I'm interested in maybe changing the head unit all together with one i found on ebay that has a 6 CD changer and Cassette player.


By any chance if i bought this and plugged it in would it work?

or would i have to visit the dealer to program it???

You will have to go to the dealership and get it unlocked through a system call TECH 2. They usually charge you $100.00 or so which is crazy!! other than that its all plug and play.

Depending on where the radio came from you may have to set some options in it with the Tech 2.
Yes it will require unlocking as the VIN will not match when it is plugged in and turned on.

We usually charge around $50 to $60.
(I am not sure what our labor rates are... I don't have anything to do with money, I just fix the cars)

I had to unlock my radio when I installed the carputer (I bought an used radio for that) and the Spanish dealer charged me 80 euros (1 hour rate) for a 5 minutes labor :rant2: .

Some others in this forum went to a Chevy dealer and did it for free ..., use the search tool to find out and you may be lucky too.

Or if you really feel like it. You can use the mother board from your old radio and install it into the new radio.

Their all the same, and they have all the connections as well. If it was me, I would try that first. If all the options doesn't work, then yeah put things back together and go to the dealership.

KOT

CTS radios have security seals on them so if you disassemble them all chances of any kind of warranty help go out the window... not that it would be an issue in this type of instance but...

Also taking the boards out and swapping them to the new radio can be a real pain.
Not a bad idea though depending on what you are after.

will i still need the anti theft lock if i removed my o.e.m radio unit completely and install it again after almost a year?

I don't think so, becaused it's burned on to a flash memory chip. Which doesn't lose the information with power loss. But before you dismantel it, install back into your car and see what happens.

I have two factory radios programmed to my car, because I wanted a spare before I did my hack job. And they both work still. Even after months of dissconnection.

KOT

No as long as the VIN is not changed using a scan tool the radio will retain it's memory and it will function when you reconnect it.