customer service is unrivaled. Their technicians unrivaled, I mean I have researched the REC for months upon months before I even bought it, so I was more than knowledgeable about almost all dodge caliber radio/stereos. This guy knew his stuff too!! So I authorized the repair for 450 dollars OUCH! But as a side note, paypal did refund me 200 bucks as a result of the seller selling me a broken unit. I paid 835 for it shipped so now we are at 635 after the refund. I also purchased 430 dollars worth of accesories and extras. These being the sunburst orange bezel, satellite radion reciever and installation kit and so forth. I also paid 150 for the sattelite componenets to be installed. So the total on everything thus far is 1645, so this guy with the bad deal from Ebay really set me back on something that could have potentially set me back only 900 or so if I would have went with a reputable seller. Lesson learned. So today I installed everything and it works like a CHARM!! let me tell you. the orange bezel is amazing the navigation and CD changer and stellite radio are flawless and I am thrilled. Next mods include the dodge performance upgrades: headers, exhuast, and air filter. I know where to get all those, but I would also like to know if anyone knows where to get a cheap set of the seats that come on RT sunburst orange calibers? you know the black/grey cloth with orange cloth insets. And one more question. I want to put a sunroof in my car. How much would something like that cost? Is it a good decision, it seems like a huge job. what is the likelihood it would leak in the future? Any help would be appreciated, but for now I emerge victorious from this one.!

Esko
 
#36 ·
Congrats!! good to see this all worked out for you! the nav really spruces up the dash doesnt it? Now, one thing you will want to check is the revision of the Navigation DVD. Mine came with a revision AB which was quite out of date. I was able to "find" the latest revision, AE, and burned it to a DUAL LAYER DVD, updated the radio and my maps, couldnt be happier! hopefully the AF revision is going to be released soon for even more updates! One other thing, if you havent done it already, go into the maintenence menu and setup the service intervals for the listed items, when the set mileage has been met you will receive a friendly "reminder" whenever you start the vehicle. very handy for those of us who forget such things.

rmurad38
 
#38 ·
The revision AF was supposed to be release in late Feb. but still to sign of it. I bet they skipped it and will release an update in September as they have in prior years.

I have the AE revision and I applied the patch from Carhack.org that gets rid of the in-motion limitations. Works great.

$1085 isn't really too bad. New pulls from 2007 vehicles sold by reputable ebay dealers are about $900-$1000.

United Radio is an awesome shop. Not the cheapest but they know what they're doing. I assume you now have a warranty on the Nav unit from United?
 
#39 ·
Yeah I got a 1 year warranty. Those guys are excellent! They did a lot. The CD changer or DVD drive did not want to take discs.....FIXED. Screen only had backlight come on...........FIXED. Noisy crackling from FM stations...........FIXED. There was no DVD cover.........Added one.......FIXED. Joystick was a problem.............FIXED. Software update needed..............FIXED. They just did a number on it and it works amazingly. What is this "hack" or whatever you are talking about? what is the URL and how do I perform this "hack"?? Thanks!

Esko
 
#40 ·
There is a hack available at www.carhack.org, it removes the restriction that the nav has while the vehicle is moving where you would loose the ability to access all of the nav functions. sort of a safety feature, though a pain at the same time (ex you can only search for say, restaurants but instead of any, you just get the ones in a certain radius, limits planning, i guess. The hack removes this. basically it gets burnt to a cd and loaded into the deck which will then update itself. I havent done this myself. as for getting the AE disc, let me just say it can be "found" if looked for hard enough. and its just a simple dual layer dvd disc away.

rmurad38
 
#41 ·
There is a hack available at www.carhack.org, it removes the restriction that the nav has while the vehicle is moving where you would loose the ability to access all of the nav functions. sort of a safety feature, though a pain at the same time (ex you can only search for say, restaurants but instead of any, you just get the ones in a certain radius, limits planning, i guess. The hack removes this. basically it gets burnt to a cd and loaded into the deck which will then update itself. I havent done this myself. as for getting the AE disc, let me just say it can be "found" if looked for hard enough. and its just a simple dual layer dvd disc away.rmurad38
The hack great! It allows the passenger to fully access all NAV functions while I drive. It does require a dual-layer DVD burner but I followed the tips on carhack.org and it works perfect.
 
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