Time to complete: 90 min to 2hr
What you’ll need:
- T20 Torx bit
- Trim removal tool (included in box)
- Flat head screwdriver
- ratchet/driver (DO NOT buy only a T20 screwdriver)
Here is a video guide on how to get started. It is primarily written to be entertainment/a tutorial and is far more detailed in video form and includes chapters along with the link to the product (not sure of the rules on outbound product linking)
Step 1: You will need to remove the center HVAC panel first using a trim removal tool. This can be quite difficult but go slowly and avoid breaking any connection points. You’ll need to disconnect the green cable connecting to the hazard light to remove it completely
Step 2. The next thing you will want to do is to take your T20 bit and use it to undo six T20 screws around the perimeter of the area. Two of these have longer threads in the corner and the other ones are short stubbier ones. Make sure not to lose these as they are very important. This is how we get the waterfall panel out:
There are two additional T20 screws located behind the waterfall in a recessed area. It is best to use a ratchet or any sort of right-angle tool to reach them. This can be a bit difficult but go slow and yes it’s okay for you to hear creaking noises.
Using your trim removal tool, work your way up from the bottom until the entire panel comes out and then search for a green connector around the back. It will be held in place using clips so make sure to remove those clips in order to disconnect the wire that serves as the main connector to the entire control panel.
Step 3: Our next big step will be to remove the radio. It is only held in place by two T20 screws, however, due to its weight and density it can be kind of hard to pull out especially if you can’t get a good grip on it. Once you do get it out however all you need to do is detach all the cables at the back and it will make this entire process a lot easier.
Step 4: Next is probably the worst part: removing the screen trim. This area is notoriously hard to get out of because of the metal clasps holding it in place and with the sharp plastic, you are liable to cut yourself if you aren’t careful. The best advice I can give is to use multiple trim removal tools to pry up and around the entire area starting at the bottom. Do not be afraid to pull on this harder than the other sections. The clips are very strong and are not likely to break (unless you’re a bodybuilder…or Hercules)
Step 5A: This is extremely important so please do not skip over this section. Some audio boxes will require you to connect directly to the screen. This is not one of them and I also did not choose the touchscreen option. If you did choose the touch screen option please make sure to consult your manual and how to install the touch screen PCB and the disassembly required to get that working. With that being said you don’t need to remove the screen in order to continue at this point.
Step 5B: Let’s turn our attention back to the box for a second. In our package, we have an LVDS cable with blue ends that connect directly to our audio box into our radio using a splitter. This was the first thing I decided to set up because it was the simplest. This is a data cable that feeds information into both our radio and our audio box so without it it won’t be able to function.
Step 6: The next thing we need to work on is our power cable. Similar to the LVDS cable this one also includes a male-to-female connector along with a splitter to connect to our radio and into our box. What makes this different, however, is that we first must transplant the orange optical cables from the original power connector into our dummy power connector that will be routed into the radio. This is very important and hard to visualize but we are just transplanting cables from one area to another no splicing is required. I recommend watching the video in addition to this guide as this can be confusing.
Step 7: With all that being said, the only thing left to do is to plug everything back into the radio and route cables up through into the glove box so we can connect our audio box. You can attempt to put the cables in the waterfall but you’ll need easy access to the box if anything goes wrong so I recommend the glovebox.
Step 8 (I reached my picture attachment limit):
Now that everything is connected between the radio and our audio box the only thing left to do is to make sure that your car is in accessory mode providing power to both the radio and the audio box. Then what you want to do is look for the switches on the front of the audio box and flip them corresponding to your car model. This is listed in the instructions and it is very important that THE CAR IS ON for this process or it won’t count.
Step 9: Confirm that everything is working by holding the exit button to go into the box menu screen, and once you’re set-up, reverse the process and put everything back!
Step 10: Congratulations! You now have OEM+ style Apple Carplay in your 2015.5+ P3 Volvo. There are a lot of specific details and questions you might have so I’ll do my best to answer them below. I appreciate all your support and I hope this helps others looking for a budget way to do this.