2005 Pontiac GP stereo install

[jake227]

Hey all,

I'll be honest, I don't own a Grand Prix but a friend of mine does and I'm installing a new CD player for her. Is there anything special I should know about this car before doing the install, or is it pretty straightforward? I have done installs before, just never on this car.

She has a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix (just a base model, not a GT or GTP) and she does NOT have the Monsoon system. She does have Onstar, but she is not concerned with paying for the adapter to keep the chimes and everything. I already have the wiring harness and the faceplate kit, is there anything else I would need?

Thanks

[windycitygtp]

Did you get a antenna adapter....

[jake227]

Good catch, yes I do have the antenna adapter.

[OH4CompG]

As long as you have the onstar adapter, harness, and antenna adapter you're golden. Remove the ring around the ignition cylinder first using something flat. A screwdriver works well. Then start pulling the center stack trim off starting at the top corner. Once it's loose, reach around and unplug the DIC. Then to get to the radio, you'll have to remove all the center stack components starting from the bottom as they are all interlocked. Hope this helps

[jake227]

Ok, so I got all the wires connected to the harness and tried it and the CD player doesn't light up or turn on. The only thing it does do, is if I hit the "CD eject" button, I can hear the motor run to try and eject a CD, so that tells me I have power to it. When I pulled the factory CD player out there were two separate pin connectors going in the back of it. One of them, I plugged the wiring harness into which connects to the new CD player, and the other one I have no idea what that was for, I was assuming this was the Onstar stuff, so it isnt connected to anything. I double-checked my connections and its wired up correctly as far as I can tell. I pressed every button on the CD player and I tried the reset button, and I tried pulling the face off and re-connecting it to make sure that was secure.

Anything I'm missing? Do I need to splice into one of the wires on the other pin connector that went into the factory CD player? Is there an external stock amp in this ca that I'm not aware of?

Any help is most appreciated.

[jake227]

Oh, one more thing - I do not have the Onstar harness, cuz she didn't want to pay the money just to keep the Onstar functions - is that necessary just to install an aftermarket CD player?

[OH4CompG]

Onstar isn't necessaryz. I forgot, these aftermarket harnesses don't provide an ignition power source. You'll have to use a test light and track one down. The factory radio turns on with a signal from the serial data bus. Iirc there is a pink wire on the back of the bcm that if you tap into is ign power but I would test light a few connections at the fuse box before I messed with that

[jake227]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I just spoke with someone at Metra (that's the brand of harness that I have) and he said that I have the wrong harness(70-2003), which sucks because the guy at Best Buy thought he gave me the right harness. the Metra guy said that if I get the LC-GMRC-01, that will have the ignition power source that I need. Does this sound right?

[jake227]

Well, after doing some research it appears as if I can use the harness I have, but as OH4CompG said before, I need to tap into a power source. Any idea on where the best place is to do that and what color the wire is?

[imdaman3]

use a test light and use one in the colum i think i used a fat yellow my bonnevilles the same way works great now

[OH4CompG]

If you go to the fuse box you can tap into the retained accessory power circuit too

[jake227]

Well, I got a test light and I was able to go to the fuse box and find a 12v ignition wire, then spliced into it and connected it that way. Works perfect and sounds good too.

Thanks for all your help fellas

[devon16]

i have sort of the same problem i have all the wires hooked up but im confused on where i connect the red wire coming out of the lc-gmrc-01 that says 12v+ ignition switched..where do i plug it in

[jake227]

You have to connect the red power wire to a 12 volt ignition source. Do the following:

Go to the fusebox which is on the passenger side. Then, get something that is called "add-a-fuse" which is available at any auto parts store. This plugs into the fuse box and then you just run a wire to the red wire coming out of the harness. Its pretty easy, you just have to find a spot in the fuse panel that is open, and make sure it is an ignition source, meaning that it turns on when you turn the car on and off when the car is off. You can either do this by trial and error, or spend $8 on a testlight.

[devon16]

ok thanks ill try this and let you know the results

[Agent 002]

Damn I was having the same problem.....thanks for all the info fellas

[ASHLEYR0SE]

okay so im kinda haveing a similar problem with yours. but the only thing is my display screen at the top of the plastic cover doesnt want to turn on. but its pluged in do i need to re wire something everthing else works though. some one help me please =]