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Jensen VX5228 CarPlay Installation in my Lexus ES300

I wanted to install a CarPlay compatible head unit into my good old Lexus ES330, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So forget it, right?

No way! I bought the Jensen VX5228 on discount for under $180, and I couldn't be more pleased.

The Jensen is a standard "Double DIN" sized head unit, which means that it can be adapted to fit into a whole lot of modern cars. I have an older Lexus ES330, and so fitting it required a few extra Lexus-ish parts, but in the end it looks great and works like a champ.

Here's what I needed for my 2002-2006 Lexus ES300 or ES330:

The process was pretty simple, and it can work with basically any modern double-DIN radio.

Workbench Prep

On the workbench, I performed the following steps
  • Connect the TYTO-01 wire harness to the Jensen-provided wire harness. The TYTO-01 manual says what to do, but in short I connected yellow to yellow, blue to blue, red to red, etc. This was the most time consuming step, taking me about 20 minutes, but it was very easy work,
  • Attached the new face plate's black mounting brackets to the car play unit with four screws.

Now with the workbench part done, now it's time to go to the car with the parts.

Remove the factory radio

Before I start note that removing almost everything is a tool free process. Lots of things are just snapped into place, and can be removed and reinstalled simply by using fingers.

To remove the radio, I did this:

  • Eject any CDs or cassettes.  Haha.
  • Put the car in Neutral
  • Unsnap the shift cover and remove the wire connector from the cigarette lighter
  • Put the car in Park
  • Snap out the climate control system and lay it aside
  • Remove the four 10mm radio bolts and pull the radio out a ways
  • Disconnect radio connectors and hazard and clock connectors
  • Fully remove the now fully disconnected factory radio. Heavy, eh? I saved it in case I ever want to reinstall it.

Initial Install and Verification 

With the old radio is out, it's time to start to install the new one. 

  • Attach the TYTO-01 wiring harness to the car's audio connector
  • While balancing the Jensen in one hand, plug the harness into the Jensen. Also plug in the FM antenna, microphone, and USB cable. The AM antenna is not required and is not used.
  • Loosely place the radio in its home within the dashboard. Check that the radio is working by powering it up. Then power it down.

Finishing the Install

  • Route the cables properly behind the radio. They will all fit. I routed the USB cable to the center console.
  • Bolt the radio in place using those four bolts, making sure everything is reasonably well aligned.
  • Unsnap the vents, clock and hazard switch from the old face plate. Snap them into the new face plate.
  • Plug the wires back into the clock and hazard switch.
  • Snap the new face plate onto the dash. If it doesn't fit perfectly, recheck that nothing is impeding it. Wiggle the radio a little if it's not aligned to the faceplate properly.
  • Verify the radio, clock, hazard.
  • Snap in the climate control unit into place.
  • Reattach the cig lighter cable.
  • Snap the shifter face plate back into place.

And that's all there is to it. It seems like a lot of steps, but most steps takes a couple of seconds since most things just snap in and out of place.

Limitations

The only limitation I've run into is that the TYTO-01 adapter lacks fader adjustment. Therefore, front and rear speaker levels are not independently adjustable. As far as I can tell, front and rear speakers are set to be equal in volume.

Problems

Sometimes the Jensen crashes, maybe once every 6 months, and nothing happens. My fix is to use the tiny reset button on the front panel. After pressing it, it returns to normal behavior in about 30 seconds. The other option is to pull out the radio fuse for 5 seconds or so.

Future Projects

Microphone 

I was lazy and placed the microphone on the dash as shown in the photos. I think putting it near the rear view mirror would result in higher mic sound quality. That's a project for a different time.

Backup Camera

I plan to add a back up camera later, but it requires routing a cable from the trunk to the front of the car. So I'll do this once I feel like crawling around my car for a couple hours. If you add a camera to your Lexus ES3xx, let me know so I can learn from your trunk-to-dash wire routing strategy!



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