Replacement car radios

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Sun 14 Oct 2001 22:13
Replacement car radios - Chris
How do I find out if a new car radio will just plug in to my Caviler 16v SRi ?
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Mon 15 Oct 2001 07:34
Re: Replacement car radios - Andy P
I'd day the majority of aftermarket radios will fit the Cavalier, provided they are of the same DIN-E format. I replaced the units in both my '89 SRi and '95 SRi 16V with a Sony head unit with no problems.


Andy
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Mon 15 Oct 2001 08:58
Re: Replacement car radios - John Slaughter
Chris

A lot depends on whether you wish to maintain the remote radio display in use. Whilst Andy is right that the Vectra has a standard DIN fitting, most after market sets have built in displays and won't drive the standard display. If you wish to retain it your choice is very limited. Vauxhall offer some Philips units which drive the displays, but I'm not aware of many others. Note too that you may need the display recoded to work with another radio - amazingly changing from Vauxhall 300 to a 400 requires a display recode!

Regards

John
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Mon 15 Oct 2001 08:59
Read the damn post! - John Slaughter
Sorry - I was talking about Vectras!

Ignore!

Regards

John
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Mon 15 Oct 2001 10:02
Re: Replacement car radios - Dan J
Should do, try taking the old stereo out and seeing if it has a standard connector on the back of it. If it has then you can put a new stereo in easily BUT Vauxhall, liking to make things awkward for people, swapped two of the power wires around for most of their stereos on Cavaliers (presumably to make people get stereos fitted at their own franchise garages!).

Modern stereos have two power connectors, one permanent (to retain radio settings etc) and one powered by the ignition so the stereo knows when to turn on/off etc. If you plug the new stereo in and it functions but not correctly, you'll need to get yourself a two way terminal block to swap them over, the wires needed should be red and black (both positive though so don't worry about the odd choice of colours - you can check which wires you need to swap by looking at which wires are the power ones from your stereo manual, then working out which wires you'll need to swap that lead to the connector plug).

If you need any more help give me a shout, else anyone you know (if you can't youself - don't take offence!) with any electronics knowledge should be able to help you out.
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Mon 15 Oct 2001 22:46
Re: Replacement car radios - Reverend Pickled Onion
Halfords sell a Connector Block which plugs directly into the wiring loom on Vauxhalls, they do them for most makes, The wires coming off this block are all colour coded so that you can match them up with the terminals on your new Head unit. makes the job easy - but they cost about 10 quid. I bought a few from a French hypermarket a couple of years ago which they were selling off for a quid each but these are for VW / Audi / Seat cars.

Good luck
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