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HOWTO: Install a 2010+ Steering Wheel and have fully functional audio controls

70K views 96 replies 40 participants last post by  Rockinfun377 
#1 ·
This how to is going to go over how to install a 2010+ steering wheel into your 05-09 (I did the Boss steering wheel into my 06) and have all of the buttons function properly.

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE THING BEFORE STARTING, TRUST ME
I'm not responsible if you mess something up


Required Tools and Parts
Before you start you are going to want all of this because this isn't really a project to stop halfway through.
These are required just to install the wheel/cruise control:
  • Torque Wrench capable of 41 ft-lbs
  • Ratchet
  • 5/16 Adapter for Ratchet
  • 15/16 Adapter for Torque Wrench
  • Torx 20 and 30 Screwdrivers
  • Whatever method you want to use for wire joining (solder, splices, etc.)
  • The Steering Wheel
  • Flathead screwdriver and needlenose pliers optional but helpful
If you want the audio you will also need this:
  • An aftermarket Headunit
  • 2 WPT-440s
  • PAC SWI adapter

Once you have all of this it's time to get started.

1. The first step is to disconnect your battery for at least 20 minutes. This is to let the airbag's charge drain so you don't accidentally set it off

2. Remove the two protective caps from your steering wheel (this is where a flathead is helpful). They are just in front of the stalks one on the left and one on the right

3. Once these caps are off use the 5/16 adapter and your ratchet to remove the two bolts (these will frequently fall in the hole a bit, needlenoses are helpful)


4. Now you to need to remove the airbag assembly to do this you basically just grab it and pull forward, be cautious of the wires behind it as they will need to be disconnected prior to removal
Once removed set this aside somewhere safe where no one will kick it.

5. Now you are going to see this:


For ease we are going to get everything out of our way, first unscrew the horn (U shape). There are three T30 screws securing it in place (one at the bottom and one at each top piece) be sure to not lose the springs underneath it, also ensure you disconnect the red plug (top right) prior to removal.
Next remove the wire harness from it's plugs. One plug goes into the buttons on the left and the other goes into the buttons on the right. Then the main plug is at the top center between the airbag wires. Each of these plugs has a little safety tab mechanism that you need to use to remove it. Finally unscrew the ground (green wire top right) using a T20 driver.

At this point you have a nice clean view with no obstruction:


6. Now use the 15/16 adapter to remove the big bolt dead in the middle of the wheel. Once the bolt is removed you can pull the wheel right off (mind that the airbag wires go through the hole cleanly)

Now for the fun part
RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO SPIN THE CLOCK SPRING IT WILL MESS UP YOUR ALIGNMENT

At this point you can get out of the car so you have more room to work with. Now we need to do the wiring. This is the point of no return so be sure before the next step

7. Cut the plug that went into the clockspring (not the cruise control buttons) off of its harness (be sure to leave some wire so that you can attach this plug to the new harness later


8. Now do the same to the harness from the new steering wheel (sorry I don't have a picture)

9. Now we need to connect the new harness to the old plug
New Harness -- Old Plug
Gray -- White
Brown -- Blue
Black -- Green (Ground)
Red -- Red (Power)


If you don't care about audio controls then you can stop here.
If you want audio controls then continue:

10. Cut the purple wire (runs from the button plug) and attach it to a wire on one of your WPT-440s (any wire works but I recommend one of the end ones)



11. Now it is time to move to the PAC adapter.

12. Connect the PAC's red wire to power and black wire to ground (I recommend using the radio's power since the two devices will be working together) Be sure to see where your hiding the PAC before this step or else you'll end up with the harness on the wrong side of your dash

13. Cut the brown loop wire in half (doesn't matter where) and insulate the ends

14. Cut the purple loop in half and tape off the outer half.

15. Use the other half of the purple wire with a 100 ohm resistor and join it into the white wire (I chose to cut the white wire in half but there's other ways to get this done)


16. The other wires are unneeded, I chose to rip them out to avoid clutter.

17. Now connect the end of the white wire to the other WPT-440 BE SURE TO USE THE SAME NUMBER WIRE THAT YOU DID ON THE FIRST ONE (this is why i recommend the end wire)


18. Now it's time to plug in and test.

19. Remove/loosen the plastic on the lower half of the clock spring by removing the two underside screws (T20)

We need to see this


20. Plug the WPT-440 attached to the PAC to the bottom left of the clock spring shown here:


Be mindful of how you run this wire as you want the panel to reattach later.

21. Slide the new steering wheel into place. Plug the plugs into their respective jacks (none of them will fit in the wrong place). You'll notice that you have an extra plug (the WPT-440) this plugs into the bottom of the clock spring where there is usually a small white plastic cap, just pry the cap out and plug in.

22. Screw the ground back into place.

23. Connect the battery and turn on your headlights, the buttons on the wheel should illuminate. If they don't you have a bad connection.

24. At this point you may want to program and test the PAC as well, follow the instructions from PAC (these vary by the company who makes your head unit)

25. If it doesn't work you need to trouble shoot or ask for help. If it does then move on to reassembly.

26. Take the wheel back off of the hub and put it somewhere safe.

27. Tuck the PAC away and then run the WPT-440 to its location on the underside of the clock spring.

28. Put the plastic shell back over the lower half of the clock spring and screw it back in.

29. Put the wheel back on the hub (be mindful of airbag wires)

30. Reconnect the wiring harnesses and ground.

31. Put the horn horse shoe back in place, make sure to not displace the springs. Do not overtighten here as that will result in your horn never shutting off. Likewise if you are too loose the horn will require punches to be set off. You may need to come back to this step to fix this.

32. Hold the airbag up and plug the two connectors in (again you can't plug this in wrong)

33. Slide the airbag back into place

34. Tighten airbag screws

35. Place caps back in place

36. Test it all again

37. Be glad your car now has this:




If anything is unclear or you run into any trouble feel free to ask me.
 
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15
#3 ·
Where did you run the 440 wire from the purple harness wire to the clock spring? I can hear the rest of the wires moving around when I turn the wheel
 
#5 ·
Does anyone know if we can use the above method to get the factory Shaker 500 working with the steering wheel controls?
 
#6 ·
Yeah, I just took the 440 out until it's get a bit warmer outside
 
#10 · (Edited)
I actually found on another site, someone got the audio controls working with the Shaker 500 unit. He plugged in the J1-18/J1-19 pins on the back of the Shaker, but I am just not sure how.
 
#11 ·
Just like to say thanks for this guide, used it yesterday to replace my stock steering wheel with the CR3z-3600-AB in a '06 V6. :) Finding the first WPT-440 port was a little confusing until I looked at the clock spring. Made sense once I looked at it. Won't be able to test the audio until next weekend, as I'm replacing my head unit, so didn't want to program it for one just to change it for another.

Thanks!
 
#17 ·
I just did this today, and it's not quite working. The controls light up, I assume the cruise control is fine as that's all kinds of straightforward, but the unit isn't programming properly.

I'm using the Metra Axxess rather than the PAC, and the wires are slightly different. According to the 2012 mustang instructions from Metra I used the white/green wire off the Axxess harness and connected it to the purple wire from the audio switch (I checked continuity from the connector that goes into the switch all the way to the axxess connector and it's good) but the axxess isn't programming properly. It should give me one long green blink and 6 short to indicate that the white/green wire is connected, but nothing. As I do not have the purple/brown loops to clip, I also don't have a resistor in anywhere because it was neither included nor mentioned by Metra.

Does anyone have any idea where I may have gone wrong, or what to troubleshoot considering I have continuity from the source to the terminus of the purple wire?

Also, it was a used wheel from a 2010 that came from a pick-a-part on eBay. Is there any way to test the switch itself? That's the only thing I can think of that doesn't involve me making a mistake.

---------- Post added June 1st, 2013 at 01:19 AM ---------- Previous post was May 31st, 2013 at 11:28 PM ----------

Well, figured it out.

Coming out of the steering wheel controls the purple wire is one end of the circuit, with green being the other. The green wire that comes from the actual audio switches ended up being just cut and dangling, needed to be grounded. Spliced and soldered it in to the steering wheel ground, works perfectly now.

Hopefully this will help someone in the future. It really is a pretty easy switch from the 07 to a '10+ wheel, just have to solder about 5 or 6 wires and cut two harnesses. This write-up was excellent, just needs to point out that the purple isn't the only wire to be concerned with from the switch.
 
#18 ·
Sorry about that, glad you got it working.

---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------

Where in Florida are you located? I would love to do this to my 06 but I know that I would totally screw it up and end up having to tow it to a shop LOL! I dont have any soldering equipment and don't want to really screw something up.
I'm in Lake Worth
 
#24 ·
Just an additional piece of information for anyone trying this/having issues. When you program the PAC make sure you have the car running, with headlights on, and AC at full blast. If you don't do this then the PAC will be shoddy whenever the headlights are on as a result of the extra power.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I followed your instructions to a T but am thinking I wired the resistor improperly. I am doing the GT500 wheel in a 2005 Mustang GT and using a PAC SWI-RC. I have power to the wheel, cruise control works, and I have power to the PAC. When I go to program the PAC, it won't register any buttons being pressed. All I can think is that I have either the wire coming from the Button plug wired wrong or the resistor is not done correctly. Any chance you can walk me through a quick resistor wiring?

Update:

I got the GT500 wheel working with Volume, Changing Tracks and using the Music Icon to change my source. The Sync, Phone, and OK buttons do not work with this wiring setup but I am perfectly ok with that. My issues were possibly two fold but I definitely had the Resistor wired wrong (Never wire while tired); I originally cut the white and joined it with the purple and then ran the resistor to the other part of my white wire from the joined white and purple. What I needed to do was solder one end of the resistor to the purple wire in line and then the other end to both white halves. I also cut the green wire from the wheel controls and joined it to the ground as another member had suggested. Thankful for this forum and I love my new set up.
 
#32 ·
Sub'd

sent from the S4 Galaxy
 
#33 ·
Good morning everyone!
I am really interested in swapping my poor steering wheel from my '06 V6 with a Boss wheel, and add the audio controls for a Pioneer head unit.
The problem is I can barely find the WPT-440, since it has been replaced by WPT-1242.
Can I go ahead and purchase the 1242 or that won't work? I couldn't find any compatibility charts.
Thanks in advance for your help !

---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 AM ----------

Found my answer: WPT-1242 ensures the same functions than WPT-440... and is only $26 :)
 
#34 ·
You can still find the WPT-440 on ebay. That is where I got mine awhile ago. They are not cheap, but it was the only place to easily find them.
 
#35 ·
Just received my wheel: WOW :)
It really is something else than the stock one...
Received the PAC as well but it looks different than the one from the DIY, I have to inquire about that. Just waiting for my WPT now. ETA on Friday, I can't wait!
 
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