I am curious if anyone has changed the the factory nav unit in an '06 Escape. I have heard the charging system for the battery is looped through the head unit and the car will not run properly / at all without the OEM radio.

 

That's hard to believe as the Nav is only an option. The only communication between the charging system and the radio should be one-way.

 

Several people in different threads on the NAV in this forum (most of them complaining about how bad it is) have exchanged the radio for a Nice eclipse unit.

Their cars still ran.... one would ASSUME swapping out the NAV would be no different.

 

I would think that the only question, is how to re-enable the Message Center to display its hybrid related info, now that you have removed the Nav Radio.

Without the Nav Radio from the factory, the Message Center does display this info.

 

Someone with the service manuals may be able to answer that....

 

I did just that in my 05 FEH, I removed the stock system & replaced it with this incredible Eclipse setup:

http://www.pbase.com/jmorton10/image/66287539

Now, I just bought an 06 FEH & it came with that awful factory NAV setup. I am planning on replacing it shortly with another Eclipse setup(Eclipse is owned by Toyota/Lexus & the units are the same as the Lexus $4000 factory units).

I will lose the Hybrid display(which annoys me), but I can live without that & I am 100% spoiled by my old Eclipse setup(it plays DVD movies, MP3 DV-R disc's, is Sirius ready, has a backup camera & internal high power stereo AMP & an awesome full color 6.5" screen. It uses one DVD disc for the entire USA & the mapping/routing is flawless. Also, the maps can be updated yearly by simply buying one new DVD disc.

~John

 

Did you have to buy a new GPS receiver? A new cd changer?

That unit looks cool, but not sure I want to lose my cd changer and integrated GPS.

 

That unit is a NAV/GPS unit, a DVD player, a backup camera system & a CD-R/mp3 player all integrated into one unit.

It is not a CD changer, but since it will play a disc of mp3 files, you can fit more songs on a single CD than all the changer disc's combined.

~John

 

Can you please post a model number on your Eclipse setup? Thanks.

 

avn5435

~John