Happiness is having an auxiliary input in the car for the iPod.

The factory installed deck in the Mazda Protege5 was fine for my needs, until my iPod suggested I wasn’t considering it as well. Sadly, there was no good way to patch in audio from the iPod: FM transmitters offered extremely poor signals, the cassette adapter requires a cassette deck, and other options involved disabling use of the CD. Fortunately, Sylfex created the AuxMod, which easily inserts into the Mini-Disc/Tape interface, fakes the tape input with a stereo line-in for the factory deck.

The AuxMod installation was simple.

Getting my factory stereo out of the Protege5 was not. Largely due to my own ignorance. If you’ve come here looking for answers, you may ignore the next paragraph, but it doesn’t hurt to read the whole bit

I first mistakenly read online that deck removal could be done with a set of Ford/Mazda stereo removal keys, or one could simply make their own with an uncoated wire hanger. Eager to get my iPod in the car, I grabbed one from the closet and immediately began trying to free the deck. What I didn’t realize was that I was reading information for a single DIN deck, despite my car holding a double DIN stereo. This should have been more apparent when looking at the 4-ish holes on each side. In my defense, the two middle holes were joined to look like a single entry point, and I thought that gap was just for the trim inserts. I bent my hanger to fit the top and bottom holes on each side, about 5 inches apart. After wasting too much time (despite freeing one side, but getting the hanger stuck), I was unable to unlock and remove the deck. I went to AutoZone for the keys I read would cost 14 bucks. They were 4. I bought them. Went home, but still had no luck. I put it away, planned tried again the next day when it was a little cooler and I was less easily frustrated.

Returning to the Internet for answers, I finally found Stephen’s Quick and Easy Radio Removal which I will also link as Mazda Double DIN Factory Stereo Removal. Here I got a good look at what the retaining springs I was jabbing at looked like, and what I could expect after getting it out the right way. Thank you Stephen, your pictures of the process meant success for me, and allowed me to rationalize not photo-documenting my own experience :-)

The key to my success (yea, bad pun, cope) was not exactly the official removal keys, but the retaining springs position. You should only have to insert the key or wire about an inch to rest between the outside of the spring and the mount, but you have to be sure you’re on the *outside* of it. I had been pushing the wire under the spring, further forcing the spring to secure the deck in the mount. Inserting the factory keys with the smaller barbed ends in at an angle to get around those springs were necessary to unlock the deck. Removal involved pulling on the keys *and* pulling outward to press the springs against the deck to clear the mount. After that, no problem.

The AuxMod slid into place easily, secured with the provided adhesive, and I was good to go.

Except for the fact that I blew a fuse during the process somewhere, preventing interior lights or the radio from getting power. After I replaced that, *then* all was well.

Sylfex is also working on an “Advanced” version that I will probably desire when they’ve completed work on it. Improvements include:

• Surface mount parts are now extensively used wherever possible for reduced manufacturing costs.
• The circuit board outline has been designed to either use a customized bracket, or to fit directly into the factory Tape Module housing.
• The Audio-Input jack has been changed to a 3.5mm Stereo mini plug to eliminate the need for a RCA to mini-plug adapter. For those who still want RCA plugs, a mini-plug to RCA adapter can be used.
• A new power supply control has been implemented to allow the device to send out a special status message to indicate that ignition has been turned off. The enables control for automatic stopping of external mp3 playback.