Man,Sorry to ask this question, because I know it's been asked probably 3 dozen times - But I searched, and still could not find Nav-Hack instructions for a 2008 M35x. In a couple of threads it sounds like it may be different from the 2006 nav-hack procedures - but no details.

I just want to be able to operate all aspects of the Nav system while in drive, as well as be able to use the DVD out of park. Any help or directions to a link would be GREATLY appreciated as I could not locate in a search.

Or - if someone knows a shop here in the Kansas City metro area that can perform the Hack - that would be just as good.Thanks in advance!
Modified by STLHawkeye at 7:16 PM 6/4/2009

Found a lot of detail on another site after searching on googl:

This post is about how to watch DVDs in your 08+ M35/45.

To perform the nav hack on an 08+ M35 / M45, you have to disable the Vehicle Speed Sensor feed and the Parking brake feed into the Nav/AV control unit. This is a big change from the previous models of the M. This guide should help show you how. I’ve tried to make this as chronological as possible, but as with any project, you can tackle any of the jobs a’ la Carte.

There are two types of M35/M45’s, Ones with the Entertainment package, and ones without. You’ll know if you have the Entertainment package because you’re car will have a built in DVD player for the front screen. Mine does not have this package, so I have to install my own DVD player.

The good news is that the wires to cut are the same for both versions.The bad news is that the wires you have to get to are behind the AV control unit, which is possibly the worst place for them to be.

Tools you will need:*Extra long Philips head screw driver (MAGNETIC HEAD)*Regular Philips screw driver (although I guess you could use the long one…)*Torq #3 (I believe) screwdriver (see pic below)*Electrical tape and Heat shrink tubing.*Soldering Iron*Some Cat5 cable you can cut up to get at the individual pairs within.*Some masking tape (blue painters tape) to keep damage away from edges*Compact wire strippers (Not the kind that are crimpers as well.. Do yourself a favor and buy a small wire stripper, you’ll be much happier)*Small flat head to help remove harnesses *X-acto knife to remove bur’s from drilling in plastic*Needle nose pliars*Scissors/razor and zip ties*Jigsaw / hacksaw for the non-entertainment package folks (like me)*Some misc screws (detailed below for the DVD installation part)

DISSASEMBLY

The first step is to remove the cup holder. Grab the rear of the cup holder. It comes out super easy. Tilt the door so that it’s halfway open (or closed for you pessimists) and reach your fingers behind the door and pull up. It pops right up and out.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02644.jpg

Now remove the coin holder screws and set it back in the cup holder area.Then, you need to remove the shifter cover. First put the car’s emergency brake on.

Now, don’t start the car, but put the ignition into “ON.” This allows you to shift into neutral. Press the brake after the car is in “ON” and you can shift.Now, take the shifter knob off. This is easy also. Push the leather down away from the shifter knob, it separates pretty easily. Once you separate the leather from the knob, there is a metal snap ring that has a easy to grab onto notch that you can pull backwards with a pair of needle-nose pliars (towards rear of car) that will unsnap and once off, the shift knob comes right up and off.

Now, finesse the console cover back and up. It’s in there tight, but if you grab both ends and pull/wiggle solidly it will come back and off. I found myself shifting into manual mode to get the lever back farther, but you can fidget as needed.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02645.jpg

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02646.jpg

Here's a closeup of the tabs so you can get a feel for the right direction to pull. This piece is installed very snug.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02682.jpg

** By now, you should ensure you have the ignition off!

Now we have to remove the clock panel. Pull from the bottom and it comes away easily.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02647.jpg

The ribbon cable connecting to this panel is not necessary to remove, but you can if you want to. I just tied a loop of tape around the rear-view and to one of the screw tabs on the bottom. It balances there just fine for me.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02648.jpg

Now we’re looking at the control unit. There are 3 screws holding it in place, and 2 of them are very deep in the console. This is where you need your long screwdriver to get at them.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02649.jpg

If you haven’t already done this, you might want to move the shifter knob all the way back. If needed, push down on the white button so you can do so without putting your foot on the brake.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02650.jpg

Now pull the control unit out and take the torq screws out of the top unit attached to the A/V control unit. Then disconnect the connectors and tilt backwards and out of the way.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DS ... C02652.jpg

Now you're looking at the back of the A/V control unit, tilted down. This is the connector you're interested in.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02654.jpg

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02655.jpg

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02656.jpg

Remove the connector shown, and the wires of interest are the green/double silver and pink/double silver.

Carefully cut open the BACK end of the wire bundle sheath and find these wires here. This puts your modifications away from the harness and is 1.) less visible to the naked eye that there has been modifications and 2.) gives you more wire to play with if you screw something up.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02657.jpg

Cut these wires and have 2 pairs of your cat 5 cable ready. Basically, cut the sheath of a Cat5 cable about 6 inches, grab the wires inside and tear them out of the sheath. Pick your favorite 2 pairs and use them to splice into these wires.

I suggest you follow some logical connection here. I used the blue-white cat5 wire and the green-white wire to connect to the car facing end of the cut wires. Green cat5 to green, Blue cat5 to Pink facing the A/V controller. This is critical, so connect likewise, or remember what colors you used when you wire in your switch.Don’t forget your heat shrink tubing! Put that on first before soldering. I also electrical tape wrapped because I’m just that kinda guy.

If you’ve got the built in DVD player, you’re set. Skip down to the wiring up of the switch and call it a day.

If your goal is only to regain Nav functionality while moving, you too can jump down to switch installation.

However, for those of us w/o the entertainment package and who want to watch DVDs, follow along and lets get our DVD player installed.This would be a good time to follow the very detailed instructions of Ohmster in his write up regarding removing the glove box.

Read it here:sho...age=4

The Glove box removal is a breeze. This is where we’ll mount our DVD player, there’s practically a place carved out there for us on the ’08. Will just take some small modifications.

Aux A/V Jacks

Next, we need to get our connection into the auxiliary audio/video inputs. They are located under the rear a/c vents. The rear air conditioner vents easily pop out. Grab the top corners beside the vents and pull backwards, then shimmy to the bottom and pull back. Disconnect the harness connecting the A/V and Power to the jacks and remove. (This is a stubborn connector, but keep at it, you’ll get it)

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02664.JPG

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02665.JPG

At this point, you’ll want to take your rear a/c console to your workbench and get situated because this part is a bit meticulous.

I used a pair of DB9 male and female connectors I picked up at radio shack for my connector into the inputs. Feel free to find another way, but this seems like a good way to me. You could also get an RJ45 plug/socket, but the DB9 has a lower impedance connection than the RJ45 does, so I used it. Take each wire and cut and splice a strand of a Cat5 cable into it. Don’t forget to add your heat-shrink tubing before you make the final solder joint reconnecting the wires. This is what it looks like before:

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02666.jpg

And halfway done splicing in

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02669.jpg

Now solder on the pins for the DB9 connector to end of your splice. If you’re a novice solder’er, I suggest doing this part first on long stretches of patch wire. Then cut to a manageable length and solder onto your splice. The DB9 pins can be tricky if you’re not confident with a soldering iron.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02670.jpg

NOTE: You’ll notice I have a splice into the DC power. I’m not using this run to power the DVD. I’ve spliced into the cigarette power adapter in the center console for power. This splice was actually not used. I was on a roll and it was late when I was doing this, so I did a little extra work on accident. The DB9 connector and the Cat5 wires won’t carry enough current to power your device, so I used some thicker wire from the other power jack.

Also note that I did not use Cat 5 for the Audio/Video run to the DVD. The Cat5 is just used as splice material. I used a commercial high-quality AV component cable to make the run from the jack’s to the back of the DVD. You’ll have to cut off one end of the cable and solder it into your splice. Cat5 will be a very noisy and poor way to get the signal from your player. I highly suggest against using anything but a good shielded cable to make the connection from DVD to input port splice.

Your audio/video feed can easily run under the armrest bin. Use a fiche or a metal coat hanger to find your path under the storage bin and pull the cable run through.

Now you can push the cable out over the carpet from inside and feed/push it concealed under the console plastic to the glove box area.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02706.jpg

I added tape around the connector to isolate against vibration. Don’t forget to isolate wires and connectors as much as possible, you do not want to add a rattle or vibration which will only remove value from your $50k car.

SWITCH INSTALLATION

Now it’s time to start finishing up this project. I chose a perfect model switch from mouser.com, model 112-R13-136B-B. This is a dual pole, dual throw switch that mounts flush and through a round hole, so it makes mounting the switch excessively easy, since you just have to drill a hole. Plus it looks really nice installed. Like it was meant to be there.

If you used my colors, connect your blue and green wires to the center terminal of the switch. Connect the blue/white and green/white to the respective outer terminals on the same side. Then take a 6-8 inch jumper of blue and connect to the other terminal on the blue side. This will be connected to chassis ground, which is easily found via a screw just under the cup holder. DON’T FORGET YOUR HEAT SHRINK TUBING!! If you’ve been following my colors, here’s what the switch connection looks like.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02671.jpg

This is where I chose to mount the switch (excuse the plastic shavings, haven’t vacuumed it out yet. Looks absolutely normal.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02672.JPG

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02674.JPG

Tape down loose wire runs wherever possible. These things can rattle, so keep your wiring secure!

Time to test the switch. Flip it to normal mode (connecting the A/V unit to the original wire path. Make sure car is in park and turn ignition to “ON.” Release parking brake. Go into Aux mode and there will be no video displayed. It will say it’s in AUX mode, but no video or black screen. Press the emergency brake and the screen should go black, indicating that video feed is up. Release the parking brake and the screen will go back to normal removing the video feed.

Flip your switch to engage the hack. The screen should go black indicating that the video is up again. If you have a portable video source, connecting it to your aux input jacks should play the video on the screen. Flip the switch back and the video should be gone but audio will still play. Congratulations, you’ve just installed the bypass! Go have a coffee/beer/juice and get ready for the last steps.

Now is a good time to finalize the center console and button it up. Push the top of the front panel up and into the dash and seat the bottom. Screw it down. Put the gear-shift cover on, secure it down with the coin holder plastic piece. Then the shift knob, and cup holder. You should have all your console back and your glove box ready to mount your DVD player.

DVD INSTALLATION

I chose the Accele vision DVD9530 player for my DVD from qualitymobilevideo.com. I like that it has a built in TV Tuner.. :-D . Along with this guy I purchased a 25Db powered UHF/VHF antenna, so we’ll see how well that functionality works.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02684.JPG

This is the bracket that holds the IPod interface unit removed from its mount. It has a tab that nicely obstructs the DVDs mounting area. You can't miss it. We’ll have to cut it off after the bend to leave a clear space for the DVD.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02685.JPG

Here it is after the cut with my hacksaw and metal blade.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02686.JPG

The bottom of the dash, top of the glove box cavity looks like this. Infiniti has holes that are an almost perfect match for where aftermarket DVD players will need them. Not perfect, but pretty darn close:

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02688.JPG

You’ll need some metal self-taping screws, 10x1/2, to match the holes drilled. I picked some up at Lowes.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02689.JPG

Now, onto mounting the drive. This is tricky, but with some patience and about 30 mins, you’ll get it. It’s a trial and error mount, check clearance, see if the covers fit and try again process. The mounting screws that came with the DVD player I chose are absolutely mind numbingly useless. They don’t even screw into holes, rather they are intended to screw into the vent slots through slots in the mounting bracket. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the screws were even close to the right size. They cannot be tightened enough to hold the bracket as tight as it needs to be held, and with vibrations in a car, would come loose in a few months. Worthless.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02691.JPG

While at lowes, pickup some wood 8x1/2 tapered screws. These will fit the vent holes much better and will hold the unit firmly. Don’t use these until you’ve figured out where the bracket needs to be on the DVD player.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02692.JPG

Draw an outline around the bracket on the DVD player with a sharpie, and remove from the car. Then remove the stock screws and securely attach the bracket to the DVD with the wood screws. Just be careful where you screw down that they do not interfere with anything inside the case. Mine didn’t.

The wiring harness that comes with the Accellivision is complex. Has speaker outs that are not needed for us. So prepare the harness out of the car. Cut the wires not needed and heat shrink the ends to insulate them.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02694.JPG

The power adapter fits perfectly here via zip tie. Notice the top right of the picture where the DVD player provides switched 12v output to an external antenna. Will connect that to the antenna when it arrives.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02696.JPG

Here it is after some trial and error mounted

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02702.JPG

Closeup of the right side and how I mounted. Used the same hole as the IPod interface used. Tight, and snug.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02700.JPG

You can see the AV cables coming up from around the bottom of the molding on the left.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02703.JPG

And they can be taped and secured snugly via zip tie behind the metal bracket here. Perfect fit.

http://www.fademultimedia.com/m35dvd/DSC02704.JPG

All that's left is to re-mount the glove box and button everything up.

That's it. DVD Player, TV tuner, Nav Hack and a partridge in a pear tree...

Enjoy.

-steve

Thank you very much for posting this Steve. I had an installer do this for me today and am very happyvwith the results. I don't intend to watch video while driving, but to be able to actually use the nav system without having to stop atvyhe side of the road every 2nd time I'm looking for something is such a pleasure. I'm still not sure what Indiniti was thinking when they restricted actions in the nav, settings etc while driving in such a stupid and inconsistent manner. It seems completely random what you can or can't do. I think that these restrictions are actually more distracting an dangerous than just allowing people to do whatever they need to do while driving, even if you can only do the whole thing by voice if they must. Bit je mixture they ended up with on this and the G35/37 is a mess.

Thanks againtorbach1

Torbach,

Do you know of any shops that'll do the NAV/DVD hack in the DC Metro area? I want to get it done and I'd prefer to just take it somewhere to get it done rather than to do it myself. I have an 07 M35 Sport btw. Thanks.

Torbach1:

I am in Bowie, MD and would love to have this done on my 08 M35x. Can you send me contact information for your installer ? Did you have to supply them with anything before hand ?

Thanks,Marc

Can you tell me what that costs?thanks

Hi Everyone:

I had it done at Hot Tint in Gaithersburg MD. They are very good and reasonably priced in my opinion. I've had a lot of things done on my car and some on my parents' car over there and they've always done a terrific job. In this case, they charged me $230, but that included 2 relays that I wouldn't have needed had I understood the type of switch that I should have and had them order that part ahead of time. they charge by the hour ($75/hour) so now that they have done this particular job once, it may possibly cost you less. I also had my Escort 9500ci along with a Viper alarm and remote start system installed by them along with having my windows tinted there on two cars.

On this particular job and or that matter any electronics job, I would ask to schedule with Derrick. He knows my car so well by now that he would find it relatively easy to do this and won't male mistakes.

Their phone number is 301 4443456. They're very close to The Great Indoors and the Shady Geove Metro.

If you call them, please tell them that Tamir referred you.

As for parts, technically it's just basic stuff like a decent looking switch and the relays of they are necessary. I would ask Derrick to be sure. He happened to have a spare switch which was perfect for me (outside of my needing the relays) because it fit perfectly into the front lighter socket which is where I wanted it, and it has a blue LED that lights up when the switch is on. This matches perfectly with our car's interior lighting and in my case with the Escort 9500ci screen, which I chose to put in the ashtray where the front lighter socket is located a while back and also has the blue LED lighting.

I hope that helps. Good luck with this everyone. It is so well worth it, I just can't believe what a difference it makes. So glad there's a way to overcome Infiniti's random nanny controls.

Cheerstorbach1/aka Tamir

ps don't forget that the instructions for pre '08 models are different than those for '08 and later. This above is for '08 and above

thanks for the info

I'm trying to find out if they would give us a 'group buy' type of discount if 10 people all agree to have it down, and maybe put some form of deposit down. I believe they are interested in principle and I'll let you know when I hear back fro them on pricing.

CheersTamir

Anyone know of a place in the Tampa area that will perform this hack? Also, anyone know where I can get a center console DVD player? I have a 2008 M35 with Nav but no DVD player.

1/ Is it ok to leave the hack activated when you park over night, or a couple days? Does the security still activate?
2/ VERY important for me, does anyone happen to know how many volts and amps are traveling through the two wires that are used?

Actually,as far as ^2^ I just need to know if any signal/current/volt is coming FROM the headunit parking brake sensor?...the line that is grounded when it is switched. Would only make sense, to me, since it is grounded.

Hi Everyone, Im tying to do the nav hack on my o8m45x with entertainment option with dvd player in the armrest. I have found instructions but the pictures dont work. Does anyone know of a site i can get the instructions with pictures to guide me through the intallation, I would greatly appreciate it. I just recently did the hack on my wifes 2012 maxima and im thinking it should be somewhat the same, as far as wire colors go. Please someone help me. [email protected] or 267 307 5477 email me or call me. thank you

Greeting. I know I am very late to this game. I've searched high and low for a complete instructions in order to perform the hack on my 08 M35x with Navigation. I landed on this page after a few months of searching but couldn't pull up any of the pictures posted with the step by step instructions by STLHawkeye. Could one of you re-post the complete instructions if you still have a copy or point me to a site(s) that might still have the instructions to? I'll be greatly appreciated any information you can provide.

Regards

SamW wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 28, 2020 6:45 pm

Greeting. I know I am very late to this game. I've searched high and low for a complete instructions in order to perform the hack on my 08 M35x with Navigation. I landed on this page after a few months of searching but couldn't pull up any of the pictures posted with the step by step instructions by STLHawkeye. Could one of you re-post the complete instructions if you still have a copy or point me to a site(s) that might still have the instructions to? I'll be greatly appreciated any information you can provide.

Regards

Unfortunately this is the only place I know that this instruction set exists on outside of maybe YouTube. Unfortunately, a lot of photo sites went down and images were lost.

I saw a video a while back about a company who makes a plug-n-play NAV hack for the M series. It was called Prestigious Society. You can find them online and see if they make a kit for the 08 M series. it should come with instructions.