Removing Empeg from Car

Gentlemen,

Long time no visit! My Empeg has been humming along nicely for 6, maybe 7 years now? (Damn, has it been this long?)

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new car, and the old one is going to hit up the trade-in pile for the dealership. I need to get the empeg sled out of the dash and keep it in one piece, as I may use it as a home entertainment unit, or she might make it up here or eBay to got to a new home.

I know this is sacrilege, but can anyone provide any tips or tricks for gently removing the sled (and tuner unit) from the car? (I didn't install the units myself, so I'm not familiar with it all).

I see the metal tabs pushed downward to hold the unit in place, so I figure they need to get pried back up, and if my installer was smart, they will have properly used the wiring harness to keep things nice and clean inside the dash.

Then comes the trouble of shoving the factory radio back in - hopefully that's reasonable as well.

Thanks for the assistance - it's painful to have to pry this thing out of the car, as I've gotten (and CONTINUE to get) good use out of the Empeg... such a great purchase...

Thanks,
-Greg

(it's a '99 VW Passat that I am yanking it out of, fyi)

you are right, what i do myself is just to take it very easy and slow plus use common sense, i have done installs myself and can't remeber what i did to install it (damn the short memory) so i always have to figure out what to do

but i guess i can talk you through the stuff if you provide pictures... but start with bending the metal taps back up and try to take the sled out..

Keep in mind there are two completely different issues you're dealing with here:

1. Removing the empeg.

2. Getting the factory stereo back in and working.

Depending on the way the factory stereo was designed, and depending on what the installer did, (2) might be more work than you're prepared for. If you had a pro install the empeg, then you might need another pro to reinstall the factory stereo.

Reason: Most factory stereos are self-amplified, whereas the empeg needs an external amplifier. So there's a chance that the installer had to put in an external amplifier, and had to do some wiring tricks to make said amplifier work. Those tricks would need to be carefully reversed (and the external amplifier removed). Even if he was using wiring harness adapters, there still might be some gotchas. Even if your factory stereo was externally amplified, there might be some wiring tricks the installer did, or converter boxes installed, to adapt the empeg to the external factory amplifier.

If you're lucky it'll just plug back in easy as pie, but I'm saying don't count on it.

There's also the issue that some dashboards need to be carefully dismantled in order for the installation/removal to work without damaging stuff. Don't assume that it'll be enough to just bend the tabs and yank the sled. It might be, but it might not be, I don't know about that model of car. I'm just saying, proceed with caution.

excatly, take your time (lots of it) if you get frustrated take a break (and a cold beer)

if the installer was smart he have used adapters so he did not have to mess with the cars wires

Greg, when do you need to get this done by? Given that I'm in he neighborhood, relatively, I'd be happy to help out. I did the install on my Corolla and later my Golf.

Hi all - thanks for the tips and pointers! Phoenix42, thanks for the offer as well -

For those curious, I have successfully performed the surgery and pulled the unit out of the car with no damage to anything and minimal cursing. The tabs needed a little coaxing, and I did have to pull a trim piece to do it cleanly, but nothing my little computer toolkit couldn't handle with ease.

I did cheat heavily on reinstalling the factory stereo though - I decided to attach the wiring harness to the back, and I didn't go tracking down the speaker connections. "Oopsies! No sound!" Since this was a trade in, my energy level at making things 100% (or even 20%) was pretty low.

The old car needed a new O2 sensor, a new catalytic converter, a front axle and a set of front control arms - and brakes. I was very happy to see it go.

All that said, I was still able to get a GREAT below invoice deal on a new vehicle *AND* a far-better than expected value on the trade, so no complaints from me.

Now I need to decide what to do with my trusty MkII...

Thanks again all - enjoy the Empegs...

-Greg

What new car did you get?

That has been my experience too. Those sales people don't care if it works as long as they can sell you something.

And for future reference, if you have the Empeg installed in your new car, lay down some rules for the installer if it isn't you:

1. reversability
2. some documentation (a basic schematic showing what they did)

I did this with my Jeep. I could pull out my empeg now and put back the stock stereo with zero splicing as my connections were all made from adapter cables I put together. So the stock wiring harness is still in the car untouched.

I love my Empeg.

-Ben