# Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Display and Control Head



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

I recently removed and replaced the J523 Front Information Display and Control Head in my Phaeton. This is the big display screen that we use for functions such as air conditioning control, entertainment system settings, and navigation display.
The process is remarkably simple - remove a few covers, remove 5 screws, slide the unit out, and disconnect about half a dozen connectors. However... re-installation can be difficult, unless you know the trick.
When a person removes this control unit for the first time, they will probably encounter some difficulty with a large black plastic cable guide that clips onto the back of the J523. This cable guide serves several very important purposes: First, it prevents any strain from being placed on the connectors, and second, it keeps the cable bundle held up in the correct position so that the installer will be able to slide the J523 all the way back into its mounting position when re-installation is done. Because the Phaeton Factory Repair manual gives very poor (and incomplete) instructions about how to remove this cable guide from the back of the J523, techs often wind up cutting the little tie-wraps that hold the various cables in the guide. So, let's start with how to remove the cable guide from the back of the J523 when you are removing the unit.
Removal Instructions:
*1) *Apply the parking brake. Turn the ignition on, press the brake pedal, and move the shift lever all the way back to the S position. Turn the ignition off. Now, get out of the driver seat, and go around the car and do your work from the passenger seat. *It is much easier to remove and replace the J523 if you are sitting in the passenger seat.*
*2)* Remove the wood covers from the two ashtrays by sliding them horizontally outwards (towards the outboard side of the car). They snap out quite easily. Set them aside.
*3)* Remove the wood trim from around the unit using a VW trim removal tool. Detailed instructions for this can be found on this thread: Retrofitting Keyless Start to North American Phaetons, steps 7 and 8.
*4)* Grasp one edge of the plastic mount that holds the thermostat in place, and pull it straight out. See section 91-2 of the Phaeton Repair Manual for an illustration of how to do this. Then disconnect the thermostat and set it aside.
*5)* Remove the 4 Torx screws from the sides of the J523, and the 5th screw from behind where the thermostat was.
*6)* Remove the ashtray assembly by sliding it straight out. Set it aside.
*7)* Get a towel, and lay it down in front of the shift lever in such a way that you fully protect all the wood trim between the shift lever and the ashtray area. If you are tempted to skip this step, look up the price of buying a replacement wood panel, should you scratch it with the sharp metal edges of the J523 - that will give you lots of incentive to go find a towel.
*8)* Now, slide the J523 straight back. It will likely NOT come all the way out. In fact, it will probably just come far enough out to allow you to stick your fingers in behind it, where all the cables connect.
*The J523 will probably only come out this far when you start to pull it out.*








*9) *Remove the four-pin connector at the very top middle of the *FRONT *of the J523. I think this has something to do with either the ambient light sensor or instrument panel illumination, I am not sure. Then, stick your fingers behind the J523, and remove the connector in the upper left position (upper passenger side) - this is the 32 pin multiple connector. It has the same type of latching/locking mechanism on it as the instrument panel connectors on a Golf or Jetta IV. Then remove the two antenna connectors from the lower left side - they are the same as any other VW antenna connector. 
*10)* Now, before you go any further, you have to get that big black cable guide off the back of the J523. Do not attempt to disconnect any of the remaining cables - the optical cable or the cables in the lower right (driver side) area until you get that cable guide loose. The cable guide has THREE attachment points, not two as the repair manual suggests. Loosen the two attachment points that are at the top of the cable guide first. To do this, press down on them, and at the same time, try to pry the cable guide away from the J523 - toward the front of the car. It should move about 1 cm (1/4 inch) away if you are successful. It's not all that difficult to get the top two clips out of the back of the J523 - as long as you can get a finger in there, you can press the clips down a tiny bit, and pry the top part of the cable guide away from the back of the J523.
*These are the top two clips - loosen them first.*








*11) *Once you have the top two clips loose, and have pried the top of the cable guide away from the back of the J523 by about 1 cm (1/4 inch), lift the cable guide up, and wiggle it. By lifting it up, you will help unlatch the third clip, which is shown in the photo below.
*It is very difficult to visualize what you have to do to get the third (bottom) clip out unless you know what the clip looks like.*
As you can see - if you get the top two clips out OK, just lifting the cable guide up and wiggling it should be enough to release the third (lower) clip.








*12) *Now that you have the cable guide separated from the back of the J523 - as shown in the photos above - you can remove the connectors from the DIN connections in the lower right, and also remove the fiber optic cable connector. DON'T BEND that fiber optic cable, and don't pull on the fiber optic cable itself - only on its connector.
*13)* Remove the J523 from the slot it fits in, and then remove it from the car via the front passenger door. If you try to remove it via the driver door, there is too great a risk you will scratch the steering wheel airbag as you attempt to pass it out of the car. Like I said at the beginning, do all your removal and replacement work while you are sitting in the passenger seat, not the driver seat. It is a heck of a lot easier that way.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
*Re-Installation Instructions*
In the process of trying to get your hand behind the J523 to accomplish step 8 - creating enough of a gap to let you get your hand back there - you probably pulled some of the slack on the big cable bundle into the cavity that the J523 fits into. But, if you have a look at that empty cavity once you get the J523 out, you will see that there is not one tiny bit excess space in there to accommodate the slack cable that you just pulled in. This means that you have to find a way to get hold of that cable bundle - the one that dissapears into the upper right (passenger side) corner of the J523 cavity - and pull it back into the space behind the instrument panel. Fortunately, this is quite easy to do, if you know the trick.
*1)* Before you attempt to re-install the J523, go into the front passenger footwell and remove the single Torx screw that attaches the forward-most point of the transmission tunnel side trim panel to the bottom of the glovebox. This is easy to do, here is a picture of the screw.
*Remove this screw*








*2)* Pull the trim panel away from the transmission tunnel. It is held in place by clips that attach at the top.
*Pull this trim panel away, once you have removed the screw shown above*








*3) *Stick your finger into the opening at the front end of what the trim panel covered up, and guess what? You'll discover a loop in the big cable bundle that goes into the back of the J523 cavity. You will be pulling on this loop later on, after you have re-connected all the connectors, when you need to slide the J523 all the way back into the cavity.
*This is the same cable that emerges from the upper passenger side of the J523 cavity.*








*4)* Get the new J523 that you intend to install. Make darn sure that towel is still in place protecting the wood trim.  Place the J523 on the towel, slide it slightly into the cavity (about half way), and connect things (more or less) from left to right - in other words, from the drive side to the passenger side. This might be in the following sequence:
a) Connect the two connectors to the DIN sockets in the lower right.
b) Connect the fiber optic cable.
c) Attach the cable guide to the back of the J523 by inserting the bottom middle tab first, then the two top tabs. Note that it is a lot easier to insert the bottom middle tab if you loosely fit the two top tabs into place, to ensure everything is lined up right. But - don't snap the two top tabs into place until you have the bottom middle tab snapped into place.
d) Connect the antenna cables
e) Connect that little 4 pin cable that runs to the top front of the J523.
f) Always connect the 32 pin connector last - that way, it won't be in your way when you are trying to snap the cable guide back into place.
*What things will look like, after step 4b has been completed*








The problem you are now faced with is this: You have everything re-connected, but you won't be able to shove the J523 back into the cavity because there will be excess cable behind it, and there is no extra space for that cable to rest. The only solution is to get hold of the cable bundle behind the instrument panel, and gently pull on it to get the excess out of the J523 cavity. The photo below shows where this cable enters the J523 cavity.
*You have to get the excess cable pulled back into the hole it comes out of.*








You accomplish this as follows: Slide the J523 into the cavity as far as it will go. Usually, it will stop moving when it still needs to go one inch further back, as shown below
*How it looks when the J523 bumps up against the excess cable, when you try to re-install it.*








When you get the J523 almost all the way into the cavity, just reach down to the cable at the opening in the passenger footwell, and very gently give it a tug, to pull the excess out of the J523 cavity. Before you tug on the cable, consider that the fiber optic cable is inside that bundle, and it would be a real sonovabitch if you got everything back together, only to discover a fault code such as "broken fiber optic cable". So, tug very gently on that cable. It might help if you slide the J523 around a bit, this might help loosen the cable where it passes through the hole in the back of the cavity. 
Once you get the excess cable pulled out of the cavity, it will be very easy to fully seat the new J523 into place.
*Where you pull the cable to get the excess out of the J523 cavity.*

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










- - - - - - - - - 
I hope this information will be useful to those of you who have to replace these J523 controllers. The cable guide on the back is very important - if it is not securely attached to the back of the J523, then it is quite likely that the weight of the heavy cables will result in intermittent fault codes being generated whenever the Phaeton hits a bump - fault codes such as "no speedsensor signal" or "no communications - fiber optic cable".
Mind you, if VW of America ever gets around to distributing the CD to update the early production J523 units to the current software revision level of 0223, we would not have to be replacing these J523s at all - we could just flash the software, instead of having to replace a multi-thousand dollar component. But, for some reason, VW of America has not yet distributed the J523 software flash update to the North American dealer network - despite the fact that it has been out in Europe for over a year now - so, it looks like we will continue to have lots of opportunities to continue to practice our J523 removal and replacement skills.








Michael



_Modified by PanEuropean at 6:58 PM 1-24-2008_


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (PanEuropean)*

Here's a photo I forgot to include in the post above - it shows the openings in the back of the J523 that the three clips on the black plastic cable guide snap into.
Michael
*Back of J523 - Cable Guide Retaining Slots*


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... ([email protected])*


_Quote, originally posted by *[email protected]* »_Just wondering, why did you replace it?

Because VW in North America has not released a CD to the dealer service network that allows the software inside the J523 to be flash updated from earlier versions (such as 0188) that have minor bugs, to the newest version (0223) which is bulletproof.
In Europe, controller software is flash-updated using the VAS 5052. The only cost involved in doing this is a little bit of labour - about 20 minutes. For some unknown reason, VW of A has not distributed a flash updating CD yet, so the only way to update the software is to replace the entire $3,000 part. 
I think I understand why VW lost half a *billion *dollars in North America last year, but made a profit in Europe.








Michael


----------



## dcowan699 (Nov 22, 2004)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (PanEuropean)*

And it's a shame that they lost it over such small oversights. No phone package, no DVD nav, acceptance screen annoyances, no keyless start option, etc, etc.... I would have gladly paid a normal increase in the price to get those things from the get-go.
I nearly had an accident because of the Warning Screen the other day.
It took me longer than normal to adjust something (can't remember what) on the center console while driving because of that damn message.
Why is it that a TV screen method of display is any more dangerous than looking for hardkey buttons on cars of yesteryear. Now I can see why the NAV function needs a "distraction warning" , but not for other adjustments like climate and radio stations.


----------



## spockcat (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (PanEuropean)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PanEuropean* »_Because VW in North America has not released a CD to the dealer service network ................ 
I think I understand why VW lost half a *billion *dollars in North America last year, but made a profit in Europe.








Michael

Perhaps VWOA just doesn't trust its techs for these types of things. 
I'm surprised that you didn't bring your J523 to Europe with you and have the flash it with the full European software while there. I assume then you could have added TV or DVD and perhaps gotten other functions.


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (vivaitalia)*

There is a bit of additional information in the Phaeton Forum 'Table of Contents' (FAQ by Category), just towards the bottom of the first post on that page, where you find the descriptions of the different options that are available on the Phaeton.
Not satellite TV, for sure, because that would require a steerable antenna or a phased array antenna. I've seen some of those installations on high end aircraft, and the bill for the antenna alone starts at $100K and goes north from there.
Michael


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (vivaitalia)*


_Quote, originally posted by *vivaitalia* »_how does one know/find out what version firmware is in my phaeton?

Click here.


----------



## copernicus0001 (Nov 30, 2004)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (PanEuropean)*

Regarding a tracking antenna...
I have this on a boat... and I have also seen them on RVs.... They work well when you are moored (or parked)... (and they are not all that expensive). TV in automobiles receive conventional off-the-air television signals. Alpine has a television receiver for vehicles. It connects to the Alpine Vehicle Hub, and may be the receiver that VW uses in ROW Phaetons.


_Modified by copernicus0001 at 11:46 PM 12-10-2005_


----------



## kmoneymg (Nov 9, 2005)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (copernicus0001)*

Hey Michael- Do you know if it is possible to switch your nav display into a tv screen. Meaning, i know a custom car place that said they could (on my infiniti) put a flip switch that would ether use the regular nav, climate, and audio con trolls-- or --if the button switched it could be a tv (not regular cable or antenna tv) but an input for a DVD player or perhaps a new x box 360. I talked to the guy for a while about it and he said that almost any color display like that can be turned into a tv. The action taking place is simply a different format the colors are being recognized and displayed. So my understanding or theory is that you pretty much need a cable leading from the back of the display unit or splice a wire (like the one you were pulling out in the demonstration for switching the display unit itself, to make the wire longer or shorter for the back of the display unit ) and whatever way that's possible weather directly into the unit or splicing a wire i would take you would need some type of chip or transformer or some kind of little coder to change the way the colors are displayed. But i know they make what i just described for the Infiniti(not specifically for the car but the car place knew how to set it up). I wouldn't doubt they are pretty universal or can be easily adapted to the car. So to sum all that up pretty much im wondering if a chip, or a program that is put directly into the computer with coding, or can a separate little unit make the nav display capable of displaying real video with the flick of a switch, say in the glove box. And also attached underneath the nav cd and cd changer put a DVD player or in my case an x box its a DVD player and has video games pretty much same price as a good DVD player. So if there's a way for that then i guess the only thing would be to figure out a way to connect blue, white, yellow cords to the switch or back of the display or splice a wire to get those as input cords and by having that you could hook up what ever you wanted media wise to the car even maybe you could incorporate your laptop to display on the screen and have a wireless key board in the glove box. That would be pretty cool and a motivator to do this is defiantly price and you could do just about any thing if you could switch that screen into a real video screen like a game console, computer, VHS, or just DVD. A good tv with navigation and DVD is on the upper side of 2k uninstalled so around maybe up from 2500 installed, but now if you do that and take out the display you have- you cant con troll the functions in the car visually so that doe sent work anyway and would be a HUGE hassle. I would say something price wise for a switch and DVD player installed around tops 1k. I was told $500 installed (in the infiniti) i think allot of people wouldn't mind there navigation turned into a DVD video for 500 dollars. I know they make some kind of device for a computer that you plug a cord into your computer and it just utilizes the screen and you can plug it into your PlayStation, DVD or VHS (its like a little box at the end of the power cord that also has outlets for white yellow and red wires, it just uses the screen of the computer without any interference from the computer itself, a bunch of kids at boarding school had this and it was the best thing because we couldn't have TVs in our room but we could have a computer and a PlayStation!. Michael if you know about this setup or if you could inquire within your vast resources if it is possible to do on the phaeton i will most deafeningly do it and post pictures of it asap. If you could please im not sure of allot of the technical terms that revolve around this set up if you could just figure out what type of parts we would need and what type of part would be compatible with the phaeton i will be greatly appreciative Thank You--
Jason


----------



## kmoneymg (Nov 9, 2005)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (kmoneymg)*

I was reading the magazine Euro Tuner and i was pleased to come across what i think is exactly what i need and even more, it has the capability to give you a rear view camera all you would need is the camera plus the DVD tv feed
http://peripheralelectronics.c...s.asp
PNVI:
Dual Video Input for factory navigation displays 
Designed to allow up to two independent video sources to be viewed on the factory navigation display. High quality video inputs can be selected using the external control pad. When used with a backup camera, the PNVI will automatically switch the display to the rear camera input when the vehicle is shifted into reverse. The PNVI is a single programmable interface that uses vehicle specific harnesses to integrate video into Acura, Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Infiniti, LandRover, Nissan, Toyota and *VW’s with OEM navigation displays*. Michael ----OEM????
• Programmable interface 
• Supports Two Video inputs with use of external control pad 
• Utilizes Vehicle specific harness - Sold separately 
• Automatically switches to Rear camera when vehicle is in Reverse
Jetta 2003-2005 PNVH01 Behind Radio 1 OFF / 2 OFF / 3 ON / 4 OFF / 5 OFF
Passat 2003-2005 PNVH01 Behind Radio 1 OFF / 2 OFF / 3 ON / 4 OFF / 5 OFF
*
Pheaton 2003-2005 PNVH01 Behind Radio 1 OFF / 2 OFF / 3 ON / 4 OFF / 5 OFF*
Touareg 2003-2005 PNVH02 Behind Radio 1 OFF / 2 OFF / 3 ON / 4 OFF / 5 OFF
Volkswagen
Sounds pretty good to me its like you can make your nav tv display anything and im sure its almost the same price to pro bally have a camera installed because, they would have to do all the same work. Maybe a smaller adapter would be more inexpensive i think this is a good investment all around and you can do almost anything with media to your car. So i take that it would work for a Phaeton. Michael how would you recommend me to go about this do you think its possible to do it myself?? If You have any idea how this would be wired or what ever info you could come up with related to this --anyone ever seen this know anything about it???


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (kmoneymg)*

Hi Jason:
Nice to hear from you again.
The Phaeton Front Information Display and Control Unit (the J523) does support video input. A television tuner is available as an option on the Phaeton in all markets outside of NAR.
However... (there is always a catch)... The problem with trying to supply the North American J523 with video is that the control buttons on the front of the J523 that 'call up' the video signal have been deleted - they have been reassigned to other functions.
Although I know that the North American J523 unit has the required connectors to accept a video input, I don't know if we would have any way of 'calling it up' for display on the screen. If you choose to get this device, you will be the guinea pig for the group - I don't think anyone has ever tried to supply video into a NAR J523 before. If you want to look into the subject in more detail, there is some past discussion of the topic at this thread: Television Tuner - original Dresden installation in Phaeton.
If you have a look at the button configurations around the volume dial on the European J523 unit pictured below, you will see what I mean about the differences between NAR and ROW. 
Michael
*European Phaeton Button layout*


----------



## copernicus0001 (Nov 30, 2004)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (kmoneymg)*

Jason,
Thanks for posting the info about the PNVI (Video Interface) for the Phaeton. I spoke with Jason from Aamp of America today - he confirmed that this should work with the Phaeton and also recommended a local installer. I will be meeting with the installer next week.
My thought is to do the following:
1. Video interface to Infotainment unit - PNVI.
2. Audio interface - Enfig X3 (Don has implemented this and it works very well).
3. Alpine Vehicle Hub - to control new peripherals.
4. Display for Vehicle Hub Control - Infotainment Screen (A button to activate the AUX video 1).
5. Two Alpine touchscreen headrest monitors (TME-M770) 6.5" widescreen monitors (latest version of what is installed by VW Individual)
6. SHS-N252 - Wireless headset system
7. KCA-420i - Interface adapter for iPod.
8. TCS-V430A - Television tuner (or TUE-T511)
9. ??? - DVD Changer (I am not sure which one yet - but will interface with Alpine AI-NET and Vehicle Hub.
10. I am also looking into a permanently installed hard-drive based mp3 player for the vehicle that would wirelessly connect to my home network and automatically update the vehicle's music library when the vehicle is at my home.
11. XM (XMDALP100 or XMD100) or Sirius (SIR-ALP1) interface for Vehicle Hub.
12. Back-up Camera (to AUX--Video 2), automatically triggered when vehicle is placed in Reverse.
Everything can be controlled from the Infotainment Unit's Display using the wireless interface to the Alpine Vehicle Hub. There is also some control from the individual headrest monitors. Headrest monitors and headsets are driven independently, so it is possible to have two different programs on at the same time.
I'll let you know the progress... 
By the way, if you order the PNVI for the Phaeton, you will also need a PNVH01 wiring harness and a PNVCP control panel.
Douglas



_Modified by copernicus0001 at 10:35 PM 12-15-2005_


----------



## GripperDon (May 9, 2005)

Douglas
It's all true. I actually did this on My Nissan murano. I had a interface unit constructed my a company in New York http://www.Generatorlabs.com . The system converted the output from a Xbox which they modded with a new cpu so that it was a Linux base computer. The soft switch allowed me to switch the display from seeing the output of the Nissan's infotainment system display, to DVD's, Jpegs, data coming from the xbox and at the touch of a button switch the display back to the NAv screen. 
I posted about this right after I first start coming to this forum. I spoke to them about doing this for my Phaeton and they said ok but then I decided to mount the Laptop on the glove box shelf and display everything that way as a more cost effective way since it used my existing laptop. On my Murnao I even had wireless connection to my home network for downloading when I pulled into the garage and could surf the Internet from the parking lot outside the local Starbucks.

_Modified by GripperDon at 12:59 AM 12-16-2005_


_Modified by GripperDon at 1:01 AM 12-16-2005_


----------



## vipa (Nov 20, 2006)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (PanEuropean)*

Question for Phaeton owners...
It seems that the cooling ventilator of J523 Front Information Display and Control Head in my Phaeton (V8 2004) is making noise when starts. Can the unit back steel panel be opened in order to have access to the vent? 
Did somebody have a similar problem?
Viorel


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (vipa)*

Access to that vent (I presume you mean the vent with the clock in it) is achieved by removing the instrument panel - not an simple or quick task.
Michael


----------



## vipa (Nov 20, 2006)

*Re: Installation Tip - Replacement of the J523 Front Information Di ... (PanEuropean)*

Thank you Michael for your prompt replay!
The ventilator that I refer to is located (as per your picture "Back of J523 - Cable Guide Retaining slots") in the back of J523 unit itself...
I guess that it is the only ventilator that cools the unit when it reaches a certain temperature. And in that picture I can see that we can not open the metal box that contains the J523 assembly in order to renew the vent.


----------



## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

Photos re-hosted.

Michael


----------



## haroldwnorris (Jan 28, 2010)

*Pictures not visible*

Any chance you could re-rehost the pictures?


----------

