My 2007 Focus has a 6000 CD unit but there's also a different unit of the same number in older Fords, so I can only talk of my one. Mines is the squarer facia with the round dial in the middle of the unit. Make sure you have your the Ford KeyCode security number for your stereo because you will need to enter it into the stereo when it gets reconnected to power to get it to work - otherwise don't disconnect it from power till you have it. You'll need to pay the Ford garage to provide it again if you do!
On AVForums a user suggests that the surround around the unit can be just unclipped but on my car this wasn't so (I nearly streached and bust the plastics, luckily got away with wee dents I could have done without!). I needed to borrow (asked nicely at Halfords) car stereo release keys (just shaped metal tabs that release the security tabs that hold the stereo in place and at the same time provide hoops to pull the stereo out - these shaped metal tabs are car stereo specific with the right lengths of hooks, tabs and stops on them - tried many other tools/cableties/metalstrips instead of them but to no avail). To use the proper keys on mines I needed to insert them into the slots that are above the CD/AUX and RADIO/CLOCK buttons on the top and below those below the lower buttons - they must be inserted with hooks facing inward onto stereo (i.e. facing right on LHS of stereo, left on RHS of stereo) and then pulled so they angle as if you were pulling the hoops laterally further apart from one another. It's a bit fiddly to be honest but it is the best way as it ensures the hooks grab the stereo and push in the security tabs.
Once you've managed to pull the stereo out (give the keys back to the Halfords storeperson you got them from) you can see the back of the stereo and the plugs that go into it. The plugs on my car were all intergrated into one block (most after-market and some manufacturers still use C-Block and they group connections together anyway, on my car even they are moulded into Fords way of doing things called QuadLock so it's now all one block of connections rather than 2, 3 or sometimes 4). This QuadLock connector came out by releasing a tab on the underside (pushes in towards side of connector) and then bevels a semi-circular release arm (part of the connector) of which there are two prongs that slide with it and out of the stereo's connector holding tabs. Hope that all makes sense! Anyway - Once this plug is out take a look at the stereo and the plug. On the stereo, as you look at the back of it (correct way up) there are four pin connections and these are the AUX IN connections (I've read upper left is LHS AUX IN sound, lower left is RHS AUX IN sound and upper right is Common Ground. Now you know that, take a look at the plug, as on some cars there may already be a plug that hooks into these - in which case you can either tap into the correct wires of it (Scotchblocks perhaps) or (and not sure this can be done) remove that part of the plug so the pins are now not connected at all (but beware - if there was a plug for them then something may be connecting to them and using them!).
On my car there was no plug going to them. Using advice on AVForums, i made a pin plug using a CD audio lead usually used to connect a CD drive to a PC motherboard or soundcard - I used the black colour for ground, red for LHS AUX IN sound and white for RHS AUX IN sound (you may have your own preferance) and to do that I cut the black plastic on the pin section that was unused and superglued the single black pin connector to the back of the other two (forming and L-shape plug - I also had to swap pin connectors for the wires into this new plug to suit colours I wanted but you may not have to do that depending on your wire colour preferance - but if you wanted to you lift the plastic tooth to clear the metal tab on the pin connector and then withdraw the connector from the plastic block - tap the plastic tooth back down slightly before re-inserting the desired pin connector into the block). That done, I looped the plug I made through the loop (where the missing AUX IN plug would usually be in the QuadBlock) and connected to the AUX IN pins on the stereo. Reconnected the QuadBlock (insert and then push semi-circular arm into it to click/secure block into place) placed stereo in (but not fully in that I'd need release keys again!) and re-enter KeyCode (press key 1 repeatedly to get correct 1st number, press key 2 to do same for 2nd number, and so on and then press key 5 to enter the code into the stereo).
This bit is optional for how you finish what connector and where into the car - I have heard folk fitting a female 3.5" headphone socket into the glovebox ready for their mp3 player - the lead can be fed out of audio area and into where the 'box is easily enough (the 'box comes out via 7 Torx screws - 4 at the top with 2 of which holding 'box lid loop on and 3 at the bottom which are under un-clipping facia covers that are part of glovebox - press down on them to un-clip - when refitting the glovebox make sure that the 'box lid loop is properly located - as it's a loose item after the screws are out - the detents on the lower lip of facia are clipped into their places in the dash, the 'box roof loop is into it's hook and the glovebox lid goes up and down freely - as it has a stop that rests on the glovebox plastic when open - before you redo all the screws. All that helps as all the screwholes will rest above their threads well, and the lid will still move nicely). If it's a surface mountable headphone socket it could be mounted onto blank on the glovebox plastic where a cigarette lighter socket power would go (if there isn't one there) or just put a hole in the plastic (maybe in the roof of the 'box so it's hidden - if there's room for the back of your socket!) May need to watch thickness of plastic for those fitments (could make a metal/plastic mount plate for it in the cigarette lighter blank to replace it or put one in the recess to the right of it, file/sand down the original plastic to required depth but the ABS plastic may not be best suited to that), but could also just feed the cable through a hole made in the plastic (after putting a grommit in to protect the cable) and have a 3.5" plug/socket onto it after that.
What I did was feed the cable underneath the facia for the windscreen demister button so it ends up in the cubby area - this can be done without un-screwing anything but it can be a bit fiddly feeding cable to correct spot but once there it feeds through without too much bother (I tried to lift off facia around stereo undoing it's 2 Torx screws under where stereo facia would have been and 2 side-on clips lower down, and the 2 Torx screws holding the demister facia but they didn't give me any more room top help thread cable through). With the cable end through I put a 3.5" headphone socket on it so I've option of connecting the lead to let my mp3 player or TomTom (that usually resides there) connect onto it - and who knows, any pals' mp3 player type or headphone connector.
Owen Cattigan, April 2008
