I have a 2004 Eddie Bauer Expedition with the factory in-dash 6 disc changer.

I bought a Parrot CK3300 bluetooth hands free cell phone kit. It allows me to make and receive calls over the stereo via voice recognition. It automatically syncs my address book along with my made/received/missed call logs. It shows the battery status along with signal strength on the LCD as well. It also has a bluetooth GPS receiver that can interface with PDA based mapping solutions such as the Tom Tom Navigation software on my Treo 650 smartphone.

The real trick was getting it integrated the "official" way with the factory in-dash 6 disc changer. After a lot of research I ordered a "Ford Hands Free Prep Harness" part number AL2Z-19A393-AA. It ended up working perfectly. Made it very easy to wire up. When I use the phone, the stereo automatically mutes and "PHONE" is displayed on the display. My steering wheel volume controls work during the call to control the volume.

This is the "Ford Hands Free Prep Harness" I used:





Here are some pics of the installed CK3300:

 

That is the freakin' BOMB!! I was just driving around the other day thinking..."Man, it would be cool if I could use my bluetooth phone over my radio like Chrysler has on some of its cars... Now I can!!

Woo-hoo! I'm off to the dealer of that part! Where is the best place to get that hands free kit?

 

The part I used was worked for my '04 EB Expy stereo. I would verify you get the correct harness for your truck/stereo.

The Parrot bluetooth kit comes in two flavors:

CK3100 (no GPS)
CK3300 (with GPS too)

Of all the bluetooth hands free kits out there, it is by far the best. It is software upgradable as well. I updated to software version 4.11 after I installed it. The website is http://www.driveblue.com/

I just did some online searching to find the best price. I think you can get the CK3100 for between $160-$170 if you shop around. The CK3300 is $259 from many sources.

I mounted the GPS antenna on my dash on the drivers side as far forward as possible. Reception is great, no problems. It was easy to route the cable back to the main unit via the vent hole.

The Parrot Wiring harnesses look like:

http://www.gurulabs.com/downloads/mi...ingHarness.jpg

One the left harness (the power harness) just clip the three wires a few inches past the inline fuses. The black wire is ground, the red wire needs constant 12V battery power, and the orange wire just needs power when the ignition is on.

On the right harness (the mute harness) you just need the green and brown audio line out wires and the yellow mute wires. You can clip off the two long bundles with the plugs on the end.

Then wire the parrort harness to the Ford "Hands Free Prep Harness" with:

Ford Black to Parrot Green = Line +
Ford Red to Parrot Brown = Line -
Ford Red/Yellow to Parrot Orange fuse = Ignition
Ford Blk/Light Green to Parrot Black = Ground
Ford Violet to Parrot Yellow Male butt connector = Mute

The "hands free prep harness" doesn't have a always on "battery 12V" power lead so you'll need to find a source to tap the the Parrot Red into. I located the always on wire going into the factory stereo and tapped into it.

I made a small notch in the plastic flange in the upper corner of the factory stereo to route the LCD cable out so it wouldn't pinch it so much. I don't even think you could see the notch if the Parrot is ever removed.

Pretty easy actually. There was lots of room behind my dash and under the factory stereo. Taking off the dash was very simple and straight forward too. Just unscrew the two screws above the speedometer and then pry the whole thing off a bit, then unattach the 4-5 plugs connecting to the dash. No scary moments.

 

I bought the Ford "Hands Free Prep Harness" from here:

http://www.parts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=searchCatalogOEM&siteid=213787

I got it for $38. It took about two weeks to arrive.

Here is what the back of my 2004 Eddie Bauer Expedition in-dash 6disc changer stereo looks like:



The green wire (the very most top left wire) of the bottom right plug is where I tapped into for the constant power source.

 

I should give some props out to Philip Henderson of JustCarKits http://justcarkits.co.uk/ who gave me the wiring info on how to attach the Ford Hands Free Prep Harness to the Parrot harnness.

The Parrot units are very popular in Europe, but are just starting to catch on over here in the USA as bluetooth is becoming more mainstream.

 

anyone know if this harness works with the NAV radio??

thanks
mike

 

also, I noticed that there are two versions of this same harness:
the AA and the BA

One is Molex connectors the other is Tyco connectors.

what type of connectors is on the NAV Radio?

thanks again
mike

 

I have a handsfree w/cradle (no bluetooth) already installed. Will this unit tie into my existing external antenna?

 

Mike, I'd guess that it does as during my research I didn't see any mention or quesitons on what head unit it was. I believe both the non-NAV in-dash 6 disc changer HU and the NAV HU are made by Visteon.

The way to be sure though is to check the pics I posted versus the back of your stereo. Getting your dash off is very straight forward and easy. Should take about 10-15 minutes to get it off, check your stereo, and put it back together.

 

I was wondering about that when I ordered the harness. I went with the AA = Molex and it all worked in my case.

Check the back of your stereo. If it looks like the pics I posted then you need the molex version.

 

I don't understand your question. When you say "unit" what are you referring to, the Parrot?

Handsfree with bluetooth means no wires between your car and your phone.

In one aspect it is much better than a wired cradle, as the cradles are going to be phone specific. Every time you change your phone, it is most likely you'll need a new cradle.

With the bluetooth approach that isn't a problem. The same bluetooth handsfree kit will work any bluetooth phone (in theory).

 

Right, but with my cradle unit I have an external antenna on my vehicle which gives me much better signal reception on the road. I was wondering if the bluetooth units have any way to tie into an external antenna to boost reception. Thanks.

 

The bluetooth base units don't have any antenna functionality. They just interface to a microphone, speakers (via the stereo usually), and some user interface with ***** or LCD etc.

I suppose you could connect an external antenna to your phone, and use a bluetooth handsfree kit at the same time.

 

Your instructions were perfect. I did this yesterday and it took about two hours. Thanks for posting this. I love the new Parrot.

They say you need pro installation of this item, but that is just crap. If you know how to use a crimper and test light, you are fine to do it on your own.

 

Bluetooth is pretty sweet. I picked up a Motorola bluetooth headset for my phone for $30 from a guy on the local car forums. Its so nice to not deal with the cords. I think my mom is even hooked on bluetooth now.

Nice job on that install, it looks really clean.