2001 Mercury Sable LS Premium HELP...

[thelongestbreath]

I just got a sirus satellite radio for my car, got most of it hooked up and when it came time to hook the wiring into my speakers...I found some trouble. It seems in order to get to the wire I need, I need some four prong device that slides in four holes that are in the Radio/Climate unit, and pulls the system out? If anyone has any idea if there is any other way, or could give me a bit of insight into where I could obtain the four prong piece that slides in...I'd greatly appreciate it. The climate/radio unit looks like this:


http://www.exoticwooddash.com/images/wd335.jpg from a ford car I know, but it looks exactly the same.

[Larry]

Offhand, I'd bet you that the gizmo is patented.

I'd read that, 10 years ago, Detroit figured out that people weren't willing to get gouged paying dealer prices for cassette players and so forth, and were simply going to Circuit City and paying one-fifth the price that the dealer wanted for a MUCH better unit.

This was intolerable.

So, they could have brought their prices in line with the market, and competed.

But they decided that a better approach was to intentionally make their radios proprietary. They make them fit in round holes. Or holed that are only three inches deep. They patent the connector for the wiring harness.

Or, they combine the radio and the heater controls.

[thelongestbreath]

Yes unfortunately this is my issue haha, I even found out that if one part of the system goes bad there are no other options than buying an entirely new unit from Ford

[SkinsOrlando]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-z5qIJyA6Rue/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?search=removal+tool&skipvs=T&g=820


5 bucks for the tool at crutchfield

[thelongestbreath]

Thanks a lot S_O, just placed my order for the tool.

[No_Pressure]

Has the plastic Mercury intake manifold cracked yet and given you hundreds of dollars in repairs?

[thelongestbreath]

Actually it did crack, though I got a warehouse rebate because my uncle works the factory.

[No_Pressure]

I knew it, those bastards have been using shotty materials for that part for so long it isnt funny we had 2 grand marquis after 1995 when they changed from steel to plastic and both of them had that problem at around 36,000 miles. Damn Mercury. Some CEO in 1995 was probably sitting in a meeting room saying: how can we cut 50 dollars off of the construction price? Some ambitious upstart yes-man says: turn the steel manifolds to plastic? Everyone gives out a roaring applause, the guy gets promoted and car buyers everywhere get screwed.