No Need to Disconnect the Climate Control Cable! 2006 2.5i SE Stereo Installation...

[jmberg]

I recently posted about my stereo installation difficulties on my 2006 2.5i wagon. I've installed new stereos on five other vehicles (including two other subies) and never encountered the initial challenge I faced with this Legacy. My Crutchfield installation guide was spot-on until one cryptic step, which simply stated: "remove the Climate Control Cable." This cable is located under the driver's side dash. It's incredibly difficult to reach and in attempting to pry it free, I inadvertently knocked another part of that climate component off track, thus preventing the heat/ac knob from working and the vehicle from producing any heat. I managed to fix that issue and decided at that point to attempt to remove the stock HU and install the new stereo without touching the climate control cable.

 

I quickly discovered that there's absolutely no reason to struggle with that damn cable! I had no difficulty pulling out the stock stereo far enough to unplug the harnesses. And the installation of the new stereo was similarly smooth. I unfortunately had to pull out the new unit a couple times to deal with a bad solder/connection, and I can honestly say that my third!/final removal and re-installation (from start to finish) took less than 10 minutes. And I love this Clarion.

 

In short, IGNORE the Crutchfield (or other) instructions to remove the climate control cable. It is definitely not necessary.

 

Hopefully this post will allow others to avoid the insanity and rage this process initially caused in me.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Uh7Av.jpg

[soloz2]

I did the same.

[cklemmer]

I failed to get the radio out of my 2005 2.5i wagon without disconnecting the CC. Spent 4 hours trying to figure out how to get it out without the cable before I gave up and spent several hours removing the CC cable.