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From: klem kedidelhopper on 15 Jul 2010 14:56
I have been trying to do something that used to be so simple but in
today's world it seems has become an exercise in futility. I own a
2000 Chevrolet express van which has a factory AM/FM radio installed.
I would like to replace it with an equivalent AM/FM/cassette unit. I
got the first one from the junk yard, installed it and found that the
only thing it would do is display 12:00 for about 3 seconds each time
power on is attempted. The second one was an AM/FM/cassette/CD radio.
It does the same thing and in addition it has a small red blinking led
on the front panel which blinks continuously. These radios are
reasonably priced at 25.00 and 40.00 which is a far cry from dealer
price for a new one. The dealer tells me that junk yard radios will
not work as they go into theft mode as soon as you remove them from
the vehicle. If that is so why didn't my original radio do this when I
removed it and reinstalled it numerous times? And what about when the
battery goes completely dead? They tell me that these radios have to
be programmed for the vehicle that they are going into. Is this true
or are they just trying to get 85.00 out of me for the programming? If
there is in fact a compatibility problem can I reset the radio myself?
I'm ready to pull the radio/cassete out of the 1990 I have sitting in
the woods, custom install it in my 2000 and do away with all this
bullshit. Can anyone please advise me further on this? thanks, Lenny
From: Jamie on 15 Jul 2010 19:21
klem kedidelhopper wrote:

> I have been trying to do something that used to be so simple but in
> today's world it seems has become an exercise in futility. I own a
> 2000 Chevrolet express van which has a factory AM/FM radio installed.
> I would like to replace it with an equivalent AM/FM/cassette unit. I
> got the first one from the junk yard, installed it and found that the
> only thing it would do is display 12:00 for about 3 seconds each time
> power on is attempted. The second one was an AM/FM/cassette/CD radio.
> It does the same thing and in addition it has a small red blinking led
> on the front panel which blinks continuously. These radios are
> reasonably priced at 25.00 and 40.00 which is a far cry from dealer
> price for a new one. The dealer tells me that junk yard radios will
> not work as they go into theft mode as soon as you remove them from
> the vehicle. If that is so why didn't my original radio do this when I
> removed it and reinstalled it numerous times? And what about when the
> battery goes completely dead? They tell me that these radios have to
> be programmed for the vehicle that they are going into. Is this true
> or are they just trying to get 85.00 out of me for the programming? If
> there is in fact a compatibility problem can I reset the radio myself?
> I'm ready to pull the radio/cassete out of the 1990 I have sitting in
> the woods, custom install it in my 2000 and do away with all this
> bullshit. Can anyone please advise me further on this? thanks, Lenny
Yes, its true.. The dealers are suppose to have tools or know how to
do this which allows the radio to work.. You most likely have a CAN
network or something like that in your car that is talking to the
computer. Most likely a process that isn't in your manual to force
the Radio to work with your cars computer..


You'd be better off just putting in a after market..

From: PeterD on 16 Jul 2010 07:44
On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:21:29 -0400, Jamie
<jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_(a)charter.net> wrote:

>klem kedidelhopper wrote:
>
>> I have been trying to do something that used to be so simple but in
>> today's world it seems has become an exercise in futility. I own a
>> 2000 Chevrolet express van which has a factory AM/FM radio installed.
>> I would like to replace it with an equivalent AM/FM/cassette unit. I
>> got the first one from the junk yard, installed it and found that the
>> only thing it would do is display 12:00 for about 3 seconds each time
>> power on is attempted. The second one was an AM/FM/cassette/CD radio.
>> It does the same thing and in addition it has a small red blinking led
>> on the front panel which blinks continuously. These radios are
>> reasonably priced at 25.00 and 40.00 which is a far cry from dealer
>> price for a new one. The dealer tells me that junk yard radios will
>> not work as they go into theft mode as soon as you remove them from
>> the vehicle. If that is so why didn't my original radio do this when I
>> removed it and reinstalled it numerous times? And what about when the
>> battery goes completely dead? They tell me that these radios have to
>> be programmed for the vehicle that they are going into. Is this true
>> or are they just trying to get 85.00 out of me for the programming? If
>> there is in fact a compatibility problem can I reset the radio myself?
>> I'm ready to pull the radio/cassete out of the 1990 I have sitting in
>> the woods, custom install it in my 2000 and do away with all this
>> bullshit. Can anyone please advise me further on this? thanks, Lenny
> Yes, its true.. The dealers are suppose to have tools or know how to
>do this which allows the radio to work.. You most likely have a CAN
>network or something like that in your car that is talking to the
>computer. Most likely a process that isn't in your manual to force
>the Radio to work with your cars computer..
>
>
> You'd be better off just putting in a after market..

Agree with last statement fully. Don't waste time with the GM radio.

But if you must, get a Tech II scan tool (should only cost about $1500
or so) and you can program the system to work in your vehicle. The
radio has the VIN of the vehicle programmed into its NVRAM and that
must be updated, if the VIN doesn't match the VIN in the vehicle's
main computers, no radio...
From: klem kedidelhopper on 16 Jul 2010 10:00
On Jul 16, 7:44 am, PeterD <pet...(a)hipson.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:21:29 -0400, Jamie
>
>
>
> <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1l...(a)charter.net> wrote:
> >klem kedidelhopper wrote:
>
> >> I have been trying to do something that used to be so simple but in
> >> today's world it seems has become an exercise in futility. I own a
> >> 2000 Chevrolet express van which has a factory AM/FM radio installed.
> >> I would like to replace it with an equivalent AM/FM/cassette unit. I
> >> got the first one from the junk yard, installed it and found that the
> >> only thing it would do is display 12:00 for about 3 seconds each time
> >> power on is attempted. The second one was an AM/FM/cassette/CD radio.
> >> It does the same thing and in addition it has a small red blinking led
> >> on the front panel which blinks continuously. These radios are
> >> reasonably priced at 25.00 and 40.00 which is a far cry from dealer
> >> price for a new one. The dealer tells me that junk yard radios will
> >> not work as they go into theft mode as soon as you remove them from
> >> the vehicle. If that is so why didn't my original radio do this when I
> >> removed it and reinstalled it numerous times? And what about when the
> >> battery goes completely dead? They tell me that these radios have to
> >> be programmed for the vehicle that they are going into. Is this true
> >> or are they just trying to get 85.00 out of me for the programming? If
> >> there is in fact a compatibility problem can I reset the radio myself?
> >> I'm ready to pull the radio/cassete out of the 1990 I have sitting in
> >> the woods, custom install it in my 2000 and do away with all this
> >> bullshit. Can anyone please advise me further on this? thanks, Lenny
> >  Yes, its true.. The dealers are suppose to have tools or know how to
> >do this which allows the radio to work.. You most likely have a CAN
> >network or something like that in your car that is talking to the
> >computer. Most likely a process that isn't in your manual to force
> >the Radio to work with your cars computer..
>
> >  You'd be better off just putting in a after market..
>
> Agree with last statement fully. Don't waste time with the GM radio.
>
> But if you must, get a Tech II scan tool (should only cost about $1500
> or so) and you can program the system to work in your vehicle. The
> radio has the VIN of the vehicle programmed into its NVRAM and that
> must be updated, if the VIN doesn't match the VIN in the vehicle's
> main computers, no radio...

So what it amounts to is the radio is a one shot deal. Sure you can
pay the cost at the junk yard, (40.00) for the full featured one and
then if you don't also pay 85.00 to the dealer to "marry " it to the
next vehicle it will live in, yours, it is a worthless paper weight.
That's 125.00 for a used OEM radio. I can't help thinking that there
is more going on here than simply anti theft. Lenny
From: William R. Walsh on 16 Jul 2010 11:16
Hi!

> The dealer tells me that junk yard radios will not work as they go into
> theft mode as soon as you remove them from the vehicle. If that is
> so why didn't my original radio do this when I removed it and reinstalled it
> numerous times?

The dealer doesn't know what they are talking about, and they are
mixing things up. Collectively, GM refers to all of these systems as
TheftLock (except the earliest one, which is called Delco Loc II.) I
don't know if there was a Delco Loc I or not.

Early Delco Loc and TheftLock radios could or did have a code in place
that would have to be entered if the radio lost power.

The later radios, such as your 2000 model use a different approach. A
small EEPROM on the board holds a copy of the VIN (along with other
parameters) and this is checked over the CAN bus with what is stored
in another computer. If the two do not match--or if there is no
response from the CAN bus, as there would not be if you were bench
testing the radio--the unit will not power up or display anything
other than the clock.

There are a few solutions:

1. Install an aftermarket radio.
2. Pay the dealership what they want to program the new radio.
3. Open the radio up, locate the EEPROM that stores the VIN and
disconnect it. This will cause the radio to report things such as "CAL
error" and complain, but it will work normally otherwise. This is
somewhat difficult because GM house-numbered *everything* in these
radios, even common parts like the EEPROM.

Some parts have their normal numbers, but many do not. There are some
equivalency tables on the web that you might find.

On many of these, pushing several of the front buttons at once will
result in the radio powering up and running despite TheftLock. I
suspect this is a diagnostic test mode, though the set operates
normally. However, late model (2006 and later for sure) radios have a
time-out, after which they will shut off. The one from my 2003 S-10
played for hours this way, so I don't think it does.

William
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