Installing a BT45-HON3 in a 2006 Honda Odyssey

I finally decided to add bluetooth to our 2006 Honda Odyssey minivan this weekend and I thought I’d document it here.

I purchased the BT45-HON3 from Amazon and it arrived the next day. I’ll admit that after I opened the box and realized that the instructions were, understandably, just about the device and nothing specific to my vehicle, I was a bit nervous. For example, I knew how to hook it up to the car’s radio, but not where or how. But I have YouTube, so no worries.

Above is how it started, so first I needed to take off the panel around the climate control section. Using a basic screwdriver inserted under the panel, I was able to pop it out. Here is a shot of it popped out off. Note, I had to put the emergency brake on and then use the key to pop it out of park to drive in order to get it around the shifter.

Next you need to unscrew the radio. The first two screws are obvious on the left and right of the bottom of the radio. But the third one is harder to see. It’s under the radio in the center. You’ll need a decently long screwdriver to get to it.

Once that is removed, you can simply remove the radio.

Once I pulled the radio out I pulled out the main radio jack, plugged in the new one from the BT device, and plugged the BT device cable back in its slot in the back of the radio.

I then ran the BT device’s audio cable down and out to where the brake pedal is for the time. At this point, I turned the radio back on, and following the guidance, I was able to pair my Android phone to the device and listened to music for a bit. Very rewarding.

So, then I clipped the microphone near the rear view mirror and started to run the connecting wire toward the driver’s side door, tucking it under the liner.

I then tucked the cable and hooked it up to the BT device, which I was able to easily just tuck up in the area above the brake pedal.

All in all, if you don’t count the time where I stopped working to admire the ability to listen to music, I’d say it took ~30 mins.