This is your typical single DIN head unit/radio. It has just a tape player in this case. In this pic, there is a "cubby hole" below the single DIN unit. In the North American market, the single DIN was used up until early 2002 on the A4 (Jetta/Golf) and B5 (Passat) platform. The physical plugs on the back of the singel DIN units are the same as the Navi, but the wiring is slighly different.
If you're car came with a single DIN, then it would be best to get a Navi D.
Staring in 2002, VWs came from the factory with these, the "Double DIN", double in that it is twice as tall as the single DIN. This has a built in CD player and tape player. The double DIN has completely different plugs, so nothing of the double DIN wiring harness will plug up to the Navi.
If you're car came with a double DIN, then it would be best to get a Navi G. If you're car has steering wheel controls and/or FIS, then you will have to get a Navi G and the TMC. No steering wheel control, no FIS, then you can use a Navi D version, but if you were to upgrade to a FIS cluster, the Navi/Radio info would not be displayed, only the Navi G will be able to do that, thus Navi G is best because you can upgrade in the future (you never know).
The half FIS only has a pixel display in the lower half of the box thas is between the speedo and tach as shown in the pic above. It will not display any radio or Navi info. It is also refered to as "low pixel MFA".
The full FIS, often just called "FIS", uses the entire box for the pixel display. The FIS can display Navi info and radio info. In the North American market, only the Passat W8 came factory with FIS. Sometimes called "high pixel MFA".
It is important to get the correct cluster when doing a FIS upgrade. Cars that came with the double DIN head unit will use the CAN BUS to try and send info to the FIS, where are cars with single DIN head unit us a seperate wiring harness called "3LB" to send info. The FIS cluster for single DIN radios have an extra plug (a red plug) for the 3LB wiring.
To the best of my knowlage, you can't take a cluster that expects the info to be recieved over the 3LB wiring and use it on a double DIN to Navi upgrade... and you can't take a cluster that expects the info to come over the CAN BUS and put it in a single DIN to Navi upgrade.
The Immobilizer system is build into the cluster.
In 2002, a newer version of the Immoblizer system hit the market, Immobilizer 3. It work the same as Immobilizer 2.
When doing a FIS upgrade, the new cluster should be of the same type Immobilizer system as it is replacing.
If you're car has the double DIN and steering wheel controls or FIS cluster then you will need the TMC to allow the Navi G to be able to "talk" to the steering wheel controls and FIS cluster. In the North American market, we would only use the TMC to all the Navi G to talk to FIS clusters and steering wheel controls when upgrading from a double DIN. Note that only part number 3B0 919 894A is known to work, don't be fooled into thinking 3B0 919 894 will work! There are several different TMC part numbers, so make sure the seller is up front about the exact part number because 3B0 919 894A is not the same as 3B0 919 894.
The double DIN head unit is on the "CAN BUS" (computer network) and the info is sent and recieved via the CAN BUS for the double DIN. The Navi G has a CAN BUS module in it, but it is a different type of CAN BUS, so the TMC acts like translator. A TMC is not needed if you are upgrading from a single DIN. The pic shows my TMC with a bracket that I fab'd. I don't know of any TMCs being sold with any kind of bracket.
The Black Power Plug, as you can see is a black plug, has the power and ground wires in it along with other important wires.. The signle DIN radios use this plug, as well as the Navi, but pin #1 on the Navi is used for the GALA signal, where as on the single DIN it is used for an alarm trigger.
The single DIN units also have a brown plug that has the speaker wires, it plugs directly into the Navi, no mods needed.
This is what the plug for the double DIN radios look like. In one unit you have all of your speaker wires, power, ground and data wires along with the CD wiring harness. This will not plug up to the Navi, an adaptor harness is needed.
The single DIN to Navi adaptor will need to have 1 wire run up to the instrument cluster and spliced into the GALA wire. From that, you plug it between the black power plug and the Navi. It will also have the 26pin plug so both points that need the GALA signal will be taken care of. Some single DIN to Navi adaptors have a push button switch so the GALA signal can turned off (to the Navi, not to the speedometer) so that if you have something like a DVD player hooked up to your Navi, the screen won't turn off over 5MPH. If there won't be any DVD player hooked up, then the switch isn't needed, and can alway be added at a later date.
The double DIN has fewer wires going to it because of it using the CAN BUS to send and recieve info, so there is no S contact, K line or dash light wire going to it. The Navi, on the other hand, needs those lines in order to work correctly. On top of the fact the double DIN harness won't plug up to the Navi as well.
There is no such thing as a "Plug and Play" harness when going from a double DIN to Navi, you will have to splice some wires. As shown in the picture, only 4 wires need to be spliced into the car's harness and the Navi and TMC would be wired up. Not all double DIN to Navi harness adaptors are the same, make sure you know just what you are getting (or not getting) before you purchase. Make sure whoever you purchase from knows what you have and what you expect.
The plug for the AM/FM antenna cable on the double DIN will not plug up to the Navi, so an adaptor is needed if you plan on listening to the radio.
The antenna plug on a single DIN radio will plug right up to the Navi.
As stated above in the GALA section, the Navi needs to recieve the GALA signal at two different locations, the Black Power Plug is the first, and the 26 pin plug is the other. As shown it is sort of taken apart, but you should get the basic idea of what it looks like. Pin #5 needs to have a GALA signal, pin #4 needs to have the S contact signal.
If a TMC is needed for your Navi system, then pins #13 and #26 of this plug are the terminals for the Navi's CAN BUS system.
The single DIN radio is wired directly to the S Contact, but the double DIN is not. The double DIN gets info about the condition of the S Contact over the CAN BUS system, thus it knows when to turn on and off. When going from a double DIN to a Navi, you have to get the S Contact signal to the Navi otherwise it won't turn on and off with they key. Also, without the S Contac signal, when you manually turn on the radio, it will turn off after 1 hour by design. This is because of the feature VW radio have where you can turn the radios on without the key in the ignition... if you forget about the radio, it will shut off in 1 hour so the battery won't go dead. Without the S Contact signal, it will assume the key is not in the igntion.
Single DIN to Navi people won't have to worry about the CAN BUS. Double DIN people just need to know that the CAN BUS system is used to tell the double DIN radios turn on/off with the igniton key, dash lights to turn on and how you scan the radio with a scan tool. Since the Navi doesn't use the CAN BUS for those functions, you have to add the wiring. The Navi G does have a CAN BUS system in it, but it is a different protocal than what the rest of the car uses, the TMC bridges the gap. Lastly, the main CAN BUS control module is built into the instrument cluster.
Some cars have controls for the radio/CD player on the steering wheel. It contorls the volume up/down and then up/down for radio seek and CD track. Cars that have single DIN radios, the steering wheel controls will work the Navi. On cars that have double DIN, you will need the Navi G and the TMC in order for the steering wheel controls to work.
This is an OEM factory part found on cars with the On-Star option. It has the AM/FM antenna, a cell phone antenna and the much needed GPS antenna all in a single housing. There are two different types of Triplex antennas, a North American spec and a Euro spec. The difference is with the cell phone part. If you don't plan on wiring up a hands free phone option in your car, then you can use a Euro spec Triplex for the AM/FM and GPS signals without problems. Should be noted the two different types of Triplex antennas use different mast, so make sure your Triplex includes the mast.
A specail cable is also needed to hook the Navi up to the Triplex for the GPS signal.
To install the Triplex antenna, the headliner needs to be dropped down. If the car has side curtain airbags, then this can be a problem.
The horse pill type GPS antenna has some advantages over the Triplex type, they are cheaper and easier to install. The end results will be the same though, the Navi unit recieves GPS signals from outer space (muck like the mind control devices do that the Government planted in our brains). Some of these type GPS antennas will have the correct plug on the end to plug right up to the Navi, some will need an extra adaptor.
If you're VW has the side curtain airbags, there will be a badge like this on towards the top of the A pillars and B pillars. To install the Triplex antenna, you have to drop the headliner, and if there are side curtain airbags this presents a problem. The A, B and C pillar trim panels are hard mounted, meaning they don't just pull off, there is hardware keeping them securly in place so that when the side curtains deploy, trim panels don't become missles.
The A pillar and C pillar trim panels are help in place with a two piece design clip. A specail tool is used to remove one part of the clip, then the trim panel can be pulled off. What can (and does) happen is when you use the correct tool to pull the clip back, a finger that the tool hooks on breaks or folds back so the tool has nothing to hook onto. When this happens, the only way to remove the A or C pillar trim panels is to rip it off, thus causing damage to the point where it would need to be replaced. The clips are of single use, meaning, you remove the trim panel, you have to replace the clips.
Cars that first came with side curtain airbags had single use B pillar panels, you just had to rip the panel off if you wanted to remove it, and then replace the whole panel. This design was short lived and quickly updated to one in which the "AIGBAG" badge could be popped out and from there a simple screw was removed so the B pillar could be removed without damage. Cars with the old style B pillar panels are upgraded whenever the old single use panel is removed, so some extra hardware would need to be purchased, a clip and the screw along with the new type of B pillar trim.