BigRichJ

Hi all...total newbie here when it comes to car stereo/navigation issues. Looked through a few hundred posts and couldn't find anything precisely on point - so thanks in advance for your patience and help.

I own a 2004 TL with Nav. I busted my stereo head unit (cassette shell stuck in slot) and had to replace it. I purchased a new head unit on E-Bay which seemed legit (including an Acura card with anti-theft ID). I brought the unit to a local car stereo place to install it - they told me they just unhooked the harnesses from the old unit and substituted them in the new unit. The stereo (CD, DVD-A, XM, Radio) works perfectly.

Unfortunately, the following problems have now come up (none of which were issues before I swapped out the head unit):

- No nav. voice. The nav system/screen/directions work fine, but no voice prompts. The stereo mutes when it normally should, but no voice comes out.

- No voice control at all. I hit the voice input button on the wheel, get a beep and nothing else. No voice input seems to be allowed.

- No HFL. The car and the phone seem to connect up (I get the little phone icon in my upper screen), but the buttons are unresponsive, phone doesn't ring, etc.

I've tried checking the setup settings for voice to make sure they're not muted. I had the car stereo place check to make sure they'd connected all the wires/harnesses, and they tell me they've done so. I checked all the fuses and they seem to be fine.

I noticed some other posts mentioning that you can lose nav voice/voice/HFL if you put in a non-Acura head unit, but I'm not sure how that applies here.

The dealer simply suggested giving me an entirely new navigation system - which I definitely can't afford.

Any suggestions for me? Is there some non-obvious hookup that the car stereo people missed when they put the new head unit in? Or does it sound like I just received a bum head unit and have to fight with the e-bay seller?

Again, I apologise if my terminology isn't that great, but really do appreciate any help you could give me.

Rich

csmeance

take a photo of the new cassete slot, esp where ACURA is written. It could be 1 of 2 things:
1 - incompatible radio (2005+ ones different from 04)
2. You have a non-navi radio that processes differently

BigRichJ

Thanks - I'll post that picture soon. But I *did* notice that the "Acura" printing on the cassette slot door seemed different from my original factory radio (the font is less bold). So the 2004 radios are somehow different from the 2005-07 versions? Is the different font on the cassette slot door the only way to tell the difference (my dealer had told me that the '04-'07 radios were the same...not that I trust them very far...)?

csmeance

The 04's have large text, the 05+ have smaller text on them. As well if the radio belongs to the wrong version (navi/non-navi) HFL won't work.

NBP_05_6SPD

I have the same Navi Voice problem. The front speaker mutes, but no voice direction from the navigation.

As far as I can tell, I have a 05 radio with the smaller text on the casset deck door. How do I know if it's the right version (Nav/Non-Nav)?

NBP_05_6SPD

bump...anyone can help out here? Thx!