How To: Hack an Auxiliary Port into Your Old Car Stereo for Less Than $3

Most new stereos come with an auxiliary port built in, but if you drive an older car, you're usually stuck with the radio or CD player, and we all know both of those options suck.

So, rather than paying the $95 fee the dealership wanted to charge, or replacing the stereo altogether, Redditor Esplodies took matters into his own hands and hacked an audio-in port for less than $3.

Here's what he used:

• 1.5k resistor
• CD-ROM audio cable
• 2 ft of speaker wire
• 3.5mm audio jack

After installing the audio jack, he cut the CD-ROM cable in half to serve as the connector. Using the pin-out for his model (found online), he found the resistance value needed for the stereo to recognize the input.

The resistor goes between the two trigger pins with the remaining wires connected to the pins on the audio jack. He used electrical tape to hold the wires in place, then drilled a hole for the port and put the stereo back in place.

With everything closed up, you can't even tell it's been modified. Here's hoping that electrical tape sticks!

Check out his Imgur album for step-by-step photos, and be sure to take a look at the comments on the Reddit thread for more tips.