99RegalGS Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 Here's the how to on swapping out your 97-03 radio for the 2004 style Regal/Century radio.(only 99' GS with Monsoon verified at this point) Standard disclaimer applies!! There are many benefits of this swap, and include: -RDS!!! -Reads CD text!! -Speed compensated volume! -Traffic and information scan function! -P-type scan! Scan for the type of music you want to listen to! Here's the list of what you need to do the swap. -Radio! (04-05 Regal/Century Radio is probably best, 02-all? Rendezvous radio works also (02 verified)) -24 Pin connector for radio. Can be found on many newer GM's with an RDS radio. The connector need the same style terminals at the stock connector. -12 Pin second radio connector (optional / not necessary for all applications) -Tech 2! (need this to unlock radio!) -wire cutters -electrical tape -1/16" allen wrench -7mm socket and ratchet Here's the process: 1: Remove Existing Radio and disconnect battery. I'm not going to go into much detail with this... 2: Pull radio connector back though the rear radio mount and out to the side. (this will give you more room to work) 3: The rear radio mount needs to be modified for the radio to fit. The yellow dot is a close approximation. The location is critical! The radio brackets must sit flat! Otherwise the trim around the radio will not sit properly!!! Tip for locating the rear support peg: Put something on the rear peg (grease, spit, etc.) and put the radio into place as accurately as you can. Remove. There should be a nice indication of where the peg needs to be located. 4:The existing 32 pin radio connector needs to be swapped for the new connector(s). This part is pretty easy. -4a: Remove all of the wires from the new 24 pin connector. First you need to remove the terminal locks (blue or gray). -4b: Take the 1/16" allen wrench and place it into one of the outer row holes as shown. Make sure the allen wrench goes past the metal on the one side of the hole. It may take a little wiggling to get it in all the way. once it's in all the way simply pull the wire out. repeat for all wires. It will get very easy after the first couple. Note the orientation the wires come out of the connector. -4c: The new radio requires a second ground wire for the back lighting. We're going to add this wire now. Remove the connector locks from the 32 pin radio connector in the car. --4cI: Remove the black wire with the white stripe. --4cII: Take a black wire from the 24 pin connector you just emptied and splice it to the black/white wire in the car. I recommend splicing it a few inches back from the connector. May be necessary to add length to the wire that's being spliced in. I spliced the wire in using this technique. http://users.adelphia.net/~bpaskevich/index_files/Tap_And_Splice.htm -4d: Now it's time to swap the wires to the new connector. I recommend replacing one wire at a time. This will greatly reduce the chance of putting a wire in the wrong spot! --4dI: Here's the stock 32 pin connector end view --4dII: Here's the new connector with the positions labeled for wires from the stock connector. This is what it took my 1999 GS with Monsoon Radio to swap. Wire count / color may vary with model/year! --4dIII: Because you already have the ground and the spliced ground exposed start with those wires first. Insert the wires into the new connector the same way they came out. "add" in the above pic is the spliced ground wire. --4dIX: Continue until you're out of wires, or until you have just a wire or two left over. --4dX: I do not have a wiring diagram for cars with onstar. This is the primary use for the second 12 pin connector. 5: Now we need to splice the E&C bus wire to the serial class 2 data wire. -5a: Remove the two bolts for the data link connector. -5b: splice the purple and dark green wires together using a similar method as above. 6: Remove the 2amp "radio" fuse in the fuse panel on the right side of the dash. Never install this fuse again!!! 7: Reconnect battery. 8: Install new radio. Verify it powers up with key on. 9: Use a tech 2 set to the model and year the radio came out of to perform the radio setup process in the Body > Radio > Special Functions menu. 10: Radio should now be unlocked and playing static or something. Verify functionality. 11: Reassemble dash, and enjoy. Now, there are some things that won't work correctly with the new radio. 1: Radio will power cycle about every 8-10 seconds in accessory or when retained accessory power is active. I've found a way to prevent the radio from power cycling though! While in retained accessory power put the key into position 1. This will use less battery power then leaving it in run. 2: The radio will display "calibrate" on startup. The radio things it isn't setup properly. 3: The steering wheel controls may not work exactly the same (depends what the radio came out of). 4: The diversity antenna system won't work as intended (only 99-02 Monsoon cars) 5: If you had a factory CD changer it won't work anymore. If you need any errors/ ideas to help the process. Please tell me. Sean ******** Original post Done!! 2002 Rendezvous radio! (same as a 2004 Regal radio..) Well.. Almost. I still need to check a few things and reassemble. I've been wanting to do this swap for awhile now, but with the rumors of needing the 04 BCM I kinda but it on the back burner for over a year. Finally I convinced myself that it would work. So on Tuesday I bought a radio out of a 2002 Buick Rendezvous. I would have liked a radio out of a 04 Regal but they didn't have any correct ones with CD and Cassette. Yeah, I know, you never use cassette's anymore, but the radio looks funny with the dead space!! Here's the radio: (I may attempt to swap in my Monsoon cassette door later) It isn't perfect though. There are some issues that I've noticed so far, but none of the issues affect the radio/CD playback. Here are some of the issues I've noticed so far.. One thing for sure that needs to be modified is the radio slot. The harness connects in a slightly different spot. So the connectors hit the back of the slot before the radio is in all the way. Easy fix. Will supply pics of the process, as I haven't done this yet. I'm pretty sure the diversity antenna system won't work. The good news is that radio reception seems fine at the moment with the diversity wires disconnected. The back lighting isn't working. Not sure if it's a radio issue or a swap issue, as the display does dim properly. Steering wheel controls arn't working right now. There are 2 pins for this on this radio vs. 1. so it may be in the wrong spot.. The radio doesn't shut off like normal with the ignition. It will stay on for a few seconds, then turn off. But it doesn't completely turn off. It will turn on and off for awhile. Not sure what's going on here... It will eventually stay off though. lol Enough of the little things. Here's what's better about this radio! -RDS!!! -Reads CD text!! -Speed compensated volume! (maybe, haven't verified yet) -Traffic search thing.. -P-type scan! Scan for the type of music you want to listen to! -maybe more yet! Hopefully I'll get a few questions answered tomorrow/finish the install! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRONDOG442 Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 BAD ASS !! I was thinking about putting an 02 intrigue RDS radio in my car once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 Do it!!! Also, here's a short video of it working! HERE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRONDOG442 Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 I would but it would probably be a downgade from my current radio Maries car is always an option though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 My Catera radio hate that feature and I loved it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venom Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 Hope you get all the bugs worked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 Thanks, So far today I modified the back bracket of the radio to allow clearance for the radio connectors. So now it's in place like it needs to be. I did figure out a few things this morning as well. -the back lighting does work, there is a separate ground for this. I need to add that. -I did put the steering wheel radio control wire in the wrong spot. but now that I fixed that they still don't work properly. not all the buttons work, and the buttons that do work do different things. so yeah... -speed compensated volume does work. -the radio on off thing only happens in acc or when the retained accessory power is active. still need to figure out how to get this working properly. -I need to connect an amp present wire to the radio. I think the internal amp does something different when it's connected as it seems very loud and has way more bass then it used to. the good thing though is that there is a wire in the correct spot at the amp. but it doesn't make it all the way to the radio. I need to fine out how far up this wire makes it towards the radio.. That's all so far. I'm going to relax for a few minutes then head back out and start tracing that wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRONDOG442 Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 ODo a FAQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 ODo a FAQ yeah, I plan on making a faq thread with more details. but not now! I'm going to go out and enjoy my new radio! It's still not perfect, but it works good enough for now for me to tolerate! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 I did have the radio fully installed yesterday. I ended up having the amp sense wire already at the radio. It just wasn't labeled in the end view diagram I had. The color of the wire also changes, adding to the confusion. Here's a pic of the final install.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Nice and clean, great job. Hope you figure out the last small quirks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5speedz34 Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 My Catera radio hate that feature and I loved it!!! It's nice but I don't see what the big deal is? Half the stations won't even tell you what song is playing. It just says who they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaloutsider Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 That's awesome, and if you figure out why the SWRC don't work, I'll be next in line for the swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5speedz34 Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 What is the correct radio supposed to look like? Like the 04 CD/Cassette deck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 What did you have to do (if anything) since the BCM isn't from the Rendevous? Did the radio complain if it didn't have connection to your current BCM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 What is the correct radio supposed to look like? Like the 04 CD/Cassette deck. Identical, except the "traf", "info" and ,"p-type" buttons are white instead of the yellow. What did you have to do (if anything) since the BCM isn't from the Rendevous? Did the radio complain if it didn't have connection to your current BCM? The radio is connected to the serial class 2 datastream, so it should be able to talk to it. Although I don't know how much they actually communicate, since my BCM isn't designed for this. I do know that my VIN is not written to the radio. The theftlock is simply disabled right now. There are 2 current codes within the radio -Serial class 2 communication error -Radio Configuration Not Correct The only evident way you know there's codes is the "calibration" message when the radio turns on. And Shaun, I plan on tackling the SWC thing later this week. I'm going to try to change the power source wire to the radio instead of the 12v switched power. I think this may be the main reason, as the buttons change what they do depending if the car is running or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 isnt that radio similair to the impalas? Like the impalas controls the maintnance, tire and other features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2008 isn't that radio similar to the impalas? Like the impalas controls the maintenance, tire and other features. It's similar, but different. lol It seems this style Buick Radio doesn't have the system settings in the radio like the Monte's and Impala's. I'm going to guess this is because Buicks typically had the driver information center, which you could change the settings. So it wasn't necessary in the radio. I also got the SWC issue fixed tonight! The voltage out of the radio was indeed different. The SWC feed output for the SWC's is 9.5v on the newer radio vs the 11.5-14.5 volts it got from switched power. The only thing that isn't correct about the SWC's is the AM/FM button and Scan button are switched. Every other button works properly. They are switched because they are switched on the Rendezvous. A Regal/Century radio would probably be the best bet for the swap because of this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 ok that makes sense, but otherwise there doesnt appear to be much of a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 nice work getting some of the kinks worked out ...I fucking hate wiring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 nice work getting some of the kinks worked out ...I fucking hate wiring Haha, The Fix actually turned out pretty easy. I didn't have to run any new wires. I just had to remove a fuse. And put one of my leftover wires from the old radio connector into the new connector. So I lucked out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Added writeup!! Mods, please move to FAQ!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5speedz34 Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 So in the end would you recommend getting a Regal/Century radio over the Rendezvous one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted June 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Yes, because of the switched buttons on the steering wheel. There's actually the perfect radio (CD/Cassette) on ebay right now that I'm considering on buying. As it from an 04' Century. But if I do, I'll be stuck with another radio!! lol Thanks for moving the thread Chris!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 No problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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