Replacement Headunit for Mk4 Mondeo

Fitted mine today but not used it yet other than a quick on/off to make sure everything works.

Installation was extremely easy (2hr start/finish inc all trim removal) but I found it much easier if you remove the T-shaped horizontal plastic bar at the back of console. I used a hacksaw blade but you could just use a hammer and snips if you've not got a hacksaw as the plastic is thin (took 25mins). This free's up about an inch of extra space at the rear of the unit which, with all the extra wires, modules etc is very needed. I also re-routed the main ISO connector and the new CANBUS module into the area below the headunit, behind the climate control panel (took 5mins). Due to the lack of space you have to be careful when sliding the HU into place as I found my aerial cable kept popping out (see more later).

The USB/IPOD cables fit into the glovebox easily through an existing hole in the top of the box (took 5 mins). The GPS routes very easily to the left A Pillar with the cable going above the glovebox (took 5mins). I also added a reverse camera and so I routed the video cable from the HU behind the glove box to left front door but stopped there as I didn't want to take more of the car apart til tomorrow.

The trim was more fiddily than necessary and took the most time remove/refitting and be careful putting the gearstick back together so you can miss the lift-reverse fitting if you're in a rush.

Once the unit was in I powered everything up and it booted within 10secs and had a nice Ford logo on screen. I hooked up my Ipod (my 1st need as it's my main source of music) and found the steering controls worked perfectly (some have had issues). I told the Sat-Nav where it's map folder was and the sat nav locked in with 30secs with around 10sec to load the map. Bluetooth (my 2nd most important need) was setup in seconds an I'm using the provided external mic which is sitting out of the top right of the centre console facia at the minute until I'm happy everything works.

I haven't used the sat-nav yet but will be swapping Maps to a set from iGo Primo as the free ones provided aren't rated very highly. I still need to test my bluetooth streaming and call quality but as I live in the countryside I get no good signal strength until I'm 5miles away to make it a fair test.

The only issue so far is I don't get any FM radio at all so I'm guessing the aerial popped back out again as I was refitting it. It did it virtually everytime during the test fitting too so I may need to figure a way of taping/fastening the lead to the unit.

Tomorrow will be Reverse Camera and more testing!

EDIT -

Here's the bit of plastic I removed in GREEN (the whole T-Shape rather than just the horizontal bar)

mondeohu01.jpg
 
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That's a fantastic write up and you've given loads to go on when I get around to changing mine. I'd love to know how you get on with it, any change of an update in a week or so?

Also, where did you end up getting it from?
 
Ebay from the UK Seller in my link above.

I've taken it out for a spin now and I'm very impressed with the unit but it REALLY needs the user guide/manual improving. Nothing is labelled, there's just icons everywhere! Most you can guess but some, including the actual settings button, are just a random icon (no gears etc) and there are sooooo many menus to go through for each individual function that it's very easy to get lost.

On a more positive note the Sat-Nav (once setup to my liking) works very well with a huge 7in screen although the voice is a little quiet (after you find out how to make it talk first via 2 different menus!). The bluetooth is great for call quality but my Phonebook won't show up and my call logs are scrambled up compared to my actual Samsung S4 mini's phone logs so I'm scanning the web for any fixes or settings I've got to tweak.
 
Phonebook sorted, it needed all the contacts to be on the SIM rather than the phone. Gave the Sat-Nav a good test all round Maidstone and it's spot on mapping wise and I've tweaked the audio levels so the voice is much louder too. Now looking at updating the stock Kudos maps software before trying the iGO Primo stuff as I've found the iGO can be a nightmare to configure although it looks better than stock.

CBA to do the reverse camera this weekend so that'll be next weekends adventure!
 
I've got a similar unit in my Focus, from asure who had some good feedback on another forum.

Dash.jpg


I got it mainly for sat nav and also ability to use a reversing camera as even with twin reversing/landing lights they're not enough to overcome the excellent combination of privacy glass and autodimming rear view mirror that Ford put on to my ST3 :rolleyes:

Similar to Ian's experience with his unit, mine worked ok pretty much from the off with canbus box picking up when car is put into reverse and the steering column controls working too. Took a fair bit of faffing to make room for the extra cables and canbus box, found it helpful to use a 90 degree adaptor for the reverse camera phono connector as this gave more room at the rear. Took me a lot more time fitting and wiring in the reversing camera, but wanted to do it properly routing cables through the tailgate into the cabin etc. Came with a free reversing camera but I got one which fitted as substitute for a number plate lamp instead. Grumbled to seller that I had to perform surgery on the camera and tailgate finisher to fit it and got a full refund for my trouble :)

Generally, most functions work ok. I miss having DAB but would want it integrated with the headunit rather than another box with it's own controls. Bluetooth seems to work ok, same with DVD player and the Nav system. Started with the GPS receiver on the dash but now it lives behind the A-pillar trim on passenger side. Couple of little niggles with the audio, like it doesn't stay on repeat setting but defaults to ALL every time you power up. Minor problem I can live with. Also the instructions aren't brilliant but I've worked out most things I want to use. Got an SD csrd in with most of my music collection on it but for some reason it doesn't bring up all of the folders and haven't nailed down exactly which video formats it supports.

Improvements to sort yet - running ipod and a USB cable from rear of head unit into console cubby bin, hopefully using the USB socket already in there. Maybe also wiring up spare camera as front facing to see if it's any use.

Very well priced compared to the usual aftermarket alternatives and really appealed to me that it's designed to match the standard dash fascia rather than being a generic double din set-up.
 
Glad to see you're all getting on with it really well, makes me buying one that much easier.

How many USB ports do you have on the unit?
 
Mine's got 1 standard USB port at the rear, plus a mini USB port on the front left side below the buttons.

Came with a mini USB to USB cable so you can plug a USB stick in via this but it's not that practical having it dangling out of the front, on show to everyone. At the moment I've got a fair collection of music in the second SD card slot, first one is used for the Nav maps.

I'm planning to run cable from the rear USB port to mate up with the Ford wiring for the USB port in the centre console cubby bin. Maybe similar with the ipod cable supplied, running this to the holder in the console so I can dock my phone there when it needs charging. Just holding fire on that bit till I work out a neat solution for the docking bit to include an adaptor to lightning connector when i upgrade from my trusty iPhone 4S.
 
These come with a separate iPod port right?

I was trying to think of how to charge my phone and by the looks of it, there is a USB & iPad cable, both of which are separate.

My idea was to route the iPod to either the ash tray section or into the glove box and wire the USB port to the right-hand side of the drivers console where it'll be hidden in the cubby hole so I can charge my phone when using it as a dash cam!
 
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Yeap, the USB is already built-in to the looms at the rear of the HU and the IPOD cable is a separate lead that plugs into a socket on the rear also.
 
ianh said:
Yeap, the USB is already built-in to the looms at the rear of the HU and the IPOD cable is a separate lead that plugs into a socket on the rear also.
Click to expand...

Great! Just ordered mine, should be here Monday :D

Hoping my wiring idea will work though, not looked at it much to be honest.
 
I have fitted it, but I can't find the GPS card for the maps - is this something I have to supply or does it come with it?
 
Mine was sellotaped to the inside lid of the Eonon box. A few have been sent out missing it so contact the buyer if it's missing.
 
my SD card was missing too but the seller put another one in the post plus sent me link for the nav software and I picked up a card to use in the meantime.

Ended up with 2 versions of the software once the replacement card landed :)
 
To be honest, I had one spare and downloaded the iGo 8 maps. I've not fully tested them but they're loaded and I think ready to go.

Thanks for the pointer, will drop him a message!
 
**Eonon D5162E Upgrade**

Delivery & Packaging
Purchased from Singenimauto from eBay for £283 on a 48 hour delivery. Unfortunately, it wasn’t despatched the day after purchase, so arrived 12 hours later than advised. Still, it was a quick delivery via Yodel and I can’t complain.

Box arrived in a grey bag which was very well wrapped with bubble wrap and upon opening the box that too was well packaged with inserts keeping it in place and damage free.

Unit & Accessories

Opening the box, the unit came with the following items:
• SD Card for GPS Maps (taped to the inside top of the box)
• IPod Cable
• Radio Antenna extension
• GPS Module
• Mic with 3.5mm

The USB cable is integrated into the unit and you have a serious number of connections for rear video units, amps, woofers and of course the aux input.

Fitting

Fitting the unit was relatively straight forward once you’ve workout how to dismantle the centre console and disconnecting all the connections was easily done also.

Once the old unit was out, it is possible to fit the new unit without removing the T bar at the back. You just need to bunch the cables together and move the up and out of the way while you gently push back the new unit.

Finding places for the cables wasn’t bad but it was fiddly. Behind the AC controls is a big space, where you can put the cables, can-bus decoder and the adapter for connecting speakers, power and AUX. GPS and Ipod cables were routed towards the passenger foot well and left for routing later and the MIC/USB cables were routed to the driver foot well and left to route at the weekend.

Fitting the unit into its final position took some doing, it required the unit to be wiggled to sit correctly and the cables at the back had to be pulled through from under the unit behind the AC controls so it sat correctly. Once in place the screws, panels and fittings went back without any issues – although there is now a slight squeak from the console which I’ve not isolated.

I highly suggest you use cable ties as they become quite messy once they’re all unpacked.

Testing

Finally powered the unit on after 90 mins of messing about and it worked first time. Tested the radio, programmed my favourite stations, and BOOM it came to life. Configured Time, Date and format, background and loaded the iGO 8 GPS maps.

Didn’t get much time after this to play with it as it was getting late and I also got a ‘Low Battery’ warning on the dash. I was also tired so left further playing till the morning.

Before I set out for work, I changed the LED colour to match the rest of the dash and paired my phone via Bluetooth. Bluetooth picked up my phone and pairing was a breeze. It pulled down all my contacts, phone call history and even managed to test BT streaming.

BT streaming was great despite some stuttering but I think this is due to my phone needing a reboot, so I’ll try this again another time.

DVD/CD hasn’t yet been tested, DAB won’t work as I have no DAB Ariel and IPod/USB testing will come at the weekend once I’ve wired them in.

GPS however took some fiddling. Once the maps were loaded, it would think I’m in France and despite changing the settings, wouldn’t change my location. After 10 mins of messing around I found a ‘GPS’ settings which said ‘GPS Module not found’, my heart sank. I thought I’d have to strip the car again and check the connection. Well, I noticed a little tick box ‘autodetect’ which I disabled and it started scanning for the module.

Well blow me, it located it on a different port number and loaded the maps, my location and the route I was testing instantly. It worked beautifully.

Thoughts

Spent 30 mins listening to the radio on my way to work and while the signal was OK, the depth of sound however, was nowhere near as nice as the stock Sony unit. The Sony unit had incredible base from the stock speakers which made it sound like I had a sub in the car – it was incredible listening to all types of music.

The Eonon unit didn’t have the same dynamic range and despite playing around with the equaliser, still didn’t sound anywhere near as deep in the base range as the Sony – this is my only criticism so far but I need to have a play with it, I’ve only had it installed for less than 24 hours.

The radio signal needs work, I’m not sure if I’ve overlooked a setting, but it doesn’t auto tune if the signal gets weak – will investigate.

I’m tempted to install a reversing camera for the lols, but I’m not sure I could be bothered with the hassle wiring it.

So far, I’m impressed. It does everything I wanted it to do and I’ve only just started to play around with it. If you have any specific questions regarding function/install, please let me know and I’ll be happy to help.

**Pics will follow**
 
Well I tried to make it work and while I cleared up the signal issue, the sound was still flat with no real options on the equaliser.

So I took it out and put the stock one back in. It was like :eek: :D soooooo much better
 
What was it like with a proper source, i.e. mp3s over USB / Bluetooth?

I dare say you tend to get what you pay for with these 'jack of all trades' Chinese units.
 
Howard said:
What was it like with a proper source, i.e. mp3s over USB / Bluetooth?

I dare say you tend to get what you pay for with these 'jack of all trades' Chinese units.
Click to expand...

To be honest, it really wasn't that bad but I wasn't prepared to have to shell out for a sub to make it sound better. If i had one I would have kept it as it did everything else just fine. GPS was perfect, iPod and BT too.

It was generally the same across all sources. Flat. I changed the base/treble but it wasn't enough, probably made it sound worse.

Putting it into comparison, the stock unit made the audio sound like there was already a sub in the car - there isn't - but it made me smile.
 
Some people don't rate the Sony units, but I've always thought they are really good for standard factory fit stuff.

I had a Sony in my ST TDCi and it was better than the full Bose system in Mazda 3 which had a proper sub.
 
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