I've done a preliminary fitting of my new Orion AVR6.1 and it's not going too badly so far, the main issue at the moment is the "Com Error" message that comes up on the MFD. As far as I can tell, this error goes away when the 10-pin plug is connected to the stock stereo.
Obviously keeping the stock stereo in place isn't an option, so I was wondering if anyone had found a way to make the error go away? I am figuring that either grounding or putting _12V on one or more of the pins on the connector might be enough to fool the MFD in to thinking that the stock stereo is still fitted.

I had a play with this last weekend & the smaller 10 pin connector that sends the audio info to the screen & also the larger connector with the speakers outs etc will both bring up the com error. This is all to do with the canbus system & just grounding a wire here or there I boubt will clear it. I've been trying to isolate the canbus wiring but the factory wiring diagrams are a bit incomplete when it comes to the canbus. I'm thinking of extending the canbus wiring to the rear of the car & jamming the headunit behind the sub box which is useless area anyway.

if anyone can solve this it would make them very VERY popular among the 380 owners :)

Okay, well, for starters... when the factory radio is turned off, what does the page on the MFD display?

Might have an idea... probably a very long shot. Anyone in SA who has com error?

Might have an idea... probably a very long shot. Anyone in SA who has com error?

Yep.
Have tried so far grounding each of the 4 pins at the other end of the 10-pin connector from the steering controls (21,22,26,27) and com error continues to come up.
What were you thinking?

Played around with the MUTIII this arvo & one thing I did notice when I diagnosed the canbus with the headunit unplugged was that it gave a high resistance reading. So this tells me that the canbus must feed in through one connector & out the other to provide a circuit & something electronic inside is telling the bus that it is the audio system prbably by an address of sorts which would be programmed into the ecu.

Okay, well, for starters... when the factory radio is turned off, what does the page on the MFD display?

Initially an image of a speaker, with "Audio Off" superimposed, on the RHS of the screen, where aircon info usually is

Then after a short time reverts to normal display, with "audio off" on LHS where freq and band info is normally shown.

Initially an image of a speaker, with "Audio Off" superimposed, on the RHS of the screen, where aircon info usually is

Then after a short time reverts to normal display, with "audio off" on LHS where freq and band info is normally shown.

Okay, so would that be acceptable to have that there permanently or is that going to be just as bad as "COMM ERROR"?

As for the four pins, has anyone tried putting 12V on any of them instead of only grounding?

From memory (haven't looked recently) the service manual diagram indicated that two of the wires are common, so we are probably effectively looking at three wires only.

Probably the next step would be to put a multimeter across the four wires with the car powered up and see if any trends can be observed with the radio on and off.

As for the four pins, has anyone tried putting 12V on any of them instead of only grounding?

I thought about it, but decided I didn't want to risk letting smoke out

I know this thread is old, but has anyone worked out a fix for this issue yet?

I know that since this thread Foozrcool has extended the wiring for his factory headunit and placed it in the boot. No com error!

I know that since this thread Foozrcool has extended the wiring for his factory headunit and placed it in the boot. No com error!

Yes but doesn't he now just get a generic CD/FM radio message instead?

In all honesty, I would just ignore it. You can wire up the stock headunit, but the message there will still be meaningless.

Yes but doesn't he now just get a generic CD/FM radio message instead? In all honesty, I would just ignore it. You can wire up the stock headunit, but the message there will still be meaningless.
My MFD says audio off at all times but if I could be bothered turning the headunit on that would clear but then I'd have a fixed volume display.

My MFD says audio off at all times but if I could be bothered turning the headunit on that would clear but then I'd have a fixed volume display.

Yeah, so either way the message displayed doesn't really mean anything.
Don't get me wrong what you've done to figure this out is great, I just personally don't see much difference between "comm error" and "audio off", if it works for you, awesome :).