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Successful navigation swap into a non Nav CTS

192K views 444 replies 72 participants last post by  Lancer1965 
#1 ·
Can we add OEM Nav system to 2010 CTS?

I have a 2010 CTS Sport Wagon and sorry I didn't get the nav system. Is it possible to have one installed so it looks factory installed? If so, where can I purchase one? Can the dealer do it?
 
#206 ·
Is there not any way to power the screen through a factory wiring harness? I know the CTS cars that have factory nav don't have it spliced and grounded this way, it all connects to a harness behind the radio. Just wondering if getting the whole harness will allow us to power the display without having to do any splicing.
 
#207 ·
the cars that came from the factory with Nav had a different harness. There is no need to replace your harness with a Nav harness. By getting the required pigtails, It is much easier, IMO, to make a harness and tap into a couple of 12v ignition supply circuits. To swap harnesses, you most likely have to pull the dash out. If you can read a wire diagram and connector pinout, you should be able to do this swap.
 
#208 ·
Here's the thing that I am stuck on. This thread is 13 pages long as of now, but most of it seems to have been spent diagnosing the no sound issue and rudeboi's issue with the voice guidance wiring. There is no constructed step-by-step write up on what exactly to do just to get the nav itself working.

I think it would be extremely beneficial to the forum to have a "stickied" thread on a how-to. Because right now there are so many instructions on many different things spread out over the 13 pages that at least to me it's very hard to tell what I need to do.

What would help me personally is if you answered me this. I have the required nav parts, the premium sub is already there, let's say I have my old radio out and I'm ready to start the wiring. What wires do I run, from where to where?

1.) What and where do I ground?
2.) VSS wire goes from the engine compartment to .. ?
3.) IGN wire goes from the 44-pin receiver cable to the display? You mentioned two power sources - do we need two?
4.) Voice guidance wire goes from where to where?

To me it seems like the radio and display hook up fine but the display needs IGN power to raise/lower, the radio needs a VSS signal for nav, and voice guidance needs to be wired from radio to amp. Am I missing anything? This is what I have gathered from reading the 13 pages over and over.
 
#209 ·
You really need to get a gm service manual to fully grasp and understand the aspects of the swap. The manual has all the wire schematics and connector pinouts. I tried to post as much schematics and pinouts I could, but a manual is still a must. I agree, a step by step sticky would be great but with how long the swap took and trying to diagnose issues with the swap, it would've been very time consuming to document every step of the swap. I don't think anyone is willing to tear there swap out just to document everything. My swap isn't even completely done yet ( no voice guidance or chimes and turn
signals). The thread was meant to help others attempt the swap. I have no problem helping out with questions regarding the swap. The swap really isn't that hard once you understand the stereos wiring.
As far as your questions go, the ground goes to any clean metal (no paint) on the body. The vss goes to a connector that is atop the driver valve cover (once you get a manual you'll understand why). There is a wire in the connector that comes straight from the abs module. Rudeboi said that he didn't tap into a vss signal and his still worked. For the power, I followed the factory schematics, quick was seperate power sources. Maybe you can get away with just one, just make sure it IGN and not constant or your dispay will stay on when you power the car off. I can't help with the voice guidance yet. Hope that helps and good luck
 
#210 ·
That does help, thank you again. I bought a service manual per your recommendation, it's hard to sort through but I do have one now. I definitely understand not wanting to rip apart the install to document it as that could mess something up. I will do my best to do the install myself and when I do, I will document it to make a step by step to possibly merge with this thread. Haven't located the pinouts in my service manual (it is huge but not GM-made) so I am still searching.

From what I gather, the nav head unit plugs up and powers on just fine, so the display is the only thing I have to supply IGN/ground to?

Finally got the funds to purchase my set up so I will be doing that tomorrow but I'll be missing a couple things like the GPS antenna for right now. But that seems like an easy part to add in there later. I really just want the nav for the touchscreen interface. My Chrysler 300 had an 8.4" touchscreen whether or not you had nav and using this scroll knob to sort through my music is so annoying!

One generic question I have about the wiring is, I've never soldered before so is there a way I can splice wires and attach them to the connectors without having to use a soldering iron? Such as crimping.

The help is much much much appreciated. Hopefully you won't want to kill me after all my questions! lol
 
#211 ·
That's no problem at all. I'm always willing to help if needed. I'm currently doing a write up that I'll try to put in the DIY section. I've gotten alot of questions on the swap so hopefully that would be clearer to people. But, I do recommend that you try to buy a complete takeout out of a wreck or salvage yard. All the supporting pieces you'll have to buy (gps antennae) could break the bank. Also, before starting, you'll need to have the radio unlocked. You wouldn't want to install it and get the dreaded "locked" screen (like I did). To answer your question, I do recommend soldering (and heat shrink). This creates a permanent joint. Crimps can easily fail if not done right and can be a pain in the ass to troubleshoot.
 
#212 ·
Guess I'll have to learn how to solder then! I have found some great deals on the screen + head unit but some without harness and all without GPS antenna. For the time being I would be fine with no working nav until I found an affordable antenna, as this is mostly so I can navigate through my music library much easier. I think the antenna will be simple to install (unless it requires wire tapping?)

Was reading the thread again and looking at the pinouts/schematics...since I have the 10-speaker system I'm guessing I won't lose the door chimes/signals/etc and have to re-pin? Seems like all I have to do is:

Power and ground the display
Tap into VSS for nav, which is optional
Run a shielded wire for voice guidance

If I'm missing something please let me know. So 1968vert when you found the VSS wire where exactly did you run it to? I'm talking about which connector and pin you used. Looks to me like number 20 on "radio x4" 20-pin connector but just want to confirm.

Rudeboi can you tell me from where to where you ran the voice guidance wire? Is it just one single wire? Needing to know from both ends, which connector and which pin because I can't tell from the pinout screenshots.
 
#215 ·
1968vert have you seen the write up/DIY on the reverse camera install? One of the posters included 2 PDF pages with instructions, where they tapped the wires, what parts they used, etc. If you could do something like that it would be perfect. I was able to fully understand that one.
 
#217 ·
Thanks very much. The pin info you gave was exactly what I needed. I don't really care about voice recognition as I have had that in all of my vehicles and never once used it.

Waiting on a phone call to order my radio, screen, and hopefully the harness now.

1968vert do you remember which pins you used to ground the display and on what connector? Didn't catch any info on that.
 
#218 ·
Got such an awesome deal on the setup. Bought the radio head unit, screen, screen trim cover, all harnesses (that can be removed, and pigtails where they couldn't remove wiring), nav faceplate, and all matching trim for $365. I asked for the matching trim because this is out of a CTS-V. So not only will I have nav but now I'll also have the glossy black CTS-V interior trim. Very excited about this install.
 
#220 ·
Yeah $1200 still is awesome for nearly $3000 worth of parts + labor costs. I'm hoping mine comes with the GPS antenna, if not I'm sure they'll give me a great price on it. Gonna start writing down some instructions for myself based on the info here and should be able to tackle the project soon.

Did you guys use any terminals for the wiring when plugging the wires into the connectors? When I researched the rearview camera install thread the OP used metal terminals to properly install the wires in the connectors. Wondering what you guys did whether it was that or just inserting the bare wire into the connector.
 
#221 ·
Sweet deal, man! I thought my setup was a steal at $450. You do need the terminals. The connector pinout in the manual would have the part number of the terminals and connectors. I don't know if your manual is different than mine but my my pinouts were located in component locator file within the schematic folder. There would be a picture of the connector. below the pic will be the part number/tray number. Take the part number/tray number to the dealer, they should have them on hand. the dealer I go to just gives me the terminals. You'll have to pull the lock out of the connector to insert the terminal.
 
#223 ·
Okay, so I will notate their part numbers. I used the diagrams 1968vert provided as I hate sorting through my service manual (though it looks like we have the same one).

Based on the necessary wiring info you guys have provided, shouldn't the radio and display power on before the advanced wiring is done? I want to make sure everything works before doing all of this and from what it sounds like, before I do any splicing, the radio and screen, running off the factory harnesses, should still: power on, produce audio and video/picture. Sounds to me like we are just adding up/down signal for the display, VSS for nav, and voice guidance, so everything else should work beforehand, right?
 
#228 ·
I meant after it was unlocked but before I spliced any wires. And my dad owns a body shop and they just worked on some 2010 Tahoes and a 2003 CTS so I'm pretty sure we'll have some bolts that'll fit. Just didn't know if the non-nav radio screen had enough bolts to suffice.

My stuff gets here Tuesday, but I'll still have to mail off the radio so it's looking like I may not get everything done or even started before my vacation next month. Hopefully the radio checks out fine with global-auto-tech.
 
#229 ·
Got all my stuff in today. Came in two huge heavy boxes and I was baffled as to why. Looks like they sent me the entire interior main body harness for the car! Every radio connection is there, with all harnesses between the radio and screen, instrument panel, what even looks like the fog light wiring, USB/AUX harness, EVERYTHING out of the interior.

Because of having access to my dad's body shop I can easily just have the main harness swapped...or should I just cut the connectors and follow the wiring directions? Still haven't gotten a soldering iron for that part.
 
#232 ·
Yeah it's a big job that I don't think I want done. Although there is a small rattle I'd like to get taken care of, this will not be worth that. I'm just a bit nervous about cutting the wires at the connectors I guess!

This might be a dumb question, but how do I remove the wires from the connectors? Do they pull straight out without tearing or is there a trick?

Just dropped my radio off for unlocking, can't wait to get it back in and start working! In the meantime, I installed all the CTS-V pieces I received. It looks nice! The process took almost 2 hours but that was because I had to swap the screen, all the buttons, and ashtray over on the surround. If someone were to order a surround with all the same buttons/features the whole process would be very short. I purchased the shifter and steering wheel to go with it, they should come in sometime this week.

 
#233 ·
Yeah it's a big job that I don't think I want done. Although there is a small rattle I'd like to get taken care of, this will not be worth that. I'm just a bit nervous about cutting the wires at the connectors I guess!

This might be a dumb question, but how do I remove the wires from the connectors? Do they pull straight out without tearing or is there a trick?

Just dropped my radio off for unlocking, can't wait to get it back in and start working! In the meantime, I installed all the CTS-V pieces I received. It looks nice! The process took almost 2 hours but that was because I had to swap the screen, all the buttons, and ashtray over on the surround. If someone were to order a surround with all the same buttons/features the whole process would be very short. I purchased the shifter and steering wheel to go with it, they should come in sometime this week.
You have to remove the safety clip from the connector to remove the pins. Yes it is a trick.
 
#234 ·
1968vert, in the info you sent me, you wrote that the display connectors X1 and X2 need their orange wires spliced. I understand that part, but what about the rest of the wires?? I looked at the harnesses and each connector has multiple wires and not just a single orange wire. Surely I don't leave those all cut and not connected.
 
#236 ·
Great. Lol. I didn't even think about that part. I guess I assumed all the wiring would be present and we would only be adding what you highlighted in the PDF.

Just to see if I am reading the diagram correctly, let's do an example. Display X2 pin 4 goes to radio X4 pin 4? And display X2 pin 5 goes to radio X4 pin 5? I am just following the lines straight down so I am assuming that's correct but would just like to confirm.

Or how hard would it be to swap that part of the harness over? I have the whole thing and can unwrap it if needed.
 
#237 ·
The display has a total of 3 connectors: x1, x2, x3. X1 looks like it has a total of 7 wires in the diagram. Pin 1 (orange) gets splice with the power wire coming out of the radio (pin 44 i believe). Pin 2 (blk/wht) goes to ground. Pin 4 (wht) goes to pin 43 in the radio. Pin 7, ,6 ,and 8 get wrapped in shielding and go to the radios x4 pin 9, 19, 8. The X2 from the display has 5 wires: Pin 1 (orange) goes to power. Pin 2 ground. Pin 4 an 5 (ye and ye) goes to pin 4 and 13 in the radios x4. pin 3 (wht) gets spliced with the wht out of x1 (pin 3).
 
#239 ·
My unit came with out the pigtails. I've tried searching for any info on where to get them or part numbers. Any one know any of the harness' part numbers, where to get them or how I can find any? just sent the hard drive off to get unlocked and would like to get the install started when it comes back. thank you for this post as it has been something I've wanted to try for a long time.. Lots of good info here. ESP 1968VERT. thank you. I did a how to on installing a back up cam to keep the factory set up. i know the it's not easy keeping the post going.
 
#242 ·
Bojangle, when I bought my nav setup they sent me an enormous harness. From looking at it, there is no small harness for behind the radio. Everything is wired into the big harness they sent me, which when I ran the part number ran for $700. So you will definitely just have to find the pigtails or find that main interior harness but it will be expensive. I got lucky that they sent me that for no extra charge.
 
#247 ·
bojangle,
If you have a service manual and can find the connector pinouts, the pics show part numbers for the connectors and the pins with there associated tray numbers. You can then order them up from the dealer. I had to do this for the 4th amp connector. It ended up being a couple bucks.
 
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