On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:21:29 -0400, Jamie
t 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
bull****. 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...