How-To: Changing Vcims GMT900.

mc7719 · January 28, 2011

I purchased VCIM number 20827036 off of ebay for $199. Installed it into my 2010 Sierra SL, it goes behind the panel that has the ashtry in it. After it was in, I had the red light for OnStar, but the bluetooth worked straight away. I pressed the emergency button on the mirror, and told the operator that it was the only button that worked and about the red light, she passed me on to techsupport.
Techsupport had me on the phone for about 15 minutes while they did some stuff, but the red light remained. The techshupport guy applogized for taking so long, and gave me 100 minutes of phone credit to compensate. He also said I needed to go to the dealer to get it finished.

Booked an appt with my dealer, and took it in on that day and left it. They called about 2 hours later and said it was all done, but it would not be fully working until the next day. I went in to get the truck expecting to pay about $75, but it was no charge.

Next day (actually today) I tried Onstar, the light was green and it connected to the operator, but she said there was still something not activated properly, and passed me on to tech support. Tech support took another 15 min to get it fixed, and they did fix it, Onstar works, green light and all. The tech support guy applogized for the long wait, extended my OnStar another 3 months no charge, and gave me another 130 minutes of phone credit. All in all, I got a total of 230 minutes of phone time, and 3 months free service, and I did not even have to complain. Biggest surprise was the no charge from the dealer though.

This is monumental. Ive done ALOT of research and you're the first guy I've heard that got this working! And with some bonuses to boot!!

Keep in mind he got it working on a 2010 truck.... a truck that had BT as an option.

To my knowledge no one has gotten onstar to work on an 07/08 truck.

Oh right... good point. *sigh*

NitroCherokee · January 28, 2011

I purchased VCIM number 20827036 off of ebay for $199. Installed it into my 2010 Sierra SL, it goes behind the panel that has the ashtry in it. After it was in, I had the red light for OnStar, but the bluetooth worked straight away. I pressed the emergency button on the mirror, and told the operator that it was the only button that worked and about the red light, she passed me on to techsupport.
Techsupport had me on the phone for about 15 minutes while they did some stuff, but the red light remained. The techshupport guy applogized for taking so long, and gave me 100 minutes of phone credit to compensate. He also said I needed to go to the dealer to get it finished.

Booked an appt with my dealer, and took it in on that day and left it. They called about 2 hours later and said it was all done, but it would not be fully working until the next day. I went in to get the truck expecting to pay about $75, but it was no charge.

Next day (actually today) I tried Onstar, the light was green and it connected to the operator, but she said there was still something not activated properly, and passed me on to tech support. Tech support took another 15 min to get it fixed, and they did fix it, Onstar works, green light and all. The tech support guy applogized for the long wait, extended my OnStar another 3 months no charge, and gave me another 130 minutes of phone credit. All in all, I got a total of 230 minutes of phone time, and 3 months free service, and I did not even have to complain. Biggest surprise was the no charge from the dealer though.

This is monumental. Ive done ALOT of research and you're the first guy I've heard that got this working! And with some bonuses to boot!!

Keep in mind he got it working on a 2010 truck.... a truck that had BT as an option.

To my knowledge no one has gotten onstar to work on an 07/08 truck.

He got it to work on a 2010 because the 2010 came with GEN8 07/08 came with GEN7 and will not be able to be programmed to still have the OnStar option work, it all has to do with software strings that you can't make match

bigroccrek · March 6, 2011

I purchased VCIM number 20827036 off of ebay for $199. Installed it into my 2010 Sierra SL, it goes behind the panel that has the ashtry in it. After it was in, I had the red light for OnStar, but the bluetooth worked straight away. I pressed the emergency button on the mirror, and told the operator that it was the only button that worked and about the red light, she passed me on to techsupport.
Techsupport had me on the phone for about 15 minutes while they did some stuff, but the red light remained. The techshupport guy applogized for taking so long, and gave me 100 minutes of phone credit to compensate. He also said I needed to go to the dealer to get it finished.

Booked an appt with my dealer, and took it in on that day and left it. They called about 2 hours later and said it was all done, but it would not be fully working until the next day. I went in to get the truck expecting to pay about $75, but it was no charge.

Next day (actually today) I tried Onstar, the light was green and it connected to the operator, but she said there was still something not activated properly, and passed me on to tech support. Tech support took another 15 min to get it fixed, and they did fix it, Onstar works, green light and all. The tech support guy applogized for the long wait, extended my OnStar another 3 months no charge, and gave me another 130 minutes of phone credit. All in all, I got a total of 230 minutes of phone time, and 3 months free service, and I did not even have to complain. Biggest surprise was the no charge from the dealer though.

This is monumental. Ive done ALOT of research and you're the first guy I've heard that got this working! And with some bonuses to boot!!

Keep in mind he got it working on a 2010 truck.... a truck that had BT as an option.

To my knowledge no one has gotten onstar to work on an 07/08 truck.

He got it to work on a 2010 because the 2010 came with GEN8 07/08 came with GEN7 and will not be able to be programmed to still have the OnStar option work, it all has to do with software strings that you can't make match

What truck are the pics of? I have a 2007 Sierra SLE TD and the radio area of the dash is totally different than the one in these pictures. Thanks

mc7719 · March 7, 2011

What truck are the pics of? I have a 2007 Sierra SLE TD and the radio area of the dash is totally different than the one in these pictures. Thanks

The pics are of the SLT/LTZ style dashboard in my 08 Sierra.. the style other dashboard looks different, but the connections are the same

bigroccrek · March 7, 2011

Thanks. I have an 07 Sierra and teh dash area around teh radio seems like it is a lot larger. The plastic piece that snaps off (I assume) is much larger and it looks like it would come off with teh vents and all.

What truck are the pics of? I have a 2007 Sierra SLE TD and the radio area of the dash is totally different than the one in these pictures. Thanks

The pics are of the SLT/LTZ style dashboard in my 08 Sierra.. the style other dashboard looks different, but the connections are the same

cjaekl · March 13, 2011

I have a 2007 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD with Nav. My truck has the steering wheel controls, however, I only have the mute button for the radio. I dont have the push to talk button. If I get a VCIM with bluetooth, will this still work with my truck through the OnStar mirror buttons? If not, does anyone know if replacing the steering wheel controls will allow this to work?

Thanks for the help.

Chris

Doug_Scott · March 13, 2011

I have a 2007 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD with Nav. My truck has the steering wheel controls, however, I only have the mute button for the radio. I dont have the push to talk button. If I get a VCIM with bluetooth, will this still work with my truck through the OnStar mirror buttons? If not, does anyone know if replacing the steering wheel controls will allow this to work?

Thanks for the help.

Chris

I got a steering wheel with the radio controls from one of the US GM parts sites, and it controls my radio as you say, the mute button mutes the radio.

I then got a VCIM from Ebay, installed it, and now have bluetooth working. The mute button mutes the radio if you just press and release it.

With the truck running and my cell phone connected via bluetooth, if you press and hold the mute button on the steering wheel for more that 2 or 3 seconds, it mutes the radio, and the "lady" says "Ready". At this point I normally say "dial", the lady says something like "number please" and I hear a beep. I say the number, the lady says "dialing using <insert the name you gave your phone when you paired it>" and repeats the phone number back to me. The number is also displayed on the DIC.

If I want to use the OnStar phone (I have a 2010 so my OnStar works), I have to press the Phone button on the mirror.

The buttons on the wheel controls when you have bluetooth are labeled differently than the ones without bluetooth. But they do the exact same thing as the non-bluetooth ones. Mine has the older buttons, but work exactly like the new ones do, once the VCIM was changed to give me bluetooth.

mc7719 · March 13, 2011

doug_scott: Couldn't have said it better myself!

EmC350 · March 16, 2011

Just wondering... This only adds voice calling? No support for A2DP Streaming Audio?

Doug_Scott · March 16, 2011

Just wondering... This only adds voice calling? No support for A2DP Streaming Audio?

I do not get streaming audio with my setup (LG Optimus Quantum Windows Phone 7) and did not really expect to.

mc7719 · March 16, 2011

No streaming audio via bluetooth is not an available option (regardless of whether you had BT from the factory or afterwards). Why the didn't they make it an option? I have no idea.

VO1BMD · April 2, 2011

On* has a promo on right now (heard it on the radio station) so I had to try.

Push the BLUE On* button and enter your name for a chance to win a new GM vehicle. You don't have to be a customer or have an active account. They will ask you for other info and want you to sign up for the phone service (I declined all options) but they game me some package free for 6 mos. Since I did this, they have "entered" my new account info and my LED on the mirror is now GREEN. The phone # for the On* is 500-XXX-XXX but I don't care and I didn't give them a credit card to have on file... don't need any more ongoing services... just the freebies.

I was surprised that my LED is now green since I did the VCIM swap it has been off. I was also surprised that the BLUE On* button worked at all!

Anyhow... got some freebies, got a chance to win a new GM, got a green LED... was a good day!

mc7719 · April 2, 2011

On* has a promo on right now (heard it on the radio station) so I had to try.
Push the BLUE On* button and enter your name for a chance to win a new GM vehicle. You don't have to be a customer or have an active account. They will ask you for other info and want you to sign up for the phone service (I declined all options) but they game me some package free for 6 mos. Since I did this, they have "entered" my new account info and my LED on the mirror is now GREEN. The phone # for the On* is 500-XXX-XXX but I don't care and I didn't give them a credit card to have on file... don't need any more ongoing services... just the freebies.

I was surprised that my LED is now green since I did the VCIM swap it has been off. I was also surprised that the BLUE On* button worked at all!

Anyhow... got some freebies, got a chance to win a new GM, got a green LED... was a good day!

Wait, what? Since you had swapped VCIMs, you say it was "off" or was the LED red?

And now it works? From your sig, you have an '07 and swapped in a BT VCIM?

VO1BMD · April 3, 2011

Yes... I am one of the FEW people who got On* to activate the VCIM and had everything working 99% properly BUT On* always saw a 2009 Acadia, where the VCIM came from! They did manually enter my VIN and "add" my 2007 Silverado to my vehicle list, but I was always seen as owning two (2) GMs. I have NEVER been to a GM dealer or have ANYONE besides On* do any programming.... they did all programming remote. When my free period with On* ended, my LED went from green to out, no colour displayed, not RED like most VCIM swaps.

Now, after calling in and putting my name in the draw, they have re-activated my On* account (new account #, new phone # that works) and I have free On* for 6 mos! The topper, when I did this VCIM swap and they couldn't get their system to recognize I was in a '07 Silv, they gave me like 100 something minutes free phone... I still have 128 left and it works! Had the wife call my new number and I can receive calls, but DIC shows UNAVAILABLE since there is no call display.

Now, I have a GREEN LED once again, but On* still sees a 2009 Acadia.....

EDIT: BTW: for some reason, I have all my minutes back as well. Back to 130 minutes phone with On* as opposed to less than 100 last July (an older post I made here in another thread kept record)

Edited April 3, 2011 by Cruisin Newfie