i'm just curious in how many people actually replaced their headunit.. please give me some comments and vote..

 

switched mine to a Panasonic...it doesn't fit great but it was just as easy as any other stereo i've installed (I've got the pioneer system...not a problem with intigration at all). All i have to do is figure out how to give it power when "acc" is on.

 

where did you wire the acc wire to.. did you use the windshield wiper fuse.. also for everyone who is leaving there headunit stock.. how come?

 

windshield wipers...exactly like crutchfield said. Works great and sounds amazing.

 

I also went with the panasonic unit......great features and power for the money....no problems yet (knock knock)....besides the whole ACC thing but Im slowly getting over that...

 

i switched to a sony cd player install was easy works great. It does stick out an inch farther than the dash but i got used to it and it looks nice.

 

only problem i had was the stock amp was a bitch to bypass but i ened up doing it hte hard way

 

so does anyone know if the accessory wire goes on the left or right of the fuse? also if i take out my factory headunit can i put it back in without having to reprogram it? also is it true that gm can only do computer test when the factory hu is plugged in?

 

Left my stock unit in..Why not leave it in? It serves it's purpose well.

 

Yes you can replace i v've done it plenty of times.. and yea it's tru wen the dealer tryed to run a diagnostic on my car with my hu in the car failed. so they told me to take it out. but i put it back in

 

cause i dont have 2000 bucks forthe pioneer avic-n2

 

The accessory wire should go to the right side of the fuse. I ran mine to the sunroof fuse. Its nice because it stays on when the car is turned off until I open the door, just like the factory setup does.

 

see i have a base model so I dont' have the sunroof or power windows or anything like that

 

Then I would use the windshield wiper fuse, just like crutchfield says to do.

If you have any more questions or problems I'd be more then willing to help you out.

Jamie

 

I have the base model too, i just ended up running it to the wiper fuse like crutchfield said to do....in my old car the cd player did come on in the ACC and that was definetely a nice feature.....im slowly adjusting to this and not minding it so much anymore

 

I have no clue, but all i can say is that i had my car for one week before i installed my deck and i don't regret it, I took my car to a gm dealer to have my oil changed and they said nothing about my car alarm or my sound systme.

 

What's wrong with the stock deck...really?? Unless your installing something really sweet like one of those DVD navigation decks I can't see the point in replacing the factory head unit.

 

there is a brown wire forr the acc under the steeringwhell coming from the ignition hook you acc wire to it and you can hear you radio without the car being on

 

Replaced my stock HU with a Pioneer (8600MP, Base sound). No diagnostic problems... and the head unit actually looks like it should be stock.

 

have you brought your car in for a diagnostic with the aftermarket head unit in?

 

I've said before I had wheni first got my h/u and they did the diagnostic but it failed so i switched they did it again and fixed the problem. so i switched them back now i dun have any problems anymore

 

i switched my headunit because i noticed that if any of my mp3 files are variable bit rate it just skipped over them, and the deck wouldn't play somewhat scratched discs (discs that would play perfect in any of my other players). The stock unit doesn't read wma files and i wanted to hook up my ipod. bonus is the fact i can upload custom images to the new deck so i can rock cobalt ss right on the faceplate.

 

when installing a wire into the fuse box should i place a inline fuse on the wire to be safe?

 

To answere all those who ask why an after market head unit, well some of us (me) have around 800-1000 dollar stereo equipment from our old car that (no offense i like the cobalts) can kick the **** out of any gm factory system, and i am not talking about ghetto bass i am talking about clear crisp highs, stable midds and strong distortion free bass. Also it is nice to have a good equaliser that you can set the cutoffs on so that the right freq goes to the right speakers.

as for the fuse question, as long as you tap the fuse in the right direction(dont ask me which) the fuse will protect everything fine.

 

I would fuse any thing dealing with power to the head unit, although the wiring harness with the deck should come with an inline fuse.

I didn't change mine because it already plays MP3's and doesn't sound bad. It's not as good as the setup I had in my truck (Infinti Reference 5.25" Components, Rockford Fosgate 9210 deck, RF 5x7 Power series w/ titanium cone, RF 700X Amp tested at 901 watts RMS, 2 RF Punch HX2 DVC 10" Subs) but not enough difference to go through the hassle of changing it.