I was planning to retrofit the OEM Volvo Navigation for the last 6 months on MY13 XC70 and it’s finally done and working. The retrofit is really simple and can be done on all P3 models. I’ll share all I have learned and tested to make the navi work, may be someone will find the extended details useful at some point in time.
First I activated the NAVI function in VDASH.
Then moved with removing the waterfall and extracting the IAM module out. The instructions in VIDA are good on how to remove the IAM module, I would only add that it is easier to unscrew the entire armrest to get the back end of the waterfall out.
Once the IAM was out I went home to try and create a new Frankenstein IAM from the original IAM module and an IAM I acquired from EBAY. My initial idea was to upgrade my original IAM which was missing few IC boards and connectors. It was missing the GPS antenna connector and one Blue funny looking connector. At this time I was concerned with the lack of a slot to plug in the GPS antenna. I wanted to make this Hack/Upgrade and keep the original IAM as it was just upgraded to the latest software with the local Dealer.
The original IAM2.1 Level 1 1CD – 31357213
The upgrade IAM2.1 NAVI/1DVD – 31328811 – came out of a V60 2010.
As I opened both IAM units, it became apparent that my initial plan was not going to work as the two units are totally incompatible with each other.
The Navi unit had 3 IC boards connected with different flex cables between them, while the original 1CD unit had only 1 IC board and it didn’t have the needed connectors to communicate with the othe 2 IC boards.
So a bit disappointing that I will not be on the latest version of the IAM software, I decided to make the most of the situation and clean the IAM unit, change the thermal pads of the CPU and upgrade the old Hitachi IDE HDD to a new and reliable IDE SSD.
Why I wanted to keep the original IAM? Because the new IAM would never be upgraded by VIDA. Unfortunately VIDA makes several checks on the car modules before it pushes the latest software on any unit.
One – is the hardware number of the module corresponding with the model/region of the car. The hardware numbers are programmed in the CPUs of the units and they are different between region and car models. So this means that the same IAM unit with the same extras in the XC/V/S60 is not compatible with the XC70/S80/V70. Don’t get me wrong – the unit will work if swapped between two of those cars, but when VIDA sees the module, it just says “Wrong Hardware” and refuses to install any updates.
Two – is the existing extras been already configured from the factory. If the car didn’t have Navi option programmed in the CEM/IAM form the factory, but I enable this with VDASH and then try to do an upgrade via VIDA, VIDA will fail with a funny Java error “Null point Exception -1”. There is a specific software number in VIDA for each model to restore the CEM and all modules to the last known Volvo official configuration and then one can try to update the modules again. But if the Navi is not enabled no one knows if VIDA will put a compatible software on the IAM 2.1 NAVI/1DVD unit while it thinks the car is equipped with an IAM 2.1 1CD unit.
The IDE HDD to IDE SSD upgrade and changing the market of the car.
While looking at the old 2010 IDE HDD in the IAM, decided to try and upgrade it to a modern SSD. There are IDE SSD drives available and been sold from a seller on EBAY from Ireland and I got one KingSpec 64GB. It costed like a 1TB SATA SSD, but that’s the price you have to pay for having an old IDE interface on a modern SSD drive. Copying the data was not easy and required some hacking of the original Hitachi Endurostar HDD.
The HDD in the IAM is encrypted every time the IAM unit is powered. The encryption is old but powerful – ATA Security. I had to use specialized equipment to put the Hitachi IDE HDD in to Safe Mode/Factory Diagnostics Mode, to be able to access the file with the stored User ATA Security password. It is a file on the drive stored in on a part of the disk that is accessible only when the disk is in Factory Diagnostics mode. Removing the file, I was able to access the data on the HDD and make an image iso file with DD. The same image was restored sector by sector on a Samsung 120GB IDE HDD and put in the IAM. IAM encrypted the drive again once powered up and everything was working. Then I got the Samsung drive out and put it in to its Factory Mode to read the file with the password again. The difference between the Hitachi and Samsung disks is that the Hitachi keeps the password hashed, while the Samsung keeps the password in clear text in the file.
So, now with the password and the image I was able to flash the new SSD and update the maps on it to the latest 2018 ones from the Volvo official site.
Also something very important! My car was a NA market car and programmed to the NA market. I changed the market and navigation to be European with VDASH, but there is a file on the HDD that also needs to be changed from the NA market to be EU, for the new maps to work. The file is called LOADING.KWI and hold info for the navi IAM unit, maps and market. That is something dealers can’t do, they can change the country of the car if the new country is in the same continent, but moving cars between continents is not possible with dealer VIDA. I have to find a way to upload the EU and US clean images of the HDD somewhere, so people importing cars from NA to EU can change their Navi to EU.
As everything was upgraded and back in one piece I decided to try to the new navi and it failed again. There was no image between the IAM and ICM (Sensus 7inch screen).
The screen overlay was there, but no maps. I could see where the IAM was used before
With a hint from a friend from NL and some checking of the Volvo EWD, I figured I was missing the video cable between the two units.
Next was to source such a cable, and the only way I found was to get a complete front infotainment wire harness from a P3 car.
With the help of a guy called Olle from one of the largest Volvo recycling centers in Sweden I got the harness and cable.
Once the cable was connected and the new GPS antenna too, the NAVI Retrofit/SSD Hack/Market Change was complete.
The GPS antenna was from Aliexpress – LINK – Regular GPS antenna with a Fakra connector.
And the finale result:
My 2013 XC70 T6 from NA (Philadelphia) now has a working IAM module from a V60 2010 UK, that uses the DENSO (Japan) navigation platform, which uses maps from NAVTEQ (USA/SWEDEN), on a KingSpec (China) IDE SSD that is sold only on EBAY from a guy in Ireland.
Hope this help any of you guys that want to implement a Navi in your car. If you want to retrofit a navi in your car and the new IAM module is from a car from the same continent, the HDD hacks are not needed.
IF anyone needs the images of the HDD let me know.
p.s. All I need now is a button that says NAVI. Mine is just empty. If anyone know the part number or how to get one, without buying an entire CCM module, please let me know.