Factory Rear DVD W/Aftermarket Head Unit

I have a 2005 EB Explorer with the factory rear seat DVD (RES) and factory sub. I'd like to replace the head unit with the Clarion NX 501 and still retain control over the rear DVD player. Anyone have any success with this? I'd even be willing to bypass the rear DVD player itself and just utilize just the overhead screen since the Clarion has the ability to play a DVD and listen to music up front. Any suggestions/ideas or stories of similar successful installs would be appreciated..Thanks!

nice to know everyone piled on the bandwagon to help. i have no experience with this but from what i read the factory dvd is extremely difficult if not impossible to retain. there's a guy who did one on an 03 awhile back but i think the 05's have a little different setup with the wiring situation. i am sitting in a situation where i want to change mine in my wife's 03 but don't want to make it a nightmare. i think i am going to call Best buy or Crutchfield and ask them about this and see what they say. sorry i couldn't help you more, but i am going to certainly find out and when i do it will be plastered all over here. i have had it with this pile of sh_t factory changer.

i upgraded to a stock Audiophile (added Sub) just to avoid messing with the RSE.
Upgrading an Audiophile Sub was an old thread of mine, where i added it.

In my research, i thought they sold an adapter for the RSE, PIE maybe? They also had one for the Steering wheel controls. For me it would have been $200+Radio to upgrade. Did the OEM Audiophile thing for about $200 total, Radio, Sub, wiring; I'd keep the factory speakers if you did this.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246610

03explorereb said:

nice to know everyone piled on the bandwagon to help. i have no experience with this but from what i read the factory dvd is extremely difficult if not impossible to retain. there's a guy who did one on an 03 awhile back but i think the 05's have a little different setup with the wiring situation. i am sitting in a situation where i want to change mine in my wife's 03 but don't want to make it a nightmare. i think i am going to call Best buy or Crutchfield and ask them about this and see what they say. sorry i couldn't help you more, but i am going to certainly find out and when i do it will be plastered all over here. i have had it with this pile of sh_t factory changer.

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Yeah, I was overwhelmed with replies as you can see. I spoke to an electronics tech at work and he suggested the same thing with one added detail. He said to take an old pair of headphones. cut the ******** and then cut into the harness and test the rest of the wires one at a time with the phones and listen for the audio. If I find it, splice in a set of RCA's and plug it into one of the AUX inputs in the new head unit.

Railroader74 said:

Yeah, I was overwhelmed with replies as you can see. I spoke to an electronics tech at work and he suggested the same thing with one added detail. He said to take an old pair of headphones. cut the ******** and then cut into the harness and test the rest of the wires one at a time with the phones and listen for the audio. If I find it, splice in a set of RCA's and plug it into one of the AUX inputs in the new head unit.

Click to expand...

Forgot to add the second part to my reply..

I've heard nothing but bad things about the Best Buy car audio dept. At least here in NY. I called Crutchfield and they said for the particular factory system I had there was no way to keep any factory peripheral add-on's (DVD, CD Changer etc..) Well at least I proved him wrong in 1 respect. Now I just need to get the sound through the speakers and I'll be in good shape...good luck. I'll post my results after I get a chance to give it a try.

jrford said:

i upgraded to a stock Audiophile (added Sub) just to avoid messing with the RSE.
Upgrading an Audiophile Sub was an old thread of mine, where i added it.

In my research, i thought they sold an adapter for the RSE, PIE maybe? They also had one for the Steering wheel controls. For me it would have been $200+Radio to upgrade. Did the OEM Audiophile thing for about $200 total, Radio, Sub, wiring; I'd keep the factory speakers if you did this.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=246610

Click to expand...

I spent weeks looking for one and PIE does make one for every year EXCEPT the '05 with RSE. I almost took a chance and ordered it to give it a shot but thought better of it. I did keep the factory speakers, for now. Once I get everthing else straightened out those are next including a bigger amp and sub. I did install the steering wheel control adapter which went in no problem. So all that's left now is to figure out how to get the RSE audio to come through the speakers. I'll post all the details when I'm done...thanks.

excellent. we'll be looking forward to your findings. as for the headphone testing, i believe that would work. i also had another idea: what about using the aux outputs from the clarion and plugging them into the aux inputs for the factory dvd (if yours has that option), thus allowing video to be played both front and back and sound coming from the speakers through the clarion rather than the factory dvd? is that possible? not sure but seems like it would be. dvd's played from the back would come through the infrared headphone system to be heard but that would also allow for the clarion to play it's own music source, i.e. radio, mp3, satellite while the dvd from the back is being spun. oh no, i've gone cross-eyed. a person shouldn't have to think that hard about crap like this! i don't know, just a thought.

WOO-HOOO my first post!!!


If you have Aux inputs on your RES and are a little handy with a soldering iron it can be done with a clean stealthy look.(As mentioned before)

Run your video output back to the RES, cut the end off and strip the wires inside the RCA. The next step is where the Soldering iron comes into play, you will have to take the RES apart to access the AUX port from the backside and solder the Video output from the radio to the "internal" RCA connection. Bingo you now have Video from your new headunit to existing RES. If you would like to have audio there for headphones use same procedure for the R&L channels.

If you wanted to play DVD's from the RES you could still have audio from all speakers with splicing into the headphone jack with an RCA as mentioned before. Or put the headphones on the Kids and still have the ability to watch a different movie in the front with audio from all speakers.

Or play from the front DVD, select AUX on RES and the whole family can watch the same movie with audio from all speakers.

It makes sense in my head

I hope that helps if you have any questions just ask and I will try to help.

tc5racer,

Thanks for your post on how to integrate the RES with an aftermarket unit.

I am planning on doing what you did, but I am going to skip the connecting of the RES's audio back to the speakers. Essentially, I am going to output the video from my head unit back to the RES (basically, it will be a mirror display). And secondly, if the RES's DVD player is used, its audio will only be able to be heard thru the headphones, like you mentioned in your post.

Now, I have a question for this setup. First, since the RES derives its power from the factory unit and that will be gone, how will I provide it with power? (I see the factory unit had a third connector slot that my aftermarket unit does have. Is that the connection with the RES?)

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

I posted about this awhile back!! I watched a vide on youtube were a guy put n a aftermarket hu in his excursion and kept the res he got his harness from metra

https://www.google.com/shopping/pro....7&ei=0zjwU-nqBYGhyASp74C4Bw&ved=0CJYCEKYrMAs

I found this but its only for 07-10

Railroader74 said:

I spent weeks looking for one and PIE does make one for every year EXCEPT the '05 with RSE. I almost took a chance and ordered it to give it a shot but thought better of it. I did keep the factory speakers, for now. Once I get everthing else straightened out those are next including a bigger amp and sub. I did install the steering wheel control adapter which went in no problem. So all that's left now is to figure out how to get the RSE audio to come through the speakers. I'll post all the details when I'm done...thanks.

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what is pie is their a website? and do they have it for the 04? I got a pioneer premier avic f9bt hu for 60$ and I really wanna use it and wanna keep my rse for my twins

mavieman73,

I just installed a Pioneer AVIC-X850BT head unit into my '04 Mountaineer, which had the Audiophile Sound System and RSE System. I was able to retain the system simply by rewiring one wire. You don't need any extra harness. My RSE's audio is independent of the headunit, but the infrared headphones still work and if I want to have the audio from the back go to the whole car, then I can just plug a cable from the headphone jack of the system and into the AUX port of my Pioneer. You just need to tap into your headunit's ignition power (should be red wire) and plug that into the DVD connector's first pin (Audio System ON). There are three connectors that attach to the back of the original Audiophile system. So when the ignition is turned to accessory, the DVD player will think the original Audiophile Sound System is still there and on, allowing you to turn on the DVD player when you want. I have the wiring diagrams, so if you need help finding the connectors, let me know. Also, you don't need to remove the DVD player from the ceiling. Everything is done inside the headunit's carriage.

diagram

could you please email me the diagram i have a 2005 mountaineer premier that im trying to do the same thing you did to it but just tapping into the rse harness. ty

wire color codes

or mavieman73 do you know what wires are what there are 7 in the middle adapter. ty

I did this myself.

I have a 2005 Ford explorer Limited, and i have the RES and replaced the head unit with a aftermarket dvd system with aux inputs and outputs.

if you need help doing this, i can do my best to help you....i retained my factory RES, with video/audio out from the new head unit. and also run the RES independently from the head unit, and send audio from the RES to the wireless headphones.

everyone (shops and individuals and forums) said it was not possible in a 2005 ford explorer....but many hours of research, and time spent practicing...i did it...no problems..

After Market DVD

Anyone try Metra? They make just about any adaptors for after market stuff including Dash kits You can look at their web site: http://metraonline.com
Can't buy direct Amazon handles them

Metro doesn't make a harness for the 2005. Neither does PAC. They make them for the 2004 and down. And 2006 and up. Not the 2005. I searched everywhere

I have a 05 Mercury Mountaineer that has the rear dvd. It also came with the factory sub. I removed the factory sub and the factory head unit. I replaced it with the JVC kx-xs68. I also replaced the factory speakers. I purchased the Metra 70-5520av RES retainer harness which plugged right into my factory harness the ran from the DVD player to the factory head unit. The metra harness has two RCA cables and two wires that are black(for ground) and blue/light blue(accessory wire). I connected the two wires accordingly. Black to ground and blue/light blue to my 12volt accessory wire. My dvd screen powered on but immediately shut off. Can anyone tell me what is causing this? Is 12 volts too much power to work the RES?

That's the issue with these models. Email me at james@ubrokeirepair.com. I'll explain what I did. And then post it here when i get time

jjones0377 said:

That's the issue with these models. Email me at james@ubrokeirepair.com. I'll explain what I did. And then post it here when i get time

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Thx in advance for the help. I just emailed you. Title is DVD Issue