Hey all.. New here with a 2005 base and radio issue..

[Mac1]

Hi everyone! A forum for everything out there and the vibe is no exception which is just awesome! I just bought a 05 and found that the radio has no AUX or backlight.. Pretty sure I can repair the backlight issue.. I think.. But I have a question.. Is it either possible to ad an aux to this stock radio or is it pretty easy to just install another aftermarket radio with the features I want? I would rather just install another radio but have no idea if anything other than the radio runs through this stock radio like anti-theft etc? The car does have an aftermarket remote start but I don't think it would affect this? I appreciate any help I can get and hope to be able to pass along the help in the future as I learn about this car and repair/replace parts on it.

[joatmon]

Welcome to genvibe!

There's a thread on replacing lights behind radio LCD that's not too difficult, but that only solves one part of the problem.

I haven't found a good way to add an AUX port to the factory radio. There's one tweak that involves putting a switched input jack between the CD output and the radio's internal amp, but the AUX in audio is low volume, and you have to have a CD spinning to make it work, I tried that, wasn't very happy with the results.

I swapped in a radio from an 03 Matrix that had a cassette, but eventually it stopped working well. They were an option in early Matrixes, never offered in Vibes, and there used to be limited supply, I expect they are a lot harder to find these days.

My best luck with the stock radio was to use a bluetooth FM transmitter.

I think if I had to do it over, I'd probably go with an aftermarket radio, with AUX in and bluetooth. AND Android Auto.

At least in the 2003-2008 Vibes, there is nothing else that goes through the radio. In other GM cars of the same years, the radios talked on a data bus with other car components, for things like door ajar and seatbelt warning beeps, as well as logic that required the radio be set up to match the rest of the car as an antitheft tool. (in Vibes the beeps come from a buzzer on the back of the instrument cluster) Since Vibes were sisters of Toyota Matrix, and Toyota didn't implement the GM data bus, the radios used in Vibes look like other GM radios, but have no support or need for the data bus. THis makes it pretty straight forward to go aftermarket, you just need the right wiring mounting adapter. Likely an antenna adapter too.

If you go aftermarket, one wiring tip to keep in mind is that the base of the roof antenna has a powered amplifier in it, the power for this comes from the head unit.

[Mark]

2nd the bluetooth FM transmitter, I have one in all three Vibes. You can get them on Amazon for 15-20 bucks, but it's really a crap shoot finding a good one. It's either that or just replace the radio, but I wasn't aware that the antenna is powered off the head unit, that's really good to know.

[Mac1]

Welcome to genvibe!

There's a thread on replacing lights behind radio LCD that's not too difficult, but that only solves one part of the problem.

I haven't found a good way to add an AUX port to the factory radio. There's one tweak that involves putting a switched input jack between the CD output and the radio's internal amp, but the AUX in audio is low volume, and you have to have a CD spinning to make it work, I tried that, wasn't very happy with the results.

I swapped in a radio from an 03 Matrix that had a cassette, but eventually it stopped working well. They were an option in early Matrixes, never offered in Vibes, and there used to be limited supply, I expect they are a lot harder to find these days.

My best luck with the stock radio was to use a bluetooth FM transmitter.

I think if I had to do it over, I'd probably go with an aftermarket radio, with AUX in and bluetooth. AND Android Auto.

At least in the 2003-2008 Vibes, there is nothing else that goes through the radio. In other GM cars of the same years, the radios talked on a data bus with other car components, for things like door ajar and seatbelt warning beeps, as well as logic that required the radio be set up to match the rest of the car as an antitheft tool. (in Vibes the beeps come from a buzzer on the back of the instrument cluster) Since Vibes were sisters of Toyota Matrix, and Toyota didn't implement the GM data bus, the radios used in Vibes look like other GM radios, but have no support or need for the data bus. THis makes it pretty straight forward to go aftermarket, you just need the right wiring mounting adapter. Likely an antenna adapter too.

If you go aftermarket, one wiring tip to keep in mind is that the base of the roof antenna has a powered amplifier in it, the power for this comes from the head unit.

Thanks for the information. Based on what you said I did order another radio, double din and a install kit with antenna adapter. I did see the wire hooked to the antenna but wasn't sure where the power to it came from, and still can't tell. As for the stereo, it's supposed to be the monsoon system with the amp under the seat and the sub in the hatch back area. It looks fairly tricky to do for this guy. The kit that is coming has a box to convert speaker to RCA but the amp has no RCA that I can see so I'd have to splice..

[Chicken4Dayz]

I was able to get a functioning aux port in using this guy's soldering guide on hackaday (https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/2697991524769669015.jpg), just needed to burn a CD with a blank audio track and mount a jack on the front panel. Replaced the clock lights while I was in there and now I've got almost a modern radio