Bluetooth Options For 2008 Silverado

loach402 · March 27, 2010

Well, I received my VCIM back from White Automotive on Monday and finally had a chance to put it in this afternoon.

The good news: Bluetooth works fine.

The bad news: Onstar doesn't.

The VCIM is a major bee-otch to remove and replace in the Acadia. It is located in the upper area of the rear jack compartment on the driver's side of the vehicle. It's held in by a very tight clip and there is virtually no room to reach up in there and work. It took me about 40 minutes to figure out how it was being held in and then getting enough pressure on the clip to release it. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the easy part. I could not get my hands to an angle to apply enough pressure to pop the new VCIM in its place. I ended up having to remove the entire rear trim panel on that side of the vehicle so I could attack it from above. That required removing D-pillar airbag cover and the rear cargo organizer, disconnecting the power lifgate arm and unbolting/removing one of the 3rd row seats. After all that, I was able to pop the VCIM in place because I could get one hand in from above and one from below - used one to put pressure on the clip and the other to push the VCIM in.

Struggled a little bit setting up the bluetooth but finally figured it out. I need to say "Onstar" before saying "bluetooth" or "dial", etc. on mine apparently because I have the navigation system. Made a couple test calls and all was well.

Noticed right away that the Onstar light on my rearview mirror was red - bad sign. If the programming from White Auto had been successful, I believe it should have been green. Tried to call Onstar using the blue button. It beeped for about 6-7 minutes, then I gave up. Tried the red emergency button and it eventually connected. I told them it was not an emergency but it was the only button that worked and I needed technical support. They transferred me to a tech support guy who seemed to know what he was doing. He immediately asked me what color the light was on the rearview mirror and I told him the truth - red. He immediately told me there was still a problem with my VCIM (he assumed it had been replaced due to defect by a dealer and I played along) and that I would have to return to the dealer. I asked if he could try to link it to my account anyway and he agreed to try it. After 2-3 minutes of beeping, he returned to the line and indicated that he received an error message that my VCIM was not compatible with my make and model year - 2008 GMC Acadia - really bad sign.

I just emailed White Auto to see what I should do - hopefully Chris White will have some ideas. This is a deal-breaker issue for me as my wife really loves Onstar. If I can't get Onstar working properly, I'm afraid I may have wasted $125 + shipping on the programming. And my VCIM may soon be for sale.

LawmanSS · March 27, 2010

Wow...this is not good news. Let us know what Chris White has to say...

Brewboy · March 27, 2010

Yes Im very interested too........ as White Automotive has my VCIM right now and Im trying White Auto after spending $60 at the dealership trying to get the VCIM set up to work in my 07 Denali.

The scenario you gave is exactly what happened to me but after the dealer tried to program the VCIM not White Automotive.

Im sure Chris will give it another shot. Be patient. Im going to have to as well.

Its a pain in the butt trying to keep OnStar but I agree its good to have when the wife is driving alone in the vehicle.

Can you believe how hard GM is working at trying to keep Bluetooth away from their loyal customers with 07-08 vehicles?......I love my truck but Ford offers free firmware upgrades to all their customers who have older versions of SYNC.

Royal Vader · March 27, 2010

Man, this is not good!

There's gotta be something we are all missing. How are VCIM's and On* set up from the factory?

Any techs' out there that actually know how this is done? All vehicles come with at least 1 year of On*. It is set up somewhere during the assembly process or delivery to the dealer. There IS a process.

loach402 · March 27, 2010

Well, there's hope. Chris White responded and indicated my problem is likely related to the fact that I added the factory navigation system after my original purchase. He said that Navigation has a completely different setup file. He couldn't tell from my VIN that I had nav because it wasn't originally equipped that way. The bad news is I'll have to send it back to him for reprogramming, which he'll do for the cost of shipping only.

It'll probably cost me another 2 weeks minimum though, and I hate to have to tear apart my car again. Before I put everything back together I'm going to see if I can file down the clip that was giving me trouble, so that maybe I can pop the new VCIM in one-handed from below when I get it back the 2nd time from Chris.

Royal Vader · March 27, 2010

Well, there's hope. Chris White responded and indicated my problem is likely related to the fact that I added the factory navigation system after my original purchase. He said that Navigation has a completely different setup file. He couldn't tell from my VIN that I had nav because it wasn't originally equipped that way. The bad news is I'll have to send it back to him for reprogramming, which he'll do for the cost of shipping only.

It'll probably cost me another 2 weeks minimum though, and I hate to have to tear apart my car again. Before I put everything back together I'm going to see if I can file down the clip that was giving me trouble, so that maybe I can pop the new VCIM in one-handed from below when I get it back the 2nd time from Chris.

Glad to hear that, Lance.

Had no idea that the programming of the VCIM had anything to do with what radio you have installed.

LawmanSS · March 28, 2010

Yeah, modern automobiles are all setup with "mini" computer networks...all the systems are networked together, so changes on one component often affect the others. The same thing happens when you try to read DTC's with an older OBDII reader that's not CAN (controller area network) compatible...they can't interface with the various networks at work in the vehicle.

loach402 · April 7, 2010

Yes Im very interested too........ as White Automotive has my VCIM right now and Im trying White Auto after spending $60 at the dealership trying to get the VCIM set up to work in my 07 Denali.

The scenario you gave is exactly what happened to me but after the dealer tried to program the VCIM not White Automotive.

Im sure Chris will give it another shot. Be patient. Im going to have to as well.

Its a pain in the butt trying to keep OnStar but I agree its good to have when the wife is driving alone in the vehicle.

Can you believe how hard GM is working at trying to keep Bluetooth away from their loyal customers with 07-08 vehicles?......I love my truck but Ford offers free firmware upgrades to all their customers who have older versions of SYNC.

Brad, did you ever get yours back from White and installed?

Brewboy · April 7, 2010

Yes Im very interested too........ as White Automotive has my VCIM right now and Im trying White Auto after spending $60 at the dealership trying to get the VCIM set up to work in my 07 Denali.

The scenario you gave is exactly what happened to me but after the dealer tried to program the VCIM not White Automotive.

Im sure Chris will give it another shot. Be patient. Im going to have to as well.

Its a pain in the butt trying to keep OnStar but I agree its good to have when the wife is driving alone in the vehicle.

Can you believe how hard GM is working at trying to keep Bluetooth away from their loyal customers with 07-08 vehicles?......I love my truck but Ford offers free firmware upgrades to all their customers who have older versions of SYNC.

Brad, did you ever get yours back from White and installed?

Enroute back to me now via UPS......will be installing it right away, so I will update immediately

Brewboy · April 10, 2010

Got VCIM back from White Automotive today and after install instantly got the green OnStar LED (that was red before)......All buttons (hands free calling too) work to connect to OnStar but tech support was closed by the time I had it installed. So couldn't transfer my account info or minutes yet.

Bluetooth works perfect, OEM is very nice.

Will do the OnStar account swap hopefully tomorrow, I will advise on that.

Thanks again to White Automotive.

pnz · April 10, 2010

anyone have the contact info for Chris White.. ..

loach402 · April 10, 2010

anyone have the contact info for Chris White.. ..

www.whiteautoandmedia.com

Brewboy · April 11, 2010

So the saga continues......

Like I said previously White Auto did the programming and everything they did works fine, immediate green OnStar light... and to be fair to Chris he did say it may take a couple tries getting the GMT900 set up right so he has been clear from the beginning and has been helpful.

Tried 2X with OnStar tech support and they say they are seeing my Station ID # but are not seeing the ESN# so they cannot load the software and swap my account over, so they have directed me to the dealership.

The problem is the new VCIM has NO ESN on the white sticker with all the numbers. The old VCIM that came with the 07 GMT900 does have an ESN on the white sticker.

Perhaps they need the ME ID#?

IMO I think White Auto has done their part correctly and OnStar is playing games here, they see its a 2007 GMT900 by the VIN, they see its a Generation 8 OnStar module and they don't update the correct software for Gen 8, they try 07 OnStar software.

So the next plan is to hit the dealership, connect the Tech2 tool and call OnStar with tool connected.

Funny though all the buttons work, the OnStar phone works it just says you have no minutes, which is right if you have a new VCIM. The blue and red OnStar buttons work too.

OnStar just doesn't want to swap the account so if this doesn't work Im dumping the OnStar account as all the functionality works in an emergency anyways.

LawmanSS · April 12, 2010

Hmmm...interesting. I never noticed, until you mentioned it, that my new VCIM doesn't have an ESN on the sticker, either. I wonder if that has anything to do with how the ebay seller got so many of them?