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anyone ever add satellite radio after the fact?

6K views 36 replies 9 participants last post by  kcrudup 
#1 ·
ive had my fx for over a year and i just decided that i want to get a satellite radio after driving wifey's honda with sat radio this week.

anyone get this installed on a tech FX after the fact? i am assuming that its pre-wired for it. does it take long? any ideas on overall cost with labor?

thanks!

brad
 
#2 ·
Added mine after the fact. Non-tech. Theres a spot under the middle rear seat where it slides right in and is connected to the pre-wired setup. Has a velcro closure to conceal in case the seat is down. Install and equipment cost me $505.
 
#3 ·
it's the equivilent of buying an FX w/o, but having it installed as a dealer installed option, they can do it, bargain with parts and service dept. for a fair price, shoot for about $500., or buy it from grubbs and install it yourself or install shop (no warr. that way though) , mine was after the fact , but before del. / paid invoice.and 1.9% finance ...why am i rambling......oh my glass is empty.
 
#4 ·
i went to rosenthal infiniti in tysons corner va and most of the guys were out for the day, but two folks separately told me that the install would be 800 dollars (arrox 400 for the euip and 400 for the labor!!!). they are also saying that there is only ONE antenna type they can install for each brand (XM vs. Sirius) and they are both the BIG ones. in addition i asked about alternate placement positions and the guy said that there is only one place that they can place it and that there is NO way they can do it other places.

i mentioned that i know of folks that have had dealers do this in other places and with smaller antennas and he was like "no, its not possible..they are wrong" :roll:

so ...

(1) anyone here get a smaller antenna for XM or sirius installed by the dealer?

(2) anyone have the DEALER install the antenna in a custom location?

(3) what is involved on the delaers side for the actual install (i.e.. what costs 400$ for labor! i would think that the only real labor is running the antenna cable

(4) where does the antenna cable go? thru the roof where the rails are?

thanks for any info

brad
 
#6 ·
PINITI-FX said:
search stealth xm install at F/A , print it and show them , thats what i did - we know more than they do because of this site.
cool. i was looking at this the other day and couldnt remember if you said it was done at the dealer.

thanks,

brad
 
#9 ·
Brad,

I bought my Sirius from Grubbs, but never got around to installing it. I also checked at Rosenthal, and couldn't believe the price they wanted for installlation. I called Passport, and though I don't recall the quote, it was significantly less expensive. I do have the printed instructions for the installation, and if you're willing to give it a try maybe we could do the two togeather some weekend...otherwise, I'll be heading to Passport when I get back from my trip (after Labor Day)

Oh, and you are covered on a one-year warranty for self installations, but you get the full vehicle warranty if the dealer does it.

Don
 
#10 ·
FromHereToInfiniti said:
Brad,

I bought my Sirius from Grubbs, but never got around to installing it. I also checked at Rosenthal, and couldn't believe the price they wanted for installlation. I called Passport, and though I don't recall the quote, it was significantly less expensive. I do have the printed instructions for the installation, and if you're willing to give it a try maybe we could do the two togeather some weekend...otherwise, I'll be heading to Passport when I get back from my trip (after Labor Day)

Oh, and you are covered on a one-year warranty for self installations, but you get the full vehicle warranty if the dealer does it.


Don
its funny you said this becuase i looked at the instructions from grubbs too and i said to tracy that i should jusy buy the kit there, call up don, grab a 6-pack of beer, and do the install together.

im going to review the self install instructions in detail this weekend. maybe ill get mine at grubbs too and we can do a dual install in early september :)
 
#12 ·
Added mine after the fact. Non-tech. Theres a spot under the middle rear seat where it slides right in and is connected to the pre-wired setup. Has a velcro closure to conceal in case the seat is down. Install and equipment cost me $505.
anyone have a wire diagram for this pre-wired setup?
 
#13 ·
pictures

I have great pictures of the complete install, the directions given by grubbs are decent but supplementing them with pictures would help alot.

Geesh i'm lazy - need to downsize and upload, took me like 3 hours total, you need space b/c you have to take everything out of the back to run the wires. Unfortunately I didn't do the stealth install under the hatch, but I am using the small Terk antenna and it definitely works as well as the generation 1 antenna i had with skyfi.
 
#14 ·
Re: pictures

fxhobo said:
I have great pictures of the complete install, the directions given by grubbs are decent but supplementing them with pictures would help alot.

Geesh i'm lazy - need to downsize and upload, took me like 3 hours total, you need space b/c you have to take everything out of the back to run the wires. Unfortunately I didn't do the stealth install under the hatch, but I am using the small Terk antenna and it definitely works as well as the generation 1 antenna i had with skyfi.
im thinking about doing the install myself and possibly going for the stelath install. but if you have good pictures, could you post them or email them to me?

also, did you have to obtain any special tools to do this, or better yet, were there any real tough points that i need to be warned of?

thanks!

brad
 
#15 ·
FromHereToInfiniti said:
I do have the printed instructions for the installation, and if you're willing to give it a try maybe we could do the two togeather some weekend...otherwise, I'll be heading to Passport when I get back from my trip (after Labor Day)
don,

save yourself the cash and ill come over there and help you and do this yourself. i got bored last weekend and installed mine with stealth antenna and it works great. for the amount of cash that you'll save, you shouldnt even need to worry about the warranty since ,if it breaks after a year, you could buy a whole new unit for less than the extra cost of the install :)

i already have the steps fresh in my mind, and its easy to do...
 
#16 ·
Brad,

If I were to replace my Terk's antenna with a stealth antenna such as yours would I have to go all the way back into the receiver or just splice it somewhere?

Any pics of your stealth placement?
 
#17 ·
FXcellent said:
Brad,

If I were to replace my Terk's antenna with a stealth antenna such as yours would I have to go all the way back into the receiver or just splice it somewhere?

Any pics of your stealth placement?
i didnt take any pics when i did mine since i was planning on doing that when we do dons FX45.

my "stealth" antenna is a Terk antenna...just a small one that i got from grubbs...and yes, i do think you will have to go all the way back to the reciever. The only caveat is if its possible to "cut" the cable on the old antenna and the new antenna and splice them together. i dont know much about the antenna differences except that my small antenna needed an adapter (splitter) since the antenna only has one lead and the reciever splits into to inputs.

if you didnt do the intall yourself, rerouting the antenna is not hard as long as you have a handfull of small zip ties and some electrical tape.
 
#20 ·
kcrudup said:
this is a good choice to get your sat and antenna. get the small antenna for the extra cash as it lets you put it in different locations easily.

also...anyone that wants this after the fact, do yourself a favor and install it yourself. its not hard when using the small antenna and it will save you anywhere from 100-450 bucks depending on where and who you would normally use for the install.
 
#21 ·
I am looking to replace my Terk Magnetic Low Profile attenna installed on the roof with a Terk Microantenna under the hatch.
Is this what most people have done with the micro install? Can anyone tell me exactly what I would need to do this install and how to do it?

Is the only thing I need the micro antenna since the initial install would have the splitter?

TIA
 
#22 ·
FXcellent said:
I am looking to replace my Terk Magnetic Low Profile attenna installed on the roof with a Terk Microantenna under the hatch.
Is this what most people have done with the micro install? Can anyone tell me exactly what I would need to do this install and how to do it?

Is the only thing I need the micro antenna since the initial install would have the splitter?

TIA
was your magnetic antenna routed thru the roof rail track? this is probablly the biggest pain point. if not, you still need to go all the way back to the unit under the back seat by following the directions from grubbs PDF. once you do that, you can re-route the new antenna back to the top of the hatch the same way as before but just stop there.
 
#23 ·
No it is centered in the rear coming from underneath the hatch.

Wil the microantenna just plug into the equipment that is already there? Any need to change anything or reset the receiver after the new antenna is installed? Does the antenna come with the necessary adhesive / tape to adhere down?

Thanks for the input.
 
#24 ·
as far as just plugging it in....not sure... i know that i needed to get an adapter (splitter) for my micro antenna. not sure if your original needed it or not.

also, the antenna did not come with any tape or goodies to adhere it. i used the extra stuff in the main unit kit. what you really need is just a bunch of tiny black zip ties and some of that clear packaging tape. the old antenna install "SHOULD" have all of the other padding and stuff in place already.

important note here though is that you need to get a small amount of butel-gum to seal the antanna cable at the notch in the top of the hatch area. you MIGHT be able to re-use the old gum that is already there depending on its condition. this is the one area where water can come from the outside to the inside of the car.

other than that i just zip tied the cable along the original route and tucked it under the weather stripping on the hatch area.

grubbs will sell you the antenna and the adapter...not sure where to get butel-gum though
 
#25 ·
Thanks,

Sure would like to do this myself, but have no idea where to get butyl-gum much less no how to use it. As well as what kind of adhesive to use under the antenna.

Anyone that has done this can you give me a heads up here?

Oh yeah, for those who have done the stealth install under the hatch, any noticable problems with reception? When I talked to Grubbs they were not very keen on this idea after I sent them some pics of the location under the hatch.
 
#26 ·
FXLENT said:
Thanks,

Sure would like to do this myself, but have no idea where to get butyl-gum much less no how to use it. As well as what kind of adhesive to use under the antenna.

Anyone that has done this can you give me a heads up here?

Oh yeah, for those who have done the stealth install under the hatch, any noticable problems with reception? When I talked to Grubbs they were not very keen on this idea after I sent them some pics of the location under the hatch.
my micro antenna is still a magnet type. what i did was leave about 18 inches of antenna cable in a long loop up in the cavity where the antenna sits. if i ever feel the reception is not good enuf, i can just put the magnetic antenna up on the roof in the very center back of the roof and i have plenty of extra cable to move it to the sides as well.

my reception is fine. every now and then under overpasses i lose the signal (which might not happen if its on the roof), but other than that...its perfect all the time

as far as butel-gum, see a hobby store or maybe see if the dealer can give you some for free or cheap ;)
 
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