Ford vs Sony head unit query.

[fladavid]

My 55 plate Focus has the standard Ford radio fitted and my son's 06 plate Focus has the factory fitted Sony version in. 

We are both looking to upgrade our head units but I would be happy to just swap his present one to my car whereas he's looking at one on offer in Halfords (Sony WX-800UI Double Din Car Stereo).

Would anyone be able to answer the following questions?

1. Will my son's Sony stereo go straight into my car or will I need an adapter? 

2. Will the Sony WX-800UI Double Din Car Stereo he's considering go straight into his car without needing an adapter seeing as they are both Sony head units being swapped?

3. Will my son's steering column controls work if he upgrades to the Sony WX-800UI Double Din Car Stereo?

4. Has the factory fitted Sony in my son's car got bluetooth link for phone control? My Ford head unit has but we can't seem to find it on his Sony. 

5. Can anyone please send me any web links to the correct wiring adapters that may or may not be needed on both vehicles so that we dont have to have Halfords fitting the head unit? 

Thanks for your help. 

David. 

[vibeone]

I can't say for certain as I missed the mk2.0 edition, but I would be very surprised if you can't put the sony in yours as a straight swap, without adaptor.  I imagine the bluetooth will continue to work fine for you.

However, fitting an aftermarket into your son's focus is more complicated.  You might need a different facia (I can't remember if the square non-rounded fascia is standard double din or not.  You'll probably need a wiring harness to convert the non-standard ISO wiring to ISO standard.  You will also need an adaptor to ensure the stalk controls still work.  Both of these are pretty cheap and usually stocked in Halfords for something as common as a focus.  

Don't let Halfords fit your stereo, you could probably do a better job blindfolded.

Hope this helps, but wait for a consensus rather than my word, since most of the above is educated guesswork :)

[fladavid]

Been busy since my first post but went to Halfords today and the audio guy told me I would need these three items to fit the new Sony stereo at £12 for the harness, £5 for the aerial adapter and a ridiculous  £18 for a fascia adapter which needs to be cut by myself as well, the centre bar apparently. 

This is all adding up to become expensive and I'm wondering whether to just look for the standard Ford Sony one on eBay instead. 

Do I actually need a fascia adapter? I just assumed the dimensions would be exactly the same on the aftermarket Sony unit as the old Ford unit. If i decide to just buy a standard Ford Sony unit will it fit in without the need for any adapters? 

[Lenny]

37 minutes ago, fladavid said:

Been busy since my first post but went to Halfords today and the audio guy told me I would need these three items to fit the new Sony stereo at £12 for the harness, £5 for the aerial adapter and a ridiculous  £18 for a fascia adapter which needs to be cut by myself as well, the centre bar apparently. 

This is all adding up to become expensive and I'm wondering whether to just look for the standard Ford Sony one on eBay instead. 

Do I actually need a fascia adapter? I just assumed the dimensions would be exactly the same on the aftermarket Sony unit as the old Ford unit. If i decide to just buy a standard Ford Sony unit will it fit in without the need for any adapters? 

If fitting an aftermarket double din headunit; you would need those items along with a steering stalk adaptor, alternatively see my detailed guides here for removing stock and fitting aftermarket there are many ad advantages to fitting aftermarket compared to factory units which make it a worth while investment: 

Guide to Fitting Aftermarket headunit focus Mk2 & Mk2.5 Click Here

Guide To fitting 10" HD Flip Down Monitor Focus Mk2 & Mk2.5 Click Here

Custom 10" Sub enclosure & Amp panel Focus Mk2 & Mk2.5Click Here

Guide Installing Reverse Camera Focus Mk2.5 2008 - 2011Click Here 

But if fitting a Ford Sony headunit; you won't need any adaptors as it's a straight swap.

[fladavid]

So just to be clear the factory fitted Ford headunits are actually slightly bigger than a standard double din aftermarket unit necessitating a fascia adapter to fill the gap? 

In which case Lenny I think I might go with a mark 2 standard Sony unit from eBay if it is just a standard swap out from my Ford cd6000 unit. Is that the case? 

Also seen a Sony unit on eBay that said it was for the 2005-2008 Focus. Would this be exactly the same unit as those fitted in my 55 plate mark 2? Or are they different, they look the same on the photos. 

[Lenny]

2 hours ago, fladavid said:

So just to be clear the factory fitted Ford headunits are actually slightly bigger than a standard double din aftermarket unit necessitating a fascia adapter to fill the gap? 

Yes that's 100% correct

2 hours ago, fladavid said:

In which case Lenny I think I might go with a mark 2 standard Sony unit from eBay if it is just a standard swap out from my Ford cd6000 unit. Is that the case? 

Also seen a Sony unit on eBay that said it was for the 2005-2008 Focus. Would this be exactly the same unit as those fitted in my 55 plate mark 2? Or are they different, they look the same on the photos. 

The only thing you need to watch out for when purchasing a ford Sony headunit on eBay or anywhere second hand is to make sure it came from a Ford Focus because the identical ford Sony headunit is also fitted to the mk3 mondeo and although it is identical on the outside and it will fit the focus the software inside is different meaning the sound won't be correct as the outputs differ; I've experienced all of this in the past. The only way to be sure is to obtain the part number of the headunit and Google it to find out if it's from focus or mondeo.

There are 6CD changer models also available in Ford Sony which take in 6 CD's within the headunit itself no extra box in the boot or gl ovebox all fit inside the headunit, I had one of those myself but it was from a mondeo. 

[fladavid]

 This is getting confusing lol.

So I must buy one that states Mark 2 Focus only or I risk it not fitting or working correctly? 

[vibeone]

1 hour ago, fladavid said:

 This is getting confusing lol.

So I must buy one that states Mark 2 Focus only or I risk it not fitting or working correctly? 

and look for the DAB Digital Radio logo on the front too.

[DJ_Andy_M]

5 minutes ago, vibeone said:

and look for the DAB Digital Radio logo on the front too.

The MK2 pre-facelift Sony head units weren't DAB. This was introduced with the newer head units if I recall.

[vibeone]

38 minutes ago, DJ_Andy_M said:

The MK2 pre-facelift Sony head units weren't DAB. This was introduced with the newer head units if I recall.

Good point, but I was under the impression you could fairly easily retrofit the oval 2.5's into the 2?

[Lenny]

2 hours ago, fladavid said:

 This is getting confusing lol.

So I must buy one that states Mark 2 Focus only or I risk it not fitting or working correctly? 

Yes, but you can't trust the seller is telling the truth when there saying it's from a focus, 

You must see the headunit part number on the left side; and search it on Google to find out of its from a focus or not this one here is a part number from a mondeo 

Aside from this in my own opinion mate your most likely spending around 200 pounds on old technology which has very limited ability, if you were to go for an aftermarket headunit you would have more technology for the same money such as bluetooth capabilities and mp3.

The factory Sony's aren't as good as an aftermarket to be honest.

[Lenny]

23 minutes ago, vibeone said:

Good point, but I was under the impression you could fairly easily retrofit the oval 2.5's into the 2?

It is simple enough; you just need the newer surround aswell as two plastic clips which provide the screw sockets.

The DAB also uses an additional aerial; the Ford DAB aerial is inside the driver's side wing mirror if fitted

[vibeone]

I get the whole aftermarket/stock argument, having been 100% aftermarket before my mk2.5, but I just like the stock look, and mine had dab and bluetooth, and the sound wasn't particularly bad.  But admittedly if you need to wire a DAB aerial in, I appreciate the extra effort involved - I've just added a new DAB aerial to my mk3 because the reception was terrible!

[fladavid]

So the main question now is can a standard Ford cd6000 be directly replaced by the correct version of the standard Ford Sony head unit with no wiring or fascia adapters needed? A like for like swap. Does anybody know the definitive answer? 

[fladavid]

 Also I now have to change the radio as I believe it might be faulty. 

All four speaker's stopped working a while back, only the two tweeters in the front doors were working. Yesterday I actually went to have some new ones installed in Halfords and on the way there they all started working again, rather fortunately!  This morning I have got in the car and it's only the tweeters working again so I'm assuming that my Ford cd6000 has some kind of fault on it, or could there be another reason other than the head unit itself? 

[Lenny]

2 hours ago, fladavid said:

So the main question now is can a standard Ford cd6000 be directly replaced by the correct version of the standard Ford Sony head unit with no wiring or fascia adapters needed? A like for like swap. Does anybody know the definitive answer? 

Yes it can straight swap 

And if the new Sony has DAB then you would need an extra aerial for that function to work but everything else will function without any issue.

[fladavid]

I'm just hoping the speaker problem is head unit related and nothing else on top.

[fladavid]

Right I really do need help now. 

Bit the bullet today and purchased the Sony aftermarket unit from Halfords. I connected the wiring adapter and still no main four Speakers, so it wasn't my old Ford head unit.....grrrrr.

Can someone please help?

I know that the four main Speakers do work as they briefly came on yesterday when I drove the car. This morning they were duff again with only the two tweeters active. This now suggests to me a break in the wiring somewhere but why would all four go on and off together like that, is there one main wire that controls all four? 

The wiring does look as if it may have been altered at some stage as there is a lot of electrical tape but mainly from the finer wires at the bottom of the connector which I'm guessing is for the stalk controls, I didn't buy the extra connector to connect them as I dont use the stalk controls at all. At some stage I think the car may have had a wired in phone cradle as I have a couple of holes in the centre console and like I say the wiring might have been altered. 

I have attached some photos of my wiring hoping that someone might say it looks wrong. Btw I have pulled at the wires and twisted them and then straightened them again to see if the Speakers come back on but with no success. 

I'm at my wits end!

[Stoney871]

Someone has chopped the wiring ar some point.

I'd un-tape all the bodge then solder & insulate the wires properly to avoid crossed feeds.

[fladavid]

Are the chopped ones like I suspect to the column stalk controls? Should they be taped all the way up anyway from the factory or is that someone after do you think? 

Any ideas why all four Speakers would come on and off simultaneously? There isn't a fuse that controls them is there? 

[Lenny]

2 hours ago, fladavid said:

Are the chopped ones like I suspect to the column stalk controls? Should they be taped all the way up anyway from the factory or is that someone after do you think? 

Any ideas why all four speakers would come on and off simultaneously? There isn't a fuse that controls them is there? 

Here's a diagram of the plug 

All Speakers are wired independently; the only location where they all come in line with each other is at the rear of the headunit.

A common problem is for the rear Speakers to stop working; I've narrowed this down to be a problen in the wiring between the chassis and the rear doors possibly inside the rubber goose neck.

The reason I know this; is because I've completely stripped out the stock system and installed a full JL Audio C3 650 kit with amplifiers and aftermarket wiring,

the only part of the factory wiring I kept was the connection between the chassis and the rear doors

which I now regret because I'm now experiencing the common problem of the rear Speakers not working which is wrecking my head as I've invested 280GBP in a set of speakers which are in the back doing nothing. 

[fladavid]

Thanks Kenny.

I'm beginning to think that the previous owner has removed a wired in car phone cradle looking at the amount of electrical tape around the wires and the holes in my centre console and has not rewired it correctly. The photo attached shows wires twisted together and held by tape. It's the only explanation why all four Speakers come on and off together I'm guessing. 

This looks like it's beyond me tbh. Anybody know a good audio technician in the SW London/Surrey areas by any chance? 

[fladavid]

Seeing as my connector wiring seems to have been altered (See photo) at some stage does anybody know how it should look when it left the factory. What coloured wires should go into which terminal points. If I can put it back how it should be perhaps it might cure the problem.  

If I were to just discontent the phone or the aux terminal block would it do anything or do they both need to be inserted without question? 

[Lenny]

Perhaps better getting the Haynes manual and chopping the block 

 

[fladavid]

This is quite bizzare but I did what Stoney said and undid the gunky tape around the connections, it was like glue and sticking to my fingers. I started by cleaning all the wires with just a dry cloth, plugged in the new head unit and bingo all was working. I jiggled the wires a fair bit to make sure that there quad no lose connections, all seems good at the moment. 

Can't understand  why gunky ekectrical tape would affect the connections but at the moment that seems the case.

Photo attached is of the tape removed and the wires cleaned.