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Big Day For The Avalanche Yesterday!

Royal Vader

By Royal Vader
in Audio, Electronics & Software

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Royal Vader Enthusiast

Royal Vader

Posted
Posted

Had a busy day yesterday. My son (GMGuy84 on this forum) and I tore into my Avalanche and swapped out the Bose 6 CD radio for an OEM touchscreen nav radio (15882766) and while we were at it replaced the Onstar VCIM with a newer one with bluetooth (20783877, and antenna 15938939). We also installed the GPS antenna (15201798) and the VSS harness. This was pretty fun, but some of it was a real PITA! The VCIM required both of us to get out - one to hold the clips back and the other to wiggle out the VCIM module. The other thing that I thought would be easy, but wasn't was adding the green voice wire to the wiring block under the dash. Pretty difficult to un-clip this thing, turn it around, locate the green/white wire and tap into it. The harnesses are pretty thick and I was worried about damaging the connectors, so I wound up unclipping most all of them to be able to turn the block around.

 

One thing that I forgot before we began was to eject all 6 of the CD's that were in the original radio. I had already unhooked the battery and was waiting for bleed down when I realized the disks were still in. :lol: Oh well, powered up the radio, took out the disks and then waited again for the power bleed down. Gave us time for a beer! :lol:

 

Here are the pics from our fun time. Beer was shared and valuable bonding time with my son was priceless! :lol:

 

Here is what we will be installing today:

2010-09-04_10-08-45_476.jpg

 

Here is what we are starting with - a perfectly fine LTZ........

2010-09-04_10-04-57_126.jpg

 

Prying off the trim bezel... We used some trim tools that I got from Harbor Freight for 7 bucks.

2010-09-04_11-18-26_326.jpg

 

Out come the controls...

2010-09-04_11-38-04_137.jpg

 

And finally the original radio is out!

2010-09-04_11-50-43_401.jpg

 

Everything out, and you can see the dreaded Onstar VCIM in there yet to come out

2010-09-04_11-51-05_494.jpg

 

Out comes the old Onstar module

2010-09-04_11-55-26_12.jpg

 

Adding the GPS antenna and fishing down the harness to the radio location

2010-09-04_12-19-10_591.jpg

 

Put everything back together, connected the voice harness and powered her up.

When I started the truck, the screen showed a Chevy bowtie emblem and played radio station garble for about one second and then went to Theftlock, which I expected.

 

2010-09-04_15-17-34_904.jpg

 

2010-09-05_10-49-54_490.jpg

 

2010-09-05_10-51-11_411.jpg

 

Now, its off to the dealer to run the Tech2 re-learn. Looking forward to the nav functioning and the bluetooth. I want Onstar to work and I know it won't, hoping we can find a solution to this someday.

 

Enjoy the pics!!

highspeedvehicle Enthusiast

highspeedvehicle

Posted
Posted
Had a busy day yesterday. My son (GMGuy84 on this forum) and I tore into my Avalanche and swapped out the Bose 6 CD radio for an OEM touchscreen nav radio (15882766) and while we were at it replaced the Onstar VCIM with a newer one with bluetooth (20783877, and antenna 15938939). We also installed the GPS antenna (15201798) and the VSS harness. This was pretty fun, but some of it was a real PITA! The VCIM required both of us to get out - one to hold the clips back and the other to wiggle out the VCIM module. The other thing that I thought would be easy, but wasn't was adding the green voice wire to the wiring block under the dash. Pretty difficult to un-clip this thing, turn it around, locate the green/white wire and tap into it. The harnesses are pretty thick and I was worried about damaging the connectors, so I wound up unclipping most all of them to be able to turn the block around.

 

One thing that I forgot before we began was to eject all 6 of the CD's that were in the original radio. I had already unhooked the battery and was waiting for bleed down when I realized the disks were still in. :D Oh well, powered up the radio, took out the disks and then waited again for the power bleed down. Gave us time for a beer! :cheers:

 

Here are the pics from our fun time. Beer was shared and valuable bonding time with my son was priceless! :cheers:

 

Here is what we will be installing today:

2010-09-04_10-08-45_476.jpg

 

Here is what we are starting with - a perfectly fine LTZ........

2010-09-04_10-04-57_126.jpg

 

Prying off the trim bezel... We used some trim tools that I got from Harbor Freight for 7 bucks.

2010-09-04_11-18-26_326.jpg

 

Out come the controls...

2010-09-04_11-38-04_137.jpg

 

And finally the original radio is out!

2010-09-04_11-50-43_401.jpg

 

Everything out, and you can see the dreaded Onstar VCIM in there yet to come out

2010-09-04_11-51-05_494.jpg

 

Out comes the old Onstar module

2010-09-04_11-55-26_12.jpg

 

Adding the GPS antenna and fishing down the harness to the radio location

2010-09-04_12-19-10_591.jpg

 

Put everything back together, connected the voice harness and powered her up.

When I started the truck, the screen showed a Chevy bowtie emblem and played radio station garble for about one second and then went to Theftlock, which I expected.

 

2010-09-04_15-17-34_904.jpg

 

2010-09-05_10-49-54_490.jpg

 

2010-09-05_10-51-11_411.jpg

 

Now, its off to the dealer to run the Tech2 re-learn. Looking forward to the nav functioning and the bluetooth. I want Onstar to work and I know it won't, hoping we can find a solution to this someday.

 

Enjoy the pics!!

 

Nice upgrade David looks great!! You'll love the nav radio setup when it gets going.

  • 1 year later...
inthemix New Member

inthemix

Posted
Posted

Great work David...I am in the process of adding a VSS/VOICE harness to my '09 Suburban 2500 (similar setup to your Avalanche). Did you have to hook up your OnStar to that VSS kit? My kit says I need to connect it to behind the open port of the OnStar box and insert the RED/BLACK wires (pins) in "pin holes 4 and 5" on the radio's harness (behind a grey cover). Any of this ring a bell? Thanks bud!

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