Tips for replacing 06 radio with 04 radio ?

[dmichaelson]

So my new 06 Vibe with the base radio (single CD, 4 speakers) doesn't have a cassette (nor option for it) and this bummed me out. Saw on eBay a radio from an 04 Matrix which looks to be the exact same thing but with a cassette as well as CD; auction was almost done so I grabbed it. I attached an image of what I bought; the radio my Vibe came with looks exactly the same except minus the slot for the cassette.I thought I'd do the swap myself but am not too experienced at this.. any tips, about removing the dashboard cowel-- or in particular about the theft lock issue? Have no idea what's involved with that. The eBay seller said they would include some papers about this if necessary (verifying that the radio isn't stolen I suppose), but don't really know what I need to do with them. How do I even know if the radio is "locked" or not, and if it is what steps are necessary to unlock it?Also I'm assuming that the radio I bought, doesn't require an external amp (which my Vibe hasn't got)? if it did, the fascia of the radio would look different right?

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[joatmon]

I have an '03 Vibe, but I did the same thing. The radio you are putting in does not use theftlock. It's pretty easy to do the swap, you can do it yourself. You'll need a 10mm nutdriver or socket.Just pull out the radio bezel from the bottom, then wiggle it around some to unhook the top. Unhook the connectors from the switches. take out the four screws that hold the radio in, disconnect the cables from the back, hook them up to the new radio, put in the 4 screws, connect up the radio bezel and put it back on.Just don't do what I did, I pulled the stock radio, put the CD/cassette unit in, all was great, then I remembered I left a CD in the stock radio, so I had to take out the new one, connect up the old so I could hit the eject button, and then put it all back together again.Is your stock radio one of those that will play MP3 CD's? If so, consider offering it for sale to your fellow genvibers.

[dmichaelson]

Thanks for the pointers.No, my current radio does not play MP3 CDs; I did try. I think even in the 06's, you need to go one step higher than the base radio in order to get that feature.That said, if anyone wants to buy a base single-CD radio from an 06 Vibe, does not play MP3s but does have the cool RDS text info for radio stations, feel free to contact me...