Those were in the back cargo area roof near the antenna unit? I've pulled the antenna out of 3 XC90s and I don't recall seeing those before. Maybe they were there for some sort of dealer-installed option.

 

They are part of the whole unit but (on my car) not used. I guess one will be the GPS (I don't have nav) but what are the rest of these?

 

Ahh ok I see what you're looking at now. I retract my statement that I haven't seen them before.

 

https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?596813-New-XC90-owner-from-Amsterdam

If you're reading this on something that will allow a signature to be created https://forums.swedespeed.com/profile.php?do=editsignature , get one up with your model year and engine please so everyone can see it and put things in perspective and not have to ask for future questions which, if you're serious about keeping this car, you'll be asking more of.

The Receiver AM/FM (ATM) connector is up under the left side in the photos, where the module mounts. The ATM is powered by the REM and is an active device which I think resides in between the AUD and ICM modules in the MOST fiber loop.

Middle connector set is for Receiver TMC and Receiver GPS as you suspect.

It's located in VIDA, 395: Component description, antenna flex conductor. Can see signal specs as well as some descriptors. If you move to repair section, you can see the connectors, whole bunch of stuff in there.

For those of you without VIDA, Antennas left to right are AM, Primary FM, TMC (not used in US), GPSx3, and FM subcarrier.

Not sure what you're wanting to accomplish by your question, couple folks have done a few things over the years to hack the stock system (I have the sacrificial AM mod for AUX working in my '05 as one example) and there some varying degrees of stock system replacement so if you can be more specific as to what you're thinking , likely someone has done it a few times.

Have a good read on the "How To" sticky above, get familiar with your car. You 'll find a couple things to do audio-wise in there as well I think. Owner information and maintenance schedules may be found here should you ever need them- https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/homeV3

Good luck with your "new" XC90

 

Thanks for the reply. I want to use the "stock" FM antenna for an after market 2 DIN radio. I saw some DIN antenna adapters for Volvo and was wondering if I could actually just plug one in. Found the VIDA section and the answer is "no". Plug B, C and D (from left to right) correspond to TMC-antenna (only certain markets) and the others have no connection as far as VIDA is concerned. I could maybe use pin 3 and 7 on the "A" connector but I will probably get all sorts of other problems if I disconnect that one right? I read the AM mod but that's not what I'm after. I'm replacing the whole system. Installed the rear camera yesterday and since I'm up in the roof was thinking what to do with the antenna. I have a powered FM antenna but I don't want to stick it on a window. It looks ugly. So I thought about sticking it in the roof but I wonder if it will get good reception. Then I saw these sockets...... Anyway, maybe I should stick with internet radio but when on holiday in France we like the FM radio. I'll just test the extra FM antenna, if it doesn't work I'll try something else. If you just leave the tuner in and remove the rest will the car complain? It seems like a good spot for the GPS and 4G antenna's as well.

 

Thanks for the reply. I want to use the "stock" FM antenna for an after market 2 DIN radio. I saw some DIN antenna adapters for Volvo and was wondering if I could actually just plug one in. .

For what it's worth, I bought an antenna adapter on eBay that was supposedly for the XC90, but didn't fit the plug at the radio location that mated with the ICM at all. I saw that the essential concentric connector in the eBay plug was similar to the two antenna connectors in the original plug, so I "liberated" the connector from the plug shell and jammed it into the vehicle plug. I have no idea which of the two similar plugs in the vehicle plug I selected, but my FM reception is good, with the only FM station I listen to here in San Diego. That hadn't been the case with some other vehicles I've had, since it's a relatively low powered college station. The item was sent from Slovenia, so I suspect it was intended for a different market-version, but the two ends of the pigtail ended up working, for me.

 

Radio reception leaves much to be desired on the early versions of this car, reason I had asked about model year (thanks for adding signature).
https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?75085-XC90-Antenna-question for one reference.

Out of curiosity I went and looked at my '08 rear windows, left and right glass do indeed have a different shaped antenna patterns on them.

I have no idea about hacks for the system, someone who's done if before certainly can assist. But I would certainly agree, for this model year you'll want to do something different if you're looking for decent RF reception in line with the style of the vehicle.

Out of curiosity, at some point post the last 6 of your VIN please, I'm curious to see how low this car is. Structure week as well if it's not too much trouble (my 05 CH-135488 is 200425).

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

009416 (last 6 digits from VIN) built in December 2002. I bought it in Stockholm and drove it back to the Netherlands. Was a fun road trip. Had timing belt renewed at 185000 and haldex (is it called haldex?) around a year ago. Last full service was August 2018. I had to change MAF sensor and was pleased to find new airfilter etc. etc. so it wasn't just stamps in the log. I did take a big gamble on the car. It was dirt cheap and had some damage to the hood. We joke that a moose landed on it. Everything else seems OK. I have to fix parking brake but I knew that when I bought it. It has temp fix now. Will start that after the radio. It has usual mentions in Vida (air quality sensor, rear wiper low signal and occasional anti skid (from rear left brake, where parking brake problem exists). If I don't brake in fast right turns they stay away . I'm a very docile driver. I love it when you very slowly get this car in motion and once it goes it runs very smooth. I don't have the urge to poot my foot down so hardly get over 2500 RPM. Gears are very smooth. Maybe I'll get a power flush just to see what it looks like. In 40000 km's it will need another timing belt. I usually buy a car and drive it until the end. If this one holds out for three or four years I'll be happy.

 

So the CAN bus doesn't complain when you unplug the antenna from the Tuner? Then I might have a look at that. I was in San Diego in Februari. We had a Hailstorm!!! It was cold I do like the place. Today I finnished installing the rear view camera and tested it. Put all the covers back and need to find a way to run the cables to the front. Somehow I think running them on top over the doors seems easiest way. I ran into another problem. My tailgate lock stopped working. Well, to be specific, the lock works fine. Took the whole thing out, lubricated the various moving parts. Checked everything and it does work when not "under load". When I tested it actually locking the gate it stopped working again. The lock workt fine it's just the handle that can't exercise enough force (it seems) to open the door. I found that if I pull the handle all the way and then push the tailgate it will unlock. I have no clue what causes it. Sometimes it works flawlessly. And when I look at the mechanism it's very basic. I can only think of small slack in the short cable operating it. Anyway. Just another thing on the bucket list.

 

One more thing, when I removed the tail light to get reverse power I noticed some badly spliced leads going up into the top section of the tail lights. It's powering a LED strip. It didn't work at first (and I had some brake light notifications) but eventually I figured that the LED strip powers when braking. Only it is completely worn out and brittle. Is this original? I can hardly imagine as the power leads were very badly spliced into the rest of the cable harness.

 

I have no messages in the instrument section, but VIDA reports all the dysfunctions in the audio system. I often wonder if the entire audio system can be turned off by VIDA software, but then it is out of sight
I've also wondered about the advice about leaving the IAM plugged in and stuffed behind the new install, but I'm not courageous enough to find out if the air bag concerns that are mentioned on the YouTube how-to's are valid. I tried researching the Canbus a bit, thinking that many networks require terminators on open nodes, thinking to remove all the obsolete audio and fitting a terminator. I didn't get too far with that, but it would seem the components are registered in the network, so some kind of VIDA message would still exist.
Too bad your holiday in San Diego fell on the week we had Winter Sorry about that!

 

Does your XC90 have the stock third brake light? Why would someone kludge in another brake light, I wonder?

 

BTW, My BU camera cable is run the aerial route in the headliner. It was really easy. It just stuffed in along the edge, for the most part. The most difficult part was getting from the edge to the center in the rear, bur easily done with a fish device. A wire coat hanger would work. Fighting with the door sills and carpet didn't appeal.

 

It has the third brake light (isn't it mandatory??) I also wonder why. But I also wonder what the use is of the whole red lights running up all the way when there's no bulbs there. So they made use of it I guess
I didn't take a picture but some video. I'm installing a Joying head unit and they asked me to document it so I'm taping the progress. Will post a link once it's done. Since I'm a novice regarding Volvo it might be interesting. I did buy a canbus interface and they assured me I can leave all old radio parts out. I wonder. I'll be starting the head unit install sunday or monday. Tonight I'll look into "earial route". Where exactly did you put the cable?

 

I bought the eBay license plate light replacement camera and mounted it on the left side. Ran the cable up to the top of the aft hatch and lubed the RCA connector after wrapping with electrical tape to provide something of a conical profile. I had previously fished a string through the rubber wire chase and had tied that with running-hitches to the cable. Pulled the string/cable from the right rear window with an electrician's fish tape (steel), and then simply tucked it into the headliner edge going forward. I was able to pull the headliner down a bit with my fingers and push the wire up into the space quite far with just my fingers, which aren't small specimens, at that. Then simply down the "A" post after removing the cover. Be careful not to destroy the cable with the hand-hold when bolting it down again. That happened to my phone microphone cable. The cable was actually about 18" inches too short. I fixed that with appropriate patch cords and connectors, but running along the left side would be a more shorter route.
Interesting thing about the camera is that it uses both a reverse light trigger and a power source, as well as the power wire for the license light LED. The License light LED is a nice, bright, white light, making the sock light on the right side look anemic, so I replaced that with an LED bulb.
I fretted about the camera being mounted off-center, but it's not noticeable on the display, but the built-in guide lines are not proportional to the width of the car, being somewhat narrower. One adjusts to it, though. One trick is to set one of the memory seat positions with the outside rear-view mirrors to a downward view. That will be seating position specific, though. Another driver of different stature might find it unsuitable.
That camera is quite good, as it's CCD. Most are CMOS, which has poorer resolution, generally.

 

Don't have the memory seats... No frills. Wonder if I could fit them but would probably mean a trip to the dealer. Something I hoped to avoid having VIDA. My car still speaks Swedish to me. I bought similar camera: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/128...era-for-Volvo-S60-S80-V70/32955756992.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7e7b4c4dTwjJqK

Fits nicely and unobtrusive. It does make the other light seem odd. But I'll leave it as is for now. I took off the RCA connector to the rubber between tailgate and car. Now I'm anxious to get the head unit installed. Need to do some rewiring to get the speaker wires from the factory amp up front. Have read many posts but guess I'll just have to figure it out when going along. will keep you posted, have so many questions...

 

That camera looks good! It's similar in specs and appearance to the one I have. I think you'll be very happy with it.
On my car, the speaker wire harness routed back to the radio location quite easily. Just remove the tape wrapped around the harness and separate the speaker wires from the rest and re-wrap. It was essentially a separate harness laid along side another harness. No need to remove the plug. There were no tangled wires. the speaker wires all lead back to the center dash area from the amplifier, anyway. I also used the heavy power supply wires at the amplifier to power the radio and the back-up camera. I added a terminal strip into the existing wires, and then screwed additional wires to the strip. I left the power plugged into the amp because of the concerns about canbus mysteries. It's easier running wires along the center console than screwing around with the fuse box and routing from there. The accessory power contacts for the radio come from the rear-seat cigarette lighter. My radio wanted constant primary power source, and keyed on-signal wiring.
The memory seats are really not worth the trouble unless you have more than one driver, with a big difference in stature, it seems to me. I never remember to use the downward mirror setting, anyway.

 

This was what triggered me: https://incartec.co.uk/product/Volvo-XC90-roof-antenna-to-male-din-plug especially when I saw he sockets. I think the price is too steep though. I have the wire harnass to connect the radio and CAN bus. It should be plug and play apart from the speakers. Those I need to re-wire I think. There is a small speaker to retain the rear PDC but I have no clue how to connect and they don't work anyway (only one sensor sporadically gives a beep). Can you replace those with cheap Chinese sensors or is it a waste of time? I would like to get rid of the message in VIDA (although it doesn't show on the display anymore). Would be nice holiday project.

 

That looks like the eBay antenna adapter that I have. The connector did not mate with the connector that plugged into the back of the original dash unit, but then mine is a 2009 U.S. variant, but not the premium sound one. I did de-engineer the shell and plugged the actual metal concentric connector into the original connector at the radio location.
The plug-n-play harness adapter may be of many different types, but the Canbus capability is questionable, to me. One type of Canbus operability that is frequently touted is adaptation of the steering wheel control, but when I researched adapting aftermarket radios in November 2017, I could find nothing about successfully talking to the Canbus and utilizing the amplifier and other features. It may vary by YM and market version, but as I hear it, the audio components are registered in the CEM, and imposters aren't recognized. Even OEM audio modules must be introduced by software, as I hear it.
My XC90 is fitted with an aftermarket back up system that works quite well and does not interface with the audio system. I understand that having the OEM monitor function with aftermarket gear is very hit and miss, with miss being the norm. Bear in mind the acceptance into the registered components scheme of the Canbus.
Is there a link to the harness adapter you have?
Have you read the "Ultimate Stereo Challenge" post? A lot of info, there. Also, there's a shop in the UK that has done extensive work on fitting aftermarket gear to Volvos and have a line of kits for adapting wiring, SWC, etc. A bit pricey, considering there's no significant inter-operability enhancements compared to the competition. Same with the Florida vendor.

 

Well, finally pulled the radio etc. Seems like the harness I got is pretty useless. Started soldering the speaker wires but seriously have no clue what wires to use for can bus etc. There is a small connector next to the CD fiber optics that has power etc. according to a Youtube video. but it fails to explain what is what. I also think I should keep the small display part and not get into trouble. Can't find a good wiring chart to explain all connectors to the back of the original head unit.

 

Anybody who can explain wich one of the three wires is the continuous 12V and the switched 12V on the small connector attached to the fiber optics connector on the CD player? I can take a guess but rather do it right the first time

 

Check your PM's.

 

Thank you! Figured out that the violet-white is constant 12V and the violet is switched. Brown is ground. I have VIDA but it's a bit overwhelming sometimes. I thought I bought a more or less plug in solution. Turns out it's more tricky. Just takes some time to figure it out but I'll get there. Good thing is, I learn a lot on the way. I like that and it's nice to realize there's people willing to help so thank you for that. I bought this kit: http://www.volvotech.eu/xc90/XC90-MY-2003-2004/ci-p2-mc The wire harness for the speakers fits the connector at the amp so I had to cut it, solder it to the harness from the radio and have a good detachable plug for the speakers. The harness for the rest is a bit tricky. It's not at all what's pictured. I think it has an earlier Volvo plug (S60, V70) so I can't use it. Some are quite straight forward. 12V going to canbus interface and radio, but the rest is kind of tricky. I should find CAN high and CAN low (both dubbel available) on the 10 pin connector to the (original) radio (white and green). I have to solder them on to the connection to the C1-P2 (yellow and blue). Then there is a grey wire next to them (pin3??) running from the Volvo plug directly to the Radio but it doesn't have a connection there. So what is it for. Same with orange wire (for lights?) max 0.1 amp. I guess it's for dimming but my radio has no wire to connect to that. I guess I'll just hook it up and play with it. Like Dexter's Lab... "what does this button do??" I also seiously wonder how his steering wheel interface works. The radio had a "Key1 and Key2" wire but what should I connect to that? Maybe the jack plug cable that is also attached? We'll see. First get all the normal stuff running and then we'll see.

 

So for a little update. I "played around" and got a bit frustrated. Car threw a SRS straight at me when getting the power back. I took the green and white for the C1-P2 but XC90's don't like CAN to be interrupted I guess. So how do you tap into CAN with one of these boxes? You splice them into the CAN wires? Anyway, to keep on topic; I took the powered FM window antenna and tucked it underneath the normal antenna in the roof. It fits nicely and I saw a good grounding point also used by the factory antenna. I routed all the wires to the front along the left roof lining. That was very easy to do. 4G, GPS, French Toll dongle and DVR camera are all put just behind the rear view mirror. FM antenna has better than expected reception. I got weakest channels without any problems. Only thing is that these after market units are not very impressive regarding power. I might add an external amp eventually because the speakers are great, they just need a bit more power to make them shine. All the rest works great. Rear camera works flawlessly. Now it's time to clean up, get the stearing controls to work and somehow fit everything back inside. That's actually the one part I spend most time on, the front plate and how to fit the radio. It's slightly curved, the cover I bought doesn't fit so I had to cut and scrape to make it work. Spend more time on that than anything else.

 

Yes, you must splice onto the connected wires to access the Canbus for the SWC, with the harness plugged into the original audio display module. At least those were the instructions from Axxess Integrated. They actually have some good wiring instructions, but like so many of these, the procedure is to try option 2 if the first part of the instructions don't work. Mine worked after option 7 or 8,and then Tech Support. There just aren't big enough numbers for the aftermarket to do a great job. I think all the R&D stopped around 2005, so they're selling the early attempts as current gear. Oh, well, it all works in the end. Good luck finishing off your installation! I'm sure it will come together.

 

Thank you so much for your reply. All this unit does is listen to CAN bus messages and translate them into (analog) resistance values right? I can see the values on the head unit and program functions on the different values so as long as the unit works (it can read CAN bus and translate to resistance values) I'm in business. I do maybe have to figure out what protocol is best for my setup. The unit has three dip switches so I have 8 different value maps to try..... Learning every day but I'm ready to just start driving again instead of having the car ripped apart troubleshooting every connection.

Tomorrow is another day, keep you posted.