Anyone had issues with steering wheel controls and reverse camera on the ILX-650?

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a 2015 Wrangler with the ILX-650 and PAC RP4-CH11 installed. No issues initially, but about 7 months ago, the steering wheel controls and reverse camera just stopped working. Took it to an audio shop and all they did was unplug it, plug it back in, and update the firmware. Everything worked for a couple of months, but now it’s happening again — no steering wheel controls, no reverse cam, and I can’t access the advanced features of the ILX. The strange part is that I can manually turn on the camera.

Before I open it up again or take it to the shop, does anyone know what could be causing this? Is it a bad PAC, or could it be a crimped or cut wire?

Thanks in advance!

(Edited to clarify: The Wrangler doesn’t have the Alpine sound package from the factory, which may have been confusing.)

Sounds like the Ch11 module has failed. I’ve had plenty of problems with PAC units myself. I’d recommend switching to a Maestro RR instead, but keep in mind some features may be lost on the W650 since it’s not data enabled.

The PAC unit failing is probably why you’re not able to access your bypass anymore. Honestly, you might’ve been better off using a TR-1 instead of relying on the PAC’s e-brake output.

@Hart
Haha, that was an interesting search! TR-1 turned up a Soviet-era missile launcher or a Nike shoe.

But seriously, I know the PAC TR1 is a video bypass. How would that have helped in this case? I’m thinking of looking into the Maestro. I saw it on Crutchfield earlier. Thanks for the tip!

@Mali
The TR-1 bypasses the parking brake detection on startup, so you don’t have to be fully stopped to use certain features. For Alpines, for example, it lets you access the Bluetooth menu. It basically makes things easier.

What exactly do you mean by ‘non-Alpine’? The ILX-W650 is an Alpine unit, so that part is confusing.

Cameron said:
What exactly do you mean by ‘non-Alpine’? The ILX-W650 is an Alpine unit, so that part is confusing.

Ah, I edited that part. What I meant was that the Wrangler didn’t come with the Alpine upgrade from the factory. Thanks for pointing that out!

@Mali
Got it! By the way, have you checked if there’s a firmware update available? Here’s a link to the update.

@Cameron
Yes, I saw that. I’ll check if I can update the firmware. One issue I’m having is that to access the advanced settings (like updating firmware), you have to pull the e-brake up twice. That’s also affecting the reverse cam, which won’t trigger automatically. Hopefully, that’s the problem.