Delco Radio Swap Between 2004 And 2003

sedonahighway · August 6, 2008

Here's my situation. My cd died in my 2003 Sierra. I picked up a new cd w/MP3 that came out of a 2004 model. Installed it and it came up Locked when I hit the ignition (no surprise, I expected this). What I did not expect was that my dealer told me that the radios cannot be swapped out from different year vehicles???!! They have to have the exact same part number as the one you are changing out. I know the radio works in the truck. When you first plug it in, it works and plays cds as long as you don't turn the ign on. Is this the case, or can this radio be unlocked? If so, is there a procedure for it that I can take to them?

Thanks..

minibike132 · August 8, 2008

Hello, I think you are probably not getting an answer because it is something we just don't usually do. In current models you absolutly cannot (as far as we are told) because the vin is stored in each module and the Part number must be compatible with the vin. I can't say that there is anything that says way back in 03/04 they couldn't be swapped but this time frame is a grey area for radio swaps. "can it be tweeked" no not by a dealer we don't have the architecture to tweak very much unless when going into the program there is a similar option to the radio you are installing. For instance we hook up to the terminal and have the option, reprogram or replace and program module. We would go into replace and reprogram then specify radio then check for similar options in the drop down if one was close we would try that. I wouldn't take this into your dealer and say here try this because the techs already know this.

Let me give you a run down of how this would go if you brought it to me.

You: Could you give this programming a try

Me: Yes but base programming on something I know will work is around half hour labor, we have no idea if this will work but we are not going to try for free. We will give it a half hour of work and if we can't come up with a way to make it work you can decide if you want to pay for us to keep experimenting. In the end you could come out after paying for that half hour with a working radio or end up paying for an hour and a half of experimentation that may get you nowhere. I wish I could give you a definitive answer but it's just not something we have control over and there is no documentation stating weather it's a route that can be successful or not.

Good luck finding a tech that has made the swap, even if I had done one I wouldn't remember off the top of my head how it went. You could try finding another dealer willing to try. That and the service writer you talk to when you walk in the building usually has very little programming knowledge, they usually only know what we pass on. But in the end it's going to boil down to we can't have a tech experimenting for an hour for free and I'm sure they think that you want to get this done for a minimal price. You could try talking to one of the more techy techs in the building. Most dealers have different kinds of techs and getting modules to play nice is a niche that alot of techs have a hard time with. Usually there is atleast one in the building that can make stuff play nice and is willing to try if your willing to pay for it.

I have not looked up circuit descriptions yet to see if it looks at all viable but when I get a chance possibly this weekend I'll give them a look. Could you post your vin so I know what you have in there also exactly what radio is going in, what is on it am/fm, cassette, cd, mp3, XM and all that. The more info I have the more likely I can find something.

sedonahighway · August 9, 2008

Hello, I think you are probably not getting an answer because it is something we just don't usually do. In current models you absolutly cannot (as far as we are told) because the vin is stored in each module and the Part number must be compatible with the vin. I can't say that there is anything that says way back in 03/04 they couldn't be swapped but this time frame is a grey area for radio swaps. "can it be tweeked" no not by a dealer we don't have the architecture to tweak very much unless when going into the program there is a similar option to the radio you are installing. For instance we hook up to the terminal and have the option, reprogram or replace and program module. We would go into replace and reprogram then specify radio then check for similar options in the drop down if one was close we would try that. I wouldn't take this into your dealer and say here try this because the techs already know this.

Let me give you a run down of how this would go if you brought it to me.

You: Could you give this programming a try

Me: Yes but base programming on something I know will work is around half hour labor, we have no idea if this will work but we are not going to try for free. We will give it a half hour of work and if we can't come up with a way to make it work you can decide if you want to pay for us to keep experimenting. In the end you could come out after paying for that half hour with a working radio or end up paying for an hour and a half of experimentation that may get you nowhere. I wish I could give you a definitive answer but it's just not something we have control over and there is no documentation stating weather it's a route that can be successful or not.

Good luck finding a tech that has made the swap, even if I had done one I wouldn't remember off the top of my head how it went. You could try finding another dealer willing to try. That and the service writer you talk to when you walk in the building usually has very little programming knowledge, they usually only know what we pass on. But in the end it's going to boil down to we can't have a tech experimenting for an hour for free and I'm sure they think that you want to get this done for a minimal price. You could try talking to one of the more techy techs in the building. Most dealers have different kinds of techs and getting modules to play nice is a niche that alot of techs have a hard time with. Usually there is atleast one in the building that can make stuff play nice and is willing to try if your willing to pay for it.

I have not looked up circuit descriptions yet to see if it looks at all viable but when I get a chance possibly this weekend I'll give them a look. Could you post your vin so I know what you have in there also exactly what radio is going in, what is on it am/fm, cassette, cd, mp3, XM and all that. The more info I have the more likely I can find something.

Thanks for the help. I haven't been able to get much info on this from anywhere else. I understand where you are coming from on this. Kind of like cell phone companies when you switch from one to another, they never let you bring your phone from your old carrier over. They always tell you that you have to buy a new one from them because they are not compatible. Sometimes thats true, (CDMA carrier to a GSM carrier)most of the time it is not. Most of the companies just block phones that were not purchased thru them.

Here is the info you requested..

VIN: 2gtek19t231287708

Old Radio: Part # 15184932 , AM/FM/CD

New Radio: Part # 15216905 , AM/FM/CD/MP3

I would think that there should be a way to zero out the VIN in the new radio and allow it to learn the new VIN. Maybe not with the Tech 2 though...

Thanks again for your help...

minibike132 · August 9, 2008

I'm still looking around it will take a while. By the way what happened to your original radio, you said something about cd player inop? Did you know there is a software update for your original part number. I have not looked for the bulliten yet but the calibration info has an entry that reads New software to resolve "CD will not load/eject" issue. It's possible you don't need a new radio just a recal to get the old one working and you could send that one back. Let me know, I'll do some more looking in the mean time.

sedonahighway · August 9, 2008

I'm still looking around it will take a while. By the way what happened to your original radio, you said something about cd player inop? Did you know there is a software update for your original part number. I have not looked for the bulliten yet but the calibration info has an entry that reads New software to resolve "CD will not load/eject" issue. It's possible you don't need a new radio just a recal to get the old one working and you could send that one back. Let me know, I'll do some more looking in the mean time.

The original had a cd stuck in it. Managed to get it out, but now it don't work at all. Just the radio works.

dlstewart01 · August 9, 2008

Yeah you can use a different part # radio. The vin has to be programmed into the new radio. All the lights went out on my 05 with just the CD player. Wanted to upgrade anyway, so I purchased one from an 06 with CD and cassette. DIFFERENT part#. I took it to the local Chevy dealer. Their tech programmed the the new radio for my VIN with his tech 11. I watched him. He got on the computer and got a code then hooked up the tech 11. It took about 20 minutes for the whole thing. They charged me $36 dollars. Works perfect.

Common thing around here, good luck.

Don

minibike132 · August 11, 2008

Yeah you can use a different part # radio. The vin has to be programmed into the new radio. All the lights went out on my 05 with just the CD player. Wanted to upgrade anyway, so I purchased one from an 06 with CD and cassette. DIFFERENT part#. I took it to the local Chevy dealer. Their tech programmed the the new radio for my VIN with his tech 11. I watched him. He got on the computer and got a code then hooked up the tech 11. It took about 20 minutes for the whole thing. They charged me $36 dollars. Works perfect.

Common thing around here, good luck.

Don

He is right some of the time but it doesn't always work this seamlessly. If your set on changing radios I would find a different dealer to try that out. If your not set on it try putting in the old one and have a tech try to update the radio (during an update it will say if it has the most current program) or atleast pull the programming ID to see if that CD player problem is not just a software issue.

sedonahighway · October 24, 2008

He is right some of the time but it doesn't always work this seamlessly. If your set on changing radios I would find a different dealer to try that out. If your not set on it try putting in the old one and have a tech try to update the radio (during an update it will say if it has the most current program) or atleast pull the programming ID to see if that CD player problem is not just a software issue.

Is there anywhere that lists available radio options for each vehicle? I asked my dealer for a list of compatible radios that would work in my truck and they couldn't tell me anything.