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Factory OEM SiriusXM nearly working in Tesla 2022 Model 3

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Lots of good stuff in this post, and I have a couple questions if you know the answers.

You've got a 2018 Model 3 P, which I would assume would have hardware/MCU2 (Intel Atom based). However, the Model S Plaid tuner I assumed was for the current 2021+ vehicles which shipped with hardware/MCU3 (AMD Ryzen). Can you confirm if you have MCU2 (Atom) or MCU3(Ryzen)?

You mentioned the service center sold you the part, which is great! When I tried to get my Service Center to sell me one they straight up refused, even as a warranty-less OTC sale. Was there any secret codeword you had to use? A special handshake maybe? What was your magic?!
Yes I have intel. From my digging through the thread it seems the older C tuner and the new B plaid tuner work on intel cars but not on the rizen cars. As far as the ordering at first they said not compatible with vehicle then they ordered it somehow they said it “was a process” since they couldn’t do it as service appointment in app. Not sure if they used a loaner vin or how exactly they pulled it off.
 
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From my digging through the thread it seems the older C tuner and the new B plaid tuner work on intel cars but not on the rizen cars.

yup, that is correct. i'm not sure if anyone is still troubleshooting this on the ryzen models to see if we can figure out a way to get it working, or if it has been abandoned...but we do know it works on intel cars. we've got more than a handful of people now who have it working.
 
i'm gonna throw a theory out on the clipping (and the antenna). feel free to shoot this down if you'd like, i'm open to ideas.

so, i started out the process of trying to test the antenna on the roof. i didn't want to VHB it down just yet, in case i decide to leave it over on the corner...so i just put some duck tape at the base of the antenna to keep it down as much as i could, and then went for a short drive around the neighborhood (including under the freeway overpass i mentioned earlier) to see how it performed. the answer is: not bad, but not great. not sure it was good enough to justify all the hoops you'd have to jump through to hide the wires from up there vs just putting it on the corner where it's easy to just run it under the trunk weatherstripping and up to the tuner from there.

granted, the antenna wasn't stuck down very well...so that may have had an effect on the test. i'm gonna see if i can come up with a better way to keep the antenna down and try this again. the interesting thing though is that the antenna flopping around on the roof gave me the theory on the clipping: the signal kept cutting out, because the antenna was flipped straight up in the air. it would occasionally come back on, depending what direction i turned...but mostly stayed off (unless i turned into a direction where the antenna could grab the signal). also, even sticking up in the air - when i kept my speed under 25mph or so...the signal stayed on.

it also then hit me that since i moved the antenna outside to the corner, i haven't noticed the clipping nearly as much. i noticed that the buffer still doesn't seem to be 7 seconds while it's there, but the clipping issue has been reduced. i won't say it has been completely gone, but it has been significantly better.

maybe, depending where the antenna is (and potentially related to the potential shadow we talked about from the C-pillars and the roof pillars when the antenna is inside on the rear deck), if the antenna can't the signal into the tuner fast enough, it starts clipping like we've been talking about. that would explain why i heard it so much more noticeably when backing into my garage, right before the signal cuts...it was being shaded and then completely dropping when it got into the shadow of my house.

one thing is for sure at this point: i'm not moving the antenna back inside. it'll either stay on the corner opposite the charge port, or i'll find a way to get it up on the roof...but it does seem to make a difference vs inside. small sample size so far, but i'm going to leave it outside for an extended period now one way or another and get us more data.
 
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i'm gonna throw a theory out on the clipping (and the antenna). feel free to shoot this down if you'd like, i'm open to ideas.

so, i started out the process of trying to test the antenna on the roof. i didn't want to VHB it down just yet, in case i decide to leave it over on the corner...so i just put some duck tape at the base of the antenna to keep it down as much as i could, and then went for a short drive around the neighborhood (including under the freeway overpass i mentioned earlier) to see how it performed. the answer is: not bad, but not great. not sure it was good enough to justify all the hoops you'd have to jump through to hide the wires from up there vs just putting it on the corner where it's easy to just run it under the trunk weatherstripping and up to the tuner from there.

granted, the antenna wasn't stuck down very well...so that may have had an effect on the test. i'm gonna see if i can come up with a better way to keep the antenna down and try this again. the interesting thing though is that the antenna flopping around on the roof gave me the theory on the clipping: the signal kept cutting out, because the antenna was flipped straight up in the air. it would occasionally come back on, depending what direction i turned...but mostly stayed off (unless i turned into a direction where the antenna could grab the signal). also, even sticking up in the air - when i kept my speed under 25mph or so...the signal stayed on.

it also then hit me that since i moved the antenna outside to the corner, i haven't noticed the clipping nearly as much. i noticed that the buffer still doesn't seem to be 7 seconds while it's there, but the clipping issue has been reduced. i won't say it has been completely gone, but it has been significantly better.

maybe, depending where the antenna is (and potentially related to the potential shadow we talked about from the C-pillars and the roof pillars when the antenna is inside on the rear deck), if the antenna can't the signal into the tuner fast enough, it starts clipping like we've been talking about. that would explain why i heard it so much more noticeably when backing into my garage, right before the signal cuts...it was being shaded and then completely dropping when it got into the shadow of my house.

one thing is for sure at this point: i'm not moving the antenna back inside. it'll either stay on the corner opposite the charge port, or i'll find a way to get it up on the roof...but it does seem to make a difference vs inside. small sample size so far, but i'm going to leave it outside for an extended period now one way or another and get us more data.
Great information. That's one issue with satellite antennas; small vibrations can throw them out of phase with the signal since it's fairly directional AFAIK. I am not sure how OEM antennas tackle it or if the rooftop assembly on many SiriusXM factory-enabled cars is to help dampen those vibrations, but it certainly would be an elegant solution to all the quality issues!
 
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i did just do a test and i see what you mean on the 7 second buffer (just got out of the car and covered the antenna with my hand, in both locations (both roof and corner), and it took the signal roughly seven seconds to drop in both spots. however, i can't seem to get it to hold the signal that long when driving under that overpass. it definitely doesn't take me seven seconds to get from one end to the other, but the signal still drops (even with it on the roof where it should have a perfectly clear view of the sky).
 
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Clearly this thread is as passionate about Sirius as I am, therefore I hope you 'get' what I'm about to share: I have a MY delivering on Monday and if I can't figure out a way to 'channel surf' Sirius then I may sell the car. I am not a tech minded person and I've done my best to research options. Question - is it possible to install a Sirius receiver without a bunch of visible wires and also be able to also use BT for my phone? It seems like this can be done through FM but how is the experience? I'm hoping the receiver can essentially be used the same as I would use steering wheel controls - pressing buttons or scrolling to change favorite stations.

OR gosh should I sell the car and hopelessly wait for Tesla to feel the competitive pinch and make it possible to add Sirius? I know this seems horribly petty but we have a M3 right now and it drives me crazy (as is dangerous) to switch stations on my phone.
 
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…I have a MY delivering on Monday and if I can't figure out a way to 'channel surf' Sirius then I may sell the car…
A brand new ModelY will have the Ryzen CPU right? Isn’t that a non-starter for retrofitting the Tesla Serius tuner?

…is it possible to install a Sirius receiver without a bunch of visible wires and also be able to also use BT for my phone?…
Do you mean a non-Tesla Sirius? And have an app from the phone control other hardware?
 
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OR gosh should I sell the car and hopelessly wait for Tesla to feel the competitive pinch and make it possible to add Sirius? I know this seems horribly petty but we have a M3 right now and it drives me crazy (as is dangerous) to switch stations on my phone.

As I said in the thread you started in the model Y subforum that has the exact same text as the one you have here, you should expect the new model Y to be in exactly the same situation as your model 3. If you are not willing to do all this stuff that is going on in this thread here (and you mention "im not technical" so that implies you are not) then you will be using sirius in the model Y the exact same way you currently do through your model 3.

if you dont like that, and its a big enough issue for you to think about selling the car, you shouldnt take delivery of the car in the first place. By the time you figure taxes etc, you probably will be lucky to break even, so its not like you are going to make a bunch of money on flipping it or something.

If you are waiting for tesla to add this to a model 3 or Y themselves, I think you have the right term in your post ("hopelessly waiting").
 
Question - is it possible to install a Sirius receiver without a bunch of visible wires and also be able to also use BT for my phone? It seems like this can be done through FM but how is the experience? I'm hoping the receiver can essentially be used the same as I would use steering wheel controls - pressing buttons or scrolling to change favorite stations.

even if you don't do this mod as we've discussed it here (and has been mentioned, with a new model Y you probably can't do it unless someone has figured out a way to make it work with the ryzen MCU which i don't think has happened yet), you *can* still do a clean install of a portable unit. it will be slightly (maybe significantly?) different with the refreshed center console, but here's my experience installing an Onyx in my 2018 model 3...


this would also be slightly different in that the tuner for the model Y i believe is in a different spot from the model 3...but the general idea is the same.

you can do this one of two ways: with the FM direct adapter (which is how i did it), or with one of the new bluetooth units (tour or roady BT). the tour is notoriously slow, so i'd recommend the roady if you want to go that route - although, you can't have that and the phone connected at the same time (the car can only connect to one BT device at a time). if you want to use your phone as well, you'd have to manually switch back and forth between the two as needed.

steering wheel controls won't work, but you can get a remote and use that. it's obviously not the same as using the wheel controls, but it was close enough in my experience (and was way easier than reaching down to use the buttons on the unit). i've since replaced this with the built in controls as described in this thread, but that's only because i always wanted it integrated - the onyx was just the only solution available at the time. it works just fine, and had for 3+ years...it was still working perfectly fine when i took it out and put the integrated tuner in.

A brand new ModelY will have the Ryzen CPU right? Isn’t that a non-starter for retrofitting the Tesla Serius tuner?

as far as i know, that's still correct. i know there were a few people here who were going to keep trying on that, but i haven't seen anything on it recently. it works on the intel cars but not on the AMD ones for some reason (there have been some theories thrown around here but i don't think we have definitively figured out why).
 
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I know this seems horribly petty but we have a M3 right now and it drives me crazy (as is dangerous) to switch stations on my phone.

also, if you have a model 3 that has the intel MCU, you can do this mod and be able to control it from the center screen and steering wheel. the UI is horrific, but it obviously does work.

if you're not technically inclined enough to do it yourself, i'm willing to do the tuner housing swap for you if you want to pay for the parts, but you'd obviously have to mount it yourself once i send it to you (and sign a waiver stating that if you screw up the actual install, it's not my fault). honestly, it's pretty simple to do even if you're not super technologically inclined. the hardest part is the housing swap, and even that's pretty easy...you just stick a flathead screw driver into the side of the tuner and twist and it pops open. once that's done, all you have to do is disconnect and unbolt the old one, bolt in the new one, and reconnect the wires.

if you can get the tuner direct from tesla ($225), the rough cost of all of the parts needed here is around $350, give or take a few dollars. if you can't get the tuner from tesla, it's a little harder to find. there aren't any reasonable ones on ebay as far as i know (at least there weren't the other day when i looked).

tesla S/X SXM tuner: $225
model 3 tuner for the housing: roughly $40 on ebay
SXM antenna: $20
SXM fakra antenna adapter: $9
dual fakra adapter for FM: $13
fakra extension for FM antenna amp: $7
second FM antenna amp: roughly $20 on ebay
jumper cables to connect ribbon to second antenna amp: $10
 
@ph0ton found this thread in the S forum, this is the clipping issue we've been discussing.


it sucks that we have to rely on S/X owners to report bugs, even the ones we find or can verify.
 
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Update: been using the model S Plaid tuner in Intel MYLR. It works great inside the city (Houston) but it's been spotty outside the metro in particular on I-10. I had thought originally it was the placement of the antenna but I repositioned it and still had choppy service. All this makes me think that this mod uses internet connection or maybe the lack of SXM repeaters on I10 causes the dropped service.

Any having similar issues in remote locations with poor internet/cell coverage?
 
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Update: been using the model S Plaid tuner in Intel MYLR. It works great inside the city (Houston) but it's been spotty outside the metro in particular on I-10. I had thought originally it was the placement of the antenna but I repositioned it and still had choppy service. All this makes me think that this mod uses internet connection or maybe the lack of SXM repeaters on I10 causes the dropped service.

Any having similar issues in remote locations with poor internet/cell coverage?

You might have missed it but I experimented by fully disconnecting my car from the LTE antennas and testing the radio. It fully works without any LTE or WIFI, but the UI is designed in such a way to require pulling the channel list from the internet. You can bypass this by messing with the recents and favorites menu to select a channel without internet but we've found that it's glitchy for some users.

It doesn't appear to use internet at all for receiving the audio.

The "choppy service" could be the audio clipping glitch we've seen that is an issue for all Teslas. Crackers is much more versed in troubleshooting signal quality than me though! :)
 
You might have missed it but I experimented by fully disconnecting my car from the LTE antennas and testing the radio. It fully works without any LTE or WIFI, but the UI is designed in such a way to require pulling the channel list from the internet. You can bypass this by messing with the recents and favorites menu to select a channel without internet but we've found that it's glitchy for some users.

It doesn't appear to use internet at all for receiving the audio.

The "choppy service" could be the audio clipping glitch we've seen that is an issue for all Teslas. Crackers is much more versed in troubleshooting signal quality than me though! :)
Sorry been off the forums for a few weeks. Just read through it and read about the "clipping"

It's so odd that it only really happens outside the metro though. I can go under underpasses and some garages with no issues.
 
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@PhilCaps i would definitely try to get the antenna outside the car if you can. i had mine inside for 4 years with the onyx and the first few weeks of having this mod in place, but in about a week since i put it outside i can say it does make a noticeable difference (and i live in an area with no repeaters, so that may help in your case as well). right now i've got it on the corner of the car (model 3), opposite the charge port. i tried it on the roof for a day or two but didn't see any noticeable difference vs the corner, so i've left it on the corner for now since it's so much easier to route the wire from there vs on the roof (not to mention it's actual metal so you can stick it with the magnet vs needing to VHB it). might be a little different on the Y though...
 
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interesting weirdness tonight as my wife drives us home from SD: the radio keeps resetting every 30 mins or so. it changes the display to the radio ID, the sound cuts then comes back on, and it picks back up as normal.

it didn't do this the entire way down while I was driving. wondering if it's a Tesla profile vs car profile thing...either way, it's incredibly annoying.

edit: towards the end of the drive, it wasn't even every 30 mins. it was every other song at one point before she got annoyed and put Spotify on...
 
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interesting weirdness tonight as my wife drives us home from SD: the radio keeps resetting every 30 mins or so. it changes the display to the radio ID, the sound cuts then comes back on, and it picks back up as normal.

it didn't do this the entire way down while I was driving. wondering if it's a Tesla profile vs car profile thing...either way, it's incredibly annoying.

edit: towards the end of the drive, it wasn't even every 30 mins. it was every other song at one point before she got annoyed and put Spotify on...

That’s happened to me before in the model x. Not to say it’s normal but it’s not out of character.
 
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