CatInTheDryer

Thread revival as my car just started doing this goddamn noise.

So is this a sign of the actuator shitting the bed, or do they just get noisy? I'm thinking I'm going to wait until it goes. I take it that may be a while. Way too hot in my garage to do something about it now and the noise is only there when shutting the car off.

If it's shut-off only it's probably the passenger side mode select actuator (as pictured in Legit's video)...It cycles back to what I assume is defrost when the car is turned off. The driver's side blend door actuator will click non-stop during driving and is far more annoying.

Pull the bottom dash panel out by removing the two screw retainers on each side and then pry the center push retainer using an appropriate tool. This will give you a little more room to work with.

The blend door guide you need to clean and lube is in the picture below (white arm) below the green plug. It's located on the right side of the driver's foot well behind where the HVAC is. Long wood handled q-tips would work best...I had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to reach the guide with normal q-tips. I put a minimal amount of lube on the q-tips to help clean the guides and then a generous amount to re-lubricate it. You'll have to turn the driver's side temp control up and down to get the blend door to cycle through its positions...it will move to positions above and below the actuator so you'll need to clean it on both sides to completely clean/lube it.

All said, this ended up being quicker and easier to clean than the passenger side.

Are the wire harnesses for the 05 and 08 different? I was thinking about picking up a 08 console to move the seat heater switches and gain the non-si drive coin holder.

Shaun, did you take any pictures of the bottom of the heater switch or the wiring harness?

Has anyone had problems with broken CD changers? I've bought two junkyard P-204UHes so far, and both had CD changers that did not function. Whether or not this problem is common, is the CD changer component available separately, and/or do the 07+ Impreza/Forester or 5th-gen Legacy CD changers interchange? (I've tried my 05 changer, and it doesn't work.)

I picked the one I have now from another member on this board who did the JDM swap...it works fine. However, the first one I ordered was from a wrecking yard and arrived covered with rust and with disks loaded in the changer. I didn't even bother testing it given the condition and shipping these HU's with the CD's loaded is an easy way to break the changer. The yard I ordered from had an excellent return policy and paid for the return shipping.

Now here is where I am running into serious problems. First of all, I have what I believe to be alternator noise. And it only happens when I am using the Aux-in. There is a clicking noise that is fairly slow at low rpms and picks up in speed and loudness as the engine is revved. Also, there is static that I can hear in the background. It is as if the signal is unclean. The music sounds fine but you can hear static underneath all the notes. I can hear the static and it bugs me even more than my dash rattle. I do not get static from playing a cd. And the static also occurs with the car on and also off. Does anybody else have that and thats just how it is or is something wrong? Can anybody give me some suggestions? I would love to try a different audio cable but I hate to try a different one because I have to take the entire radio completely apart again to unplug it from the leptronix to try a different one and I'm not even sure that is whats causing the problems.

 

Any help would be much appreciated. Sorry for the Wall of Text.

Before you go tearing into your radio again...what do you have the volume of your music player set to? If you have your volume set to 100% it will likely produce distortion and static. IIRC this board runs best with the volume of the music player set to ~80%.

I picked up a pack (two in a pack) of these at Radioshack for about $3 and soldered them together (used a thin wire the bridge the signal pin). I then slipped a piece of shrink tube over the connectors to cover the pins...the signal pins needed to be bent down.

I won't know how it works until this weekend...I picked up an 08 radio and went that route instead. I'll be installing my old radio with Sebastien's board in my parent's OBXT and will update on the results later.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3319/3412015671_91c0643f00_b.jpg

I'll order when vendor status is achieved!

Same goes for me...also anxious to see this in action.