i have a 2003 pontiac sunfire coupe 5-speed, with the 2.2 ecotec. not that that matters, but here's the problem.

i bought the car 2 months ago, had a stereo installed in it already. i didn't like it so i decided to swap it out. the previous owners bypassed the anti-theft device from the original unit. they had the wire spliced into the wiper wires under the steering column.

i had to re-splice all wires in dash because of the fact, they didn't bother buying the harness for aftermarket headunit installs.

i removed the quicksplice under the dash because i thought it was the reason my headunit kept cutting out randomly while driving. since then, chaos.

if i have my car running with radio on, and turn on headlights, the radio will reboot itself. after about 5 minutes, the gauges will go out...everything will read zero (oil temp, speedo, and tach). i will then get 3 lights, service, anti-theft, and check gauges. i have no problems with the way the car drives, but all of those things will happen.

what i'm hoping is it's just anti-theft system that originally came with the car screwing up. but does anyone else have any ideas of what could be wrong?

i found the wiring diagram, and plan on going back to check all wires tonight (again). but when i looked this weekend, everything seemed fine. but i'm still having major issues.

i just want my damn radio on the way to work!! why does gm always have to make this so damn hard!? any ideas or opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

I remember that happening in my friends cavy. I'm sure its something in the wiring. the gauges read zero because of the anti-theft system. but as far as taking care of it.. I'm no help lol.

 

Why are you on a cobalt forum?

 

so because i don't have the anti-theft system in there it's tripping the gauges?

 

is your answer helping me? So that makes u just as stupid as i am.

I had a 2006 cobalt about a year and ahalf ago. Jbody forums look impossible to register on, and i don't know of any sunfire forums. It's the same car...different name. FIGURED IT WOULDN'T BE A BIG DEAL....BUT OF COURSE THIS IS THE INTERNET

 

yeah, the car thinks its been stolen. so therefore your gauges don't work to discourage driving and make it difficult so your car doesn't get stolen. idk. its weird but I'm pretty sure that's it.