Focus St Radio Wiring Help?

[Andyd4]

My dad has just purchased a 57 plate Focus ST, we bought the car yesterday and as we were driving it back home I had a play around with its Radio/Sat Nav system. The radio didn't work and the bluetooth audio sound quality was diabolical. The plan to solve this is that we would like to take out this aftermarket radio and put in a standard ford radio/CD player with no Sat Nav. If we were to purchase something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FOCUS-GALAXY-S-MAX-C-MAX-6000CD-/261724535836?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item3cefff7c1c would the change over with the wiring be simple or will we have to get adapters to make the radio and CD to work?

Many thanks.

[tomtom70]

It will work to some degree, with the information provided it is impossible to tell if it works fully. The radios for Focus and S-Max/Mondeo are not the same, and the seller claims the radio is good for either (which cannot be true).

When the sound is currently "diabolical", something must be broken, maybe outside of the satnav, which will not be fixed by replacing the headunit.

"The radio did not work" - not work how? Is the antenna mast installed on the roof?

Bad bluetooth sound quality is mostly an issue of the phone - older iPhone, perhaps?

[Andyd4]

The bad sound through bluetooth suggests to me that its just a poor quality head unit. I used my iPhone play music through bluetooth and the sound quality was just horrible. The radio does work to some degree but it has poor signal and doesn't tune very well. The interface for the radio is also terrible and its hard to use. When we did get it to tune into a radio station the sound was good but as we were driving we started to lose signal and it wouldn't tune into anything after that so I just gave up. I'd just like to take the sat nav/radio unit out just because its hard to use and a bit naff really.

What I'm wondering about the CD6000 unit is that if the wiring doesn't match up and adapter would be able to be purchased to sort the problem.

[Andyd4]

Another thing to add is that with this steering wheel stalk controls (Vol up/down etc) doesn't work with the radio/sat nav either.

So in general it would just be nicer to have a ford radio in the car that works and doesn't have all the defects.

[dezwez]

try find one with code

[gforce]

Only way to find out about the wiring is to pull out the stereo and look.

In normal cases, the standard loom would be left fully intact and an adapter harness used to convert the standard car loom plug to the aftermarket headunit plug. If this is the case, then it will be just a case of removing the headunit and adapter and fitting a genuine Ford unit, plug and play.

The other possibility is if the person who installed it either didn't have the adapter harness or else decided they didn't need one and decided to butcher the car loom and hardwire in the new system. This is probably unlikely, but we can't be sure until you check for yourself.

As said, if everything is intact, get a Ford radio and it's plug and play.

What I would strongly recommend though is getting the Sony version over the Ford CD6000 one, like this for example... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Focus-2008-sony-cd-player-with-stereo-code-cdx-fs307-ea-/251799145035?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item3aa0660a4b

And just to confirm, it's a rounded edge aftermarket unit fitted yeah? Because I believe your dad's 57 plate pre-facelift would have the earlier rectangular style stereo fitted from factory. If you bought one of these and an original fascia you'll prob get the OEM bluetooth functionality back too if you have the module behind the glovebox.

Single disc that can read discs with MP-3 tracks... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Focus-MK3-05-08-Fiesta-MK6-05-Sony-MP3-Single-Disc-Cd-player-/231452138123?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item35e39f5a8b

In-built 6 disc changer... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Focus-mk3-2005-Sony-cd-player-6-cd-/251792573678?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3aa001c4ee

PS Any links I've included here are just for example only, they're the first ones I found on the bay so just make sure you check for best prices, fully functioning, code provided etc etc before buying anything!

[gforce]

And on the steering wheel controls, these should work again no problems as well with genuine headunit. They also need a specific adapter harness to operate with aftermarket units.

[Andyd4]

Thanks for all the help so far, yes I will definatley buy one with the code. The head unit is the one with the curved edges so the Sony one would be simple to fit.

I'm going to take out the head unit later on hopefully and we will see what wiring looms its got. Hopefully it will be simple.

[tomtom70]

So the current satnav is not factory fit (as the steering wheel controls do no work)?

[Andyd4]

So the current satnav is not factory fit (as the steering wheel controls do no work)?

No it's not, it seems like some cheap knock off sat nav.

[BOF]

The radio didn't work...

....The radio does work to some degree but it has poor signal and doesn't tune very well.

Bear in mind, that's just as likely to be a problem with the antenna unit or the wiring as a problem with the head unit.

I'm going to take out the head unit later on hopefully and we will see what wiring looms its got. Hopefully it will be simple.

Based on insufficient evidence, I'm feeling that your car has been got at by a bodger, and it might be a mess - I hope I'm wrong.

[Stoney871]

Hopefully the original quadlock connector is still in place and the previous owner merely used a plug-in adaptor.

By the sounds of it, the reason the steering stalk isn't working is probably because they never got an adaptor with a remote interface module attached.

Fingers crossed that all you need to do is remove the current radio, unplug the loom adaptor and plug the new radio right in.

If you are stuffed for how to remove/refit the radios have a look at my guide for fitting the oval radio ( click the link at the bottom of this post) which may give some pointers relevant to your project.