2002 Sunfire 2.2L Car Deck Install - Sony CDX-GT230

[alextm]

Hi everybody,

Currently I'm looking at changing my deck in my 2002 Sunfire just so I can have an AUX input for my ipod. I went to BB and I was quoted approx. $350 for the deck ($89.99), harness ($99.99) some random antenna adapter? (if anyone can explain this to me that'd be great) and I guess the labour. Now that total seems a bit steep to me...

This article seemed interesting and shed a little light on the unique structure of the sunfire's electrical system...but didn't explain a whole lot still: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/I'm_trying_to_install_a_cd_player_in_my_2002_sunfi re_i_need_the_wiring_color_codes

Basically what I'm getting at is, can I get by with the bare minimum (a cheap harness from Canadian Tire, labour and maybe that extra wire to the fuse box) to get this deck installed or is there a real trick to it for this car?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

[001Stunna]

Why not get a deck used of kijiji/craigslist. Get the harness and the casing that'll fill the hole of ebay...and install it yourself. As far as i know its going to be like installing a deck in any other car. My deck burnt out not long ago and i picked a version of the deck you're looking at for 30$ of kijiji. I just had to do some simple color coded rewiring and had it working in 15-20 minutes.

As for the door chime, you can live without it i would think....but up to you.

[onecoolloser]

Why not get a deck used of kijiji/craigslist. Get the harness and the casing that'll fill the hole of ebay...and install it yourself. As far as i know its going to be like installing a deck in any other car. My deck burnt out not long ago and i picked a version of the deck you're looking at for 30$ of kijiji. I just had to do some simple color coded rewiring and had it working in 15-20 minutes.

As for the door chime, you can live without it i would think....but up to you.

+1 I suggest you do the same. Deck off craigslist/kijiji, and mounting kit off ebay, and the radio adapter from bb/fs/walmart/ct

[sandyriver]

I got an amplifier installed in my car as well, andy my recollection was that most of the cost was the components needed to overcome the GM weirdness.

The airbag deployment and door chimes logic was in the GM standard radio. If you replace that, you need some electronics to do get that functionality. My recollection is that that cost more money than the labour charge.

Get the break-up and decide on the cost of getting best buy to do it, and the risk of doing it yourself. But the most you can save is the labour cost. You need the components for sure.

- sandy

[JetLi]

If you are currently sporting a stock radio, you'll need to order some kind of electrical bypass. The radio is connected to the door chime on the sunfire and if you change to a after market deck, you need to purchase that piece and have it installed. It wasn't cheap, but I had it done for my gf 2 years ago and she loves it.

[ES_Revenge]

Yeah the "harness" on Sunfires after 01 or 02 (or somewhere around there) is expensive because it includes a chime module. Sunfires after that year had the door chimes go through the radio because it was cheaper for GM to do it this way instead of having a dedicated chime module like they did in previous years (note that this is also when they started cheaping out the interiors of these cars :( ).

You can actually use a "simple" harness with no chime module but you'll lose your door and other warning chimes if you do so. Some people do this and don't care about the chimes. Otherwise you can probably get a "harness" with the chimes module off ebay etc. for cheap[er] as mentioned.

I don't think the airbags have anything to do with the radio on this vehicle. The ol "airbags are connected to it" routine is the oldest sales trick in the book concerning aftermarket electronics on modern vehicles. :lol: Not only do dealers do it to try to get you to stick with factory options (like overpriced OE stereo "upgrades") but aftermarket audio shops do it as well (Best Lie, FS, included). What it does is make you think "oh airbags that's a big safety item can't have that not work" and then think that they are holding something extra special that they will sell to you to maintain your airbag function :rolleyes: It's rather underhanded and it works all too well on unsuspecting customers.

The airbag system in cars is a huge safety item and government mandates require it to be largely isolated from other vehicle electronics. That is to say diagnostics are still integrated with the vehicle but it's function and wiring is isolated to only be used for airbags. If airbags were deployed from the stereo that would be like your brakes being somehow connected to your seat heater or power seat adjuster, LOL. Just wouldn't make any sense.

The antenna adapter is standard for all GM cars, as GM uses a different antenna connector than std. aftermarket size. This is a very cheap piece and shouldn't cost any more than $10. You will likely also need a dash kit, but you didn't mention that above. Those are often wildly overpriced at places like Best Lie. Like they will charge you $50 for a kit you can get at Wal-Mart or CT for like $15-$20. So keep that in mind as well.

As a side note do not go connecting "extra wires to the fuse box". That, to me, is what I call electrical malfesance. It's ghetto number one and number two if you don't know what you're doing you could cause the potential for an electrical fire (like if you connect a wire to the hot side of the fuse instead of the fused side). Anyway you shouldn't need to fiddle with any other wires than what is behind ths stock radio already, for most installs.

[alextm]

So, I took it to my local car audio shop instead of best buy/FS to get another quote. They say they'll do it for $130 installed. I think I'm gonna do it, the guy knew all about the chime stuff and told me he'd just add a little labour for running the extra cables.

Sound's pretty fair to me.