Colin Irwin

05 Acura TL

Well I got my display and compass unit in the mail, unfortunately the display is in much worse shape than the seller and photos made it seem. A corner is chipped off, the screen(s) are scratched up pretty bad and it looks like someone tried to pry off the screens at some point, you can see the cracks in the plastic where the tabs for the screens go. I would have thought LKQ would have been better for this, I also got it from Canada (only place I could find one with the harness connector), I found another one on hollander that appears to only have a few scratches on the display (description confirms this) and looks like it is in much better shape for $40, once that shows up I can actually do something.

The 6 pin blue connector is for the compass & the 6 pin green connector is the small on that goes into the back of the display, looks like the only difference is one of the slots on the plug is a little to wide to slide into the compass, if you were to shave it down a bit it should plug right in. This could be a potential plug/wiring solution for the compass, since when you get a display with the wiring, that 6 pin green connector comes with it.

05 Acura TL

Well I haven't had time to do this yet (due to the weather), I also bought my third display, apparently my definition of good shape and salvage yards isn't the same. But I did find some information that I feel is relevant to this thread, more specifically with the compass module (for those who are interested). The pdfs are straight from the 07-08 Acura TL manual.

See the attached pdfs for the information, I tried to get some screen shots to post them instead, but I wasn't able to get them to come out clearly. If someone wants to do that feel free.

Superunknown

I wonder, is there any way to track down a female 04-06 display connector so a harness could be constructed without cutting any wires on the car?

05 Acura TL

I am sure you could go somewhere online and dig through thousands of photos/descriptions and find one. Just about every plug out there can be bought if you can find it. lol

I am not sure why you would need a harness though, you shouldn't have to cut any wires for just the display swap, you are just depinning your existing connector and repinning it to the new one.

Superunknown

I'm not sure why I thought there was splicing involved. Still, I'd prefer to make a pigtail for quick install/removal if possible.

The harness end looks like a dead ringer for DJ7141A-1.2-21, still looking for the counterpart.

vlab

Hi there !

Just got a 06 TL 6MT, base model last week ... !! So happy! still a great car, even if 13 years old...

I was lucky enough to source a 07 non-nav radio, along with the compass unit and a couple of harnesses (for a ridiculously low price!)

I began unpinning the blue connector, so whenever I can access a heated garage, I will be ready to swap the headunit!!
Also install a bluetooth kit while in there,

As for the Compass module, I see pin A1, A2, A11, A12 of the main blue connector going to the compass unit.
As for the YEL/GRN and BLK cable, I guess I could split a 12V + GRND cable going into the radio?
Would such a small circuit board really needs a fuse of its own? I can imagine rewiring this to the fuse box as something long and painful.

Anyone else successfully installed the compass module? If so, I would appreciate knowing how you did with the YEL/GRN and ground of the compass unit.

Cheers!

V

vlab

.... Sorry for double posting (as a new member, I can't edit my posts yet..)

As for the compass module installation, I guess there would enough room to mount it behind the head unit, does it matter if the compass module is not installed at a flat, level position ?

Thanks again !

V

05 Acura TL

As far as I know, nobody has done this swap with a working compass yet. I plan to do this mid April, just waiting for it too warm up a bit. My plan is put the module in the factory location in the rear deck lid (still need to confirm if the holes required to mount it are already there, should be) and run my own harness to the front of the car. I plan to use ground G604 (located on the passenger side of the car in the trunk, its shared by the tail light and XM radio module), this is the factory compass module ground on the 07-08 and then use a fuse tap for the fuse box under the dash in slot #20. Which is a 7.5a fuse on the 04-06 Non-nav models and is shared by the power seats, mirror and rear view mirror. This same circuit on the 07-08 non-nav models is a 15a fuse and has all the same things as the 04-06, except it includes the compass module, so with a fuse tap I can keep the 7.5a fuse on the factory circuit and the compass module will have its own 7.5a fuse.

I don't see a reason you couldn't mount the module under the dash, but I would assume it needs to be kept flat. Only way to know for sure is too try it out. As for tapping into the radio power & ground I am sure you could, just need to make sure you tap into the keyed on power to radio, don't want to kill your battery when the car isn't running.

vlab

Hi !

Thanks for taking the time to reply!
I may do this over the weekend or the next one, as not having Aux/bluetooth audio really is painful (I can't stand commercial radio, and my daily commute is long!)

I'm surprised nobody actually have done this before,

I don't think I have enough courage to run a harness under the carpet, I'll try to locate the compass module behind the head unit, or somewhere near the front of the car. Worst case, I can remove the plastic casing, the PCB itself is actually pretty small,

I'll test if the compass module really needs to be leveled, or not, before closing everything up.

As for electrical connections, I will try tapping into the radio ACC circuit and ground (pin A1 and A5), I could put an inline fuse, but in the event of a short, the radio fuse would most likely burn a bit faster with the extra load of the compass module.

I'll take some pictures of the process. Hopefully the info we share here can be useful to other people.

Cheers!

V

05 Acura TL

I apologize for the larger photos, I wasn't able to resize them properly.

Well finally took the time too do this. Whoever designed the interior on these cars was an evil genius. I didn't take a bunch of photos and the ones I did didn't exactly come out great due to poor lighting. I also took the time to replace all of my burnt out bulbs in the HVAC display and the shift selector light, I can finally see stuff at night! I also decided to go ahead and switch the pins around like was stated above about the dimming issue, worked just fine.




Well nothing like the disappointment of no mounting holes...


The four wires on the left side of the plug are for the compass.


Almost like Honda/Acura meant for a wire to be here!


My temporary mounting solution for the compass module, since there are no mounting holes that are usable. I ended up moving it over to the right and used some tape to hold it down so it wouldn't move when the rear deck lid went on. The rear deck lid has a pocket in it with a notch for the wiring and it has some insulation that should help hold it all in place and keep it from making noise. I did my best to rotate it too match the photo in the manual during my final assembly.


I used some split loom in the areas where there were sharp metal edges.


Compass works!


Used a fuse tap on fuse #20, since its hot with ignition on for both the 04-06 models & 07-08.



I am having some issues with the compass calibration, "N" still works just fine, but its coming up with "-- --", which according to the manual means its still calibrating. I was able to set the zone, but other than that not so much. lol


Now that it is all done I am happy with it, would I do it again? No, way to much work. lol

I will say that this is not a project for the faint of heart, a lot of stuff has to be removed and I have probably around 12 hours or so in the entire thing.

05 Acura TL

Well after driving for a few minutes the compass calibrated itself and appears to be working perfectly ​​​when compared to regular compass. Now I just need to clean my interior up from all my dusty finger prints. lol


Hopefully with the info in this thread for the radio display and the info for the compass will help out some other people who want to tackle this!

I also recommend the paperclip method for removing the pins as stated above, worked better than anything else I tried or I suppose you could by the OEM tool, but that isn't cheap.

vlab

Wow! That is amazing ! Going thru literally taking off all of the car interior for the compass module is really no small thing!

I tried doing this a few weeks ago, but I haven't been as lucky, while doing my radio swap, I think I might have inverted some power source for the radio (there is like 4 red wires!), The radio is laggy, and I only have backlight for the upper HVAC section, the radio display is blank (but radio works), and the clock module have a backlight ¨¨spasm¨ like every second or so, and changes whenever I use flashers... I was running out of time that weekend so I needed to button it back up before finding the solution.


For sure your post is inspiring me to get back to it!


Thanks again for sharing your success! and congrats!

V

05 Acura TL

Thanks! I typically try to do things the right way or at least what I think is right. lol

You may need to pull up a radio pin out for the power wires if you plan to tap into the radio wiring, I know Honda/Acura likes to use the same color wire for a lot of different things. Hopefully you didn't have to deal with any permanent electrical issues from that or maybe it would be a simple fuse issue?

jay_taps

Hey guys, I have an 06 Navi whose screen doesn’t display anything. In the off chance that cleaning the dvd unit doesn’t work, does anyone know how much harder it would be to convert an 06 Navi to an 07-08 non Navi. I don’t care much at all about the touch screen and would much rather to just be able to play music since I can’t even do that now.

J Roc Em

How did you obtain the blue connector?
I would love to do the same

05 Acura TL

I got mine with the display unit, it seems like most of the time the sellers (salvage yards, etc...) just unplug the display and other times they just cut the wiring off. If you can find somewhere to take the parts yourself, you can probably get the plug or just ask the seller of the parts if they will include the plug. I never did find the plug available separate from the harness in the car.

sookie93

What's up guys. Doing tons of research and no help and stuck. I have a 05 Navi and tried this but failed. Has anyone with a Navi tried to convert to non Navi. I have the 07-08 screen and the connector. I tried to depin and pin according to what that wire does but that was a fail. So has anyone successfully did it from a 04-06 Navi to 07-08 non Navi. And also the navigation has to have the compass right. So does that mean I can use stop compass to make it work with the new display? Thanks

slacker221

First off, Thank you guys in this thread for the excellent information, I was able to re-pin the harness easily and got the newer climate control working in my 05 TL.

So I see that user "05 Acura TL" has got the compass working by making his own harness and mounting the compass sensor module in the factory location on the deck lid in the rear seat. Well I was able to simply install the compass sensor in the dash in between the center channel speaker and the front of the dash towards the engine bay. I literally just zip tied the compass sensor to the wire harness that follows the shrouds for the AC vents, and then used the wire harness from the sensor to match the color codes to the wires pinned in the newer climate control harness. For the power and ground for the sensor, I simply tapped into the "ACC power" and ground wires for the climate control and radio screen harness. Everything is working perfect and did not even have to calibrate it. Figured I would share this with others that might be wondering if there is a easier way to get the compass working. Sorry I did not take any photo's during installation.

05 Acura TL

I went that route mostly because I was worried about having issues with the compass operation itself, obviously there was a reason Acura put it there. The route you went is what I was going to do originally, but I like to tinker and take things apart, so I went the route most similar to how Acura did it. I am glad to hear it all worked out for you though, I am sure that saved many hours. lol

I figured I would update on the longevity of my conversion, it was working flawlessly until I traded it in in February of this year. I am assuming its working just fine for the new owner as well.

Joecop67

Where did you get the compass?

05 Acura TL

I found mine on ebay, not by the part number though, I just was searching under "Acura Compass" and then found that in a listing. However I did list the part number in a previous post in this thread, if somebody wanted to search using that. I don't really see a reason another acura/honda compass couldn't be used, they for the most part have the same connector and I would assume the same wiring pin out.

slacker221

I got mine from a local pick your part junkyard. There are lots of TL's at the junkyards in southern California.

slacker221

I was at a pick your part this weekend and picked up another compass module with the wire harness that plugs into the module. If anyone is interested in buying it on here ill sell it for $20 plus shipping. Let me know

Joecop67

I’d be interested. Where are you located?

slacker221

Im located in southern California near LA.

JRent

I performed the swap and my stereo stopped working 😬 any idea why??

SulkarTL

So I did this step by step and the harness looks perfect but I’m having a major problem, the HVAC controls and screen work but the radio screen doesn’t, I have no sound for some reason and even with the screen disconnected my security key won’t work. The plug is exact with the exception that I swapped A2 and the A7 since I have a 2006 mt

please if anyone has the answer to why the radio portion of the screen won’t work lmk.
thanks for your time

Radio info will not show up and I have no sound or anything either, I typed the security code but no beep.


Look over the following, but don't touch anything yet! (I'll explain later)


A1 -----> A5
A2 -----> A15
A3 -----> A7
A4 -----> A8
A5 -----> A9
A6 -----> A10
A7 -----> A6
A8 -----> A16
A9 -----> A17
A10 -----> A18
A11 -----> A19
A14 -----> A22


Make sure you are plugging them into the right slot!!!

Now, the reason I said not to start removing the wires is because you will forget which wire is which! Sure, you could look for the color, but why make it harder for yourself?

I recommend doing it one wire at a time...unplug one and plug it into the blue harness...and continue doing this until you are done.

Once you have completed doing that, plug everything back together and make sure it all works! Test out all of the radio features, HVAC features, and try the dimming of the interior lights to make sure it all works. If it does, congrats! If not, you will need to redo the harness which will be a pain since you have to figure out what wire is what.

Once it's working, put everything back together and enjoy your new display!

I hope this helps, I know I got a lot of interest from people to do a write-up. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn't think of it at the time. While you can find all the info by yourself, it sure was annoying to find it all. Please let me know you have any questions! Good luck!

***You do not get the compass feature unfortunately...not sure what part contains the compass, if you can find it I'm sure you can install it. I did not feel like bothering with it, so I'll just deal with the car inside a circle ****

[/QUOTE]

SulkarTL

to add to this, my 12v plugs (cigarette lighters) don’t work either now



[/QUOTE]