For those who lost their steering wheel controls....

[theprodigy79]

I'm not positive as to what position the connector is in from that shot. If that's the top of it your wiring's correct. If that's the bottom, the wiring is reversed. It looks like the top, so I believe your wiring is already correct... I guess I'd just check through the rest of your connections if that's the case... It was worth a shot though. I had reception issues until I made that correction, but now it's greatly improved.

[dvdchris45]

I snapped the pic as soon as i unplugged it. The male end of the connector is right underneath the wires, i barely got it into my camera phone's frame. I couldnt even get the wires out, they have this thing LOCKED down tight.

[theprodigy79]

The connector has a small plastic "lock" piece in the middle that you have to pull out using a small flat blade screwdriver, then you have to squeeze the metal pieces on the ends of the wires to unlock them while pulling the wires gently to get them out of the harness. I think your wires are fine, but I'm not sure. As I said, if the little clip was facing you in that shot (the small plastic piece on the top of the connector that snaps it to the other plug / holds them together), the grey wire should be where it is in that picture.

[kgzero1]

I have an '05 and my reception suck a$$. My AM is completley gone now.
Is there an adaptor readily available for this (aftermarket)? I read on a post here they sell these at BB but I can't find one for toyotas.

My display is stuck on MPG since I can't change it now. Though that display seems to be way off.

Would getting that PAC unit help with getting that display back? Or is it only for the radio controls?

[dvdchris45]

Prodigy said its only for the radio controls and the display function should be working. I PMed DocJohn, the mad scientist with the mad-manuals (say that 4 times fast) if he can find it in the electrical manual. My DISPLAY is stuck on RANGE so I dont mind too much.

If you find an adpater that'll boost the antenna signal let me me kgzero.

[theprodigy79]

Yeah, the manuals should come in handy here... back when I did my install the manuals werent even out yet.. I aint feelin spending the mad dough on the service manual, but I gotta get a hold of a Chilton's or something soon. I'll also continue to look into the display control. My guess is there should be a relatively simple way to get a higher boost 12V antenna amplifier and make it work if you're willing to do a bit of research... Hell, the unit in our car may actually have some sort of gain control on it (I didn't look, but that may be worth checking for). I, personally, love the way the car looks without a mast antenna, however the windshield antennas still aren't up to par with the good ol' fashion masts... Sux that there's always gotta be sacrifice (style vs functionality...)

[kgzero1]

I'll let you know.
I was also wondering about just buying a new antenna and using that instead of the glass antenna. Has anyone done that?

[kgzero1]

You might also want to take a look at this thread.
http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.php?t=12566&highlight=steering+buttons
It looks like you can get the multi display button to work again if you ground the correct wire that is in that harness.

By the way, does any one know if the "dead buttons" above and below the display button have a sensor under them? If they do, I was thinking of trying to put them to use somehow.

[mattx619]

One tip on the radio reception for you and all our other '04 brothers and sisters out there... I had noticed that my reception dropped when I installed my aftermarket headunit (it was never spectacular to start with)... There was actually a TSB posted to correct this... I went ahead and did it myself cuz it's a simple fix (and it only took me 2 min to do rather than having to schedule a BS appt at the dealer). Check out the link below:

http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Toyota/10775 ... index.html

It turns out that on the first few production runs of the 2004 Solara they reversed the wires going into the antenna amplifier... Smart people... But yeah, just take off your rear passenger side C-pillar cover and you'll see the antenna amplifier and the suspect connecter... all you need is one small, flat blade screwdriver and you're set (no cutting, crimping, etc... needed) Make sure the wires match the diagram in the TSB, pop the C-pillar cover back on and you're done!

It doesn't matter if you have an aftermarket or factory headunit, this solves a lot of crap either way. This is only applicable to early '04 models, so those with '05s and up shouldn't even worry.

I opened mine up and found the mismatched wires (my vin# matches).
Incidentally I brought my car in to the dealer a while ago for poor AM reception and the tech said everything is fine, and the problem is my tint job. I didn't have the TSB at the time.
Anyway, i opened mine up but I was unable to pull the 2 wires out. I thought if I pulled any harder with the pliers that I might strip or cut the wires...better to just make the bs appointment but with a different dealership.

[dvdchris45]

I had the same trouble trying to pull mines out until James (theprodigy79) told me my wires were correct in a pic I had posted in an another thread..