2002 Radio replacement

[Albert J Alvarez]

Good morning,

Love my Sequoia, just started a few years ago in doing my own repairs. I thought I had a dead battery when all I needed to do is tighten the terminals, and put the charger on a fully charged battery and burnt my old radio, and possibly the wiring harness. I searched online and found a JBL with the exact part number, however, upon disconnecting the old radio, the plugs are different. I would like to get the wiring harness for the JBL, and possibly upgrade my speakers in the future. Any help, I attempted to search online for this information and have not found anything. Thanks in advance

AA

 

[rickc5]

AFAIK, the JBL system is NOT a plug-and-play replacement for the non-JBL system. Not even close. The speakers are NOT compatible, and the JBL has a sub-woofer that the non-JBL doesn't have. A couple of options: 1) find the correct JBL speakers and sub-woofer, and THEN rewire the entire system, as the wiring is (of course) totally different. Not a good idea. 2) sell that JBL head unit and buy an aftermarket head unit and speakers from Crutchfield or some other knowledgeable source that has service people that can help you with your install.

In addition, my personal experience with 4 different JBL systems in 4 different Toyota vehicles is that the JBL isn't overwhelming. It sounds fair at best, and there's no adjustments you can make to it that really make it sound any better. It's a real let-down for what is supposed to be a premium, upgraded system. I think just about an decent aftermarket system will easily outperform Toyota's JBL systems.

 

[Albert J Alvarez]

Thanks for the reply Rick, sigh...had my heart set on "upgrading" it with original radio, I have hit several roadblocks in trying to 'do it myself", considering the cost! I called toyota, went to a local shop and NOTHING! I don't understand how something so "standard" is difficult to find.

 

[rickc5]

Hi again Albert, OK, so I need to mention a couple of things: 1) I'm an old fart (73) and I'm NOT an audiophile. Although I have messed around with stereo systems in Toyotas since the early 1980s. 2) Most of my "current" knowledge comes from reading hundreds (thousands?) of posts on multiple forums. 3) My hearing at this age is pretty shot, and while I still think that the JBL systems are pretty poor, I can still appreciate a good sound system in a car. Our Lexus RX has the Mark Levinson premium system, and it sounds so much better than the JBL system in our new Tacoma. 4) I have found that just upgrading the speakers in a Toyota (stock speakers are garbage) makes a big difference in sound improvement. Swapping out the head unit without swapping out the speakers is a waste of money & time.

Some options you may wish to consider: 1) visit your local junkyards and look for a crashed Sequoia or Tundra that has the standard radio & wiring harness you need to fix your radio. Lots of work involved, but likely minimal money. 2) even if you choose to purchase a new head unit, you must fix the wiring first. This will be very difficult, even if you are only trying to replace a few burned wires. A real PITA. Lots of disassembly and trouble-shooting involved to make sure you've fixed everything. 3) Swapping out the factory tweeters in the dash can make a HUGE difference in sound quality. I've done this several times and always been happy with the results. 4) Lastly, I'll again mention Crutchfield as a great source of information should you decide to upgrade your system over time. Good luck with all this. I'm happy it's not me trying to do this.