2006 Chev Express van 2500 radio swap .

I removed the stock radio from my 2006 Chevy van to install an older GM unit with a cassette in it's place. Mechanically this is going to work however when I last discussed this in this group Steve advised me to first see if the truck would run properly with the radio disconnected. Well interestingly it won't. It seems that with the radio removed the idle speed is way down and it will stall when trying to put it into gear.

I can't imagine that a radio would have anything to do with engine performance however I do have a theory. I'm thinking that somehow the data stream which is running through the truck may interlock through every device which "talks" to the computer and perhaps pulling the radio plug interrupted that data that goes to the engine components that control mixture, timing, idle speed, etc?

I'm an electronics guy and not an auto mechanic so I'm only guessing here. But in any case can someone please explain to me what is going on here, and if whatever it is can it be circumvented so that I can do away with the stock GM radio and put what I want in there?

Thanks for your time and any advice. Lenny

On Wed, 23 Aug 2017 11:31:32 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

>I removed the stock radio from my 2006 Chevy van to install an older GM unit with a cassette in it's place. Mechanically this is going to work however when I last discussed this in this group Steve advised me to first see if the truck would run properly with the radio disconnected. Well interestingly it won't. It seems that with the radio removed the idle speed is way down and it will stall when trying to put it into gear.
>
>I can't imagine that a radio would have anything to do with engine performance however I do have a theory. I'm thinking that somehow the data stream which is running through the truck may interlock through every device which "talks" to the computer and perhaps pulling the radio plug interrupted that data that goes to the engine components that control mixture, timing, idle speed, etc?
>
>I'm an electronics guy and not an auto mechanic so I'm only guessing here. But in any case can someone please explain to me what is going on here, and if whatever it is can it be circumvented so that I can do away with the stock GM radio and put what I want in there?

Is it repeatable? Every time it is disconnected it runs bad, but runs
right every time you reconnect it?

If so, I don't know if you can jump the data line wires to bypass the
radio. I know the PCM and BCM look for all of the modules, and
funny/unpredictable things can happen if they are not all found. I
spent at least a week trying to find a sporadic dead battery problem
on a car with an aftermarket radio. The service writer lied to me, and
told me that the problem had been there before the radio was replaced.
I should have known better.

wrote:
> I removed the stock radio from my 2006 Chevy van to install an older GM unit with a
> cassette in it's place. Mechanically this is going to work however when I last
> discussed this in this group Steve advised me to first see if the truck would run
> properly with the radio disconnected. Well interestingly it won't. It seems that with
> the radio removed the idle speed is way down and it will stall when trying to put it
> into gear.
>
> I can't imagine that a radio would have anything to do with engine performance however
> I do have a theory. I'm thinking that somehow the data stream which is running through
> the truck may interlock through every device which "talks" to the computer and perhaps
> pulling the radio plug interrupted that data that goes to the engine components that
> control mixture, timing, idle speed, etc?
>
> I'm an electronics guy and not an auto mechanic so I'm only guessing here. But in any
> case can someone please explain to me what is going on here, and if whatever it is can
> it be circumvented so that I can do away with the stock GM radio and put what I want
> in there?
>
> Thanks for your time and any advice. Lenny

Might need to research something like this:
LC-GMRC-LAN-01

wrote:
> I removed the stock radio from my 2006 Chevy van to install an older
> GM unit with a cassette in it's place. Mechanically this is going to
> work however when I last discussed this in this group Steve advised
> me to first see if the truck would run properly with the radio
> disconnected. Well interestingly it won't. It seems that with the
> radio removed the idle speed is way down and it will stall when
> trying to put it into gear.
>
> I can't imagine that a radio would have anything to do with engine
> performance however I do have a theory. I'm thinking that somehow the
> data stream which is running through the truck may interlock through
> every device which "talks" to the computer and perhaps pulling the
> radio plug interrupted that data that goes to the engine components
> that control mixture, timing, idle speed, etc?
>
> I'm an electronics guy and not an auto mechanic so I'm only guessing
> here. But in any case can someone please explain to me what is going
> on here, and if whatever it is can it be circumvented so that I can
> do away with the stock GM radio and put what I want in there?
>
> Thanks for your time and any advice. Lenny

Sort of. The "radio" in many newer vehicles does a lot more than play
music. They also act as a sort of RAM memory for other systems as well.
The LAN is used to read/write that memory and it plays a part in the
security system, ECM data stream and things like memory seats and mirrors.
It's why I cautioned you about it. Being that is a base radio in a work
van I hoped it wasn't connected. BUT I should know better by now.

--
Steve W.

On Wednesday, August 23, 2017 at 2:31:35 PM UTC-4, wrote:
> I removed the stock radio from my 2006 Chevy van to install an older GM unit with a cassette in it's place. Mechanically this is going to work however when I last discussed this in this group Steve advised me to first see if the truck would run properly with the radio disconnected. Well interestingly it won't. It seems that with the radio removed the idle speed is way down and it will stall when trying to put it into gear.
>
> I can't imagine that a radio would have anything to do with engine performance however I do have a theory. I'm thinking that somehow the data stream which is running through the truck may interlock through every device which "talks" to the computer and perhaps pulling the radio plug interrupted that data that goes to the engine components that control mixture, timing, idle speed, etc?
>
> I'm an electronics guy and not an auto mechanic so I'm only guessing here.. But in any case can someone please explain to me what is going on here, and if whatever it is can it be circumvented so that I can do away with the stock GM radio and put what I want in there?
>
> Thanks for your time and any advice. Lenny

I think that I have confirmed that the radio has nothing to do with the engine performance.. The strange thing is since that day at the lake when I pulled the OEM radio and the engine performance went to **** I have attempted to duplicate that event countless times during the course of this installation both by first pulling the battery and then not pulling the battery.and the engine has not acted up since. So what caused it that first time and never again? Who knows?

The job was a bit of a challenge though both mechanically and electrically. The old radio is slightly smaller than the 2006 OEM radio so there was plenty of room in the radio space. I cut the wires off the 2006 radio connector one by one and spliced them on to the old radio connector. Except for the fact that they changed all the color codes on he speaker wiring,(why they had to do that is beyond me), it was pretty straight forward.

I did confirm though as Steve suggested that there is only constant power to the newer radio. It doesn't require switched power because pressing the ON button sends a signal to the microprocessor telling it to power on. This is way more sophisticated than they did in 1990. Anyway I looked for a circuit in the truck that would go to 12 volts when the key is in either the IGN or ACCY position but there was no convenient one. So I installed a lighted switch between constant 12 volts and the terminal on the old radio that goes to 12 volts when the key is put in and either run or ACCY is selected. This might seem clumsy, however I actually like this arrangement better than the OEM arrangement. Now I can power on the radio regardless as to whether the key is on or off or even present,etc.

Thanks for all the help and advice I received on this group with this job. I'm really enjoying my tapes again. Lenny

wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 23, 2017 at 2:31:35 PM UTC-4, wrote:
>> I removed the stock radio from my 2006 Chevy van to install an older GM unit with a cassette in it's place. Mechanically this is going to work however when I last discussed this in this group Steve advised me to first see if the truck would run properly with the radio disconnected. Well interestingly it won't. It seems that with the radio removed the idle speed is way down and it will stall when trying to put it into gear.
>>
>> I can't imagine that a radio would have anything to do with engine performance however I do have a theory. I'm thinking that somehow the data stream which is running through the truck may interlock through every device which "talks" to the computer and perhaps pulling the radio plug interrupted that data that goes to the engine components that control mixture, timing, idle speed, etc?
>>
>> I'm an electronics guy and not an auto mechanic so I'm only guessing here. But in any case can someone please explain to me what is going on here, and if whatever it is can it be circumvented so that I can do away with the stock GM radio and put what I want in there?
>>
>> Thanks for your time and any advice. Lenny
>
> I think that I have confirmed that the radio has nothing to do with the engine performance.. The strange thing is since that day at the lake when I pulled the OEM radio and the engine performance went to **** I have attempted to duplicate that event countless times during the course of this installation both by first pulling the battery and then not pulling the battery.and the engine has not acted up since. So what caused it that first time and never again? Who knows?
>
> The job was a bit of a challenge though both mechanically and electrically. The old radio is slightly smaller than the 2006 OEM radio so there was plenty of room in the radio space. I cut the wires off the 2006 radio connector one by one and spliced them on to the old radio connector. Except for the fact that they changed all the color codes on he speaker wiring,(why they had to do that is beyond me), it was pretty straight forward.
>
> I did confirm though as Steve suggested that there is only constant power to the newer radio. It doesn't require switched power because pressing the ON button sends a signal to the microprocessor telling it to power on. This is way more sophisticated than they did in 1990. Anyway I looked for a circuit in the truck that would go to 12 volts when the key is in either the IGN or ACCY position but there was no convenient one. So I installed a lighted switch between constant 12 volts and the terminal on the old radio that goes to 12 volts when the key is put in and either run or ACCY is selected. This might seem clumsy, however I actually like this arrangement better than the OEM arrangement. Now I can power on the radio regardless as to whether the key is on or off or even present,etc.
>
> Thanks for all the help and advice I received on this group with this job. I'm really enjoying my tapes again. Lenny
>
Thanks for the feedback. Good to know it worked out ok.