General vehicle thread

[DenverGP]

Had fun on a recent repair of my wife's Chevy Equinox.

The radio "infotainment" unit stopped working. No display on the screen, no signs of life from the radio. It has a silver "box" deep in the dash that is the radio and computer that runs the LCD screen, etc. Dealer wanted $200 to diagnose, and if it was the radio that was bad, would be about $1200 total repair cost.

Instead I got the exact same radio from a salvage yard on ebay for $200. Was able to find one from the exact same mode/year/options vehicle, so compatibility should be no problem. Only problem was that the radio has the vin number stored in it, and if that vin number doesn't match the one stored in the other computers in the vehicle, it won't work.

Called the dealer, they said they'd need the vin of the donor vehicle, and the vin of the new, and they could reprogram it for $150. Brought it in, and after 3 hours, they gave up trying to program it, said it must not be compatible with my vehicle. Even tried to charge me the $150... after some "discussion", I got an invoice showing $0.00.

Did some more research, and learned that the VIN is stored in an EEPROM chip inside the radio. Disassembled the radio, located the chip, and connected up to a $10 EEPROM programmer device I got on ebay. Was able to read the data in the EEPROM, and found the old vin, edited the vin to match mine, and then wrote the data back to the chip.

Pics of the EEPROM programmer attached to the chip, and pic of the software I used to edit it. Old VIN is down on line 150, starts off G1PG5

[Erni]

Had fun on a recent repair of my wife's Chevy Equinox.

The radio "infotainment" unit stopped working. No display on the screen, no signs of life from the radio. It has a silver "box" deep in the dash that is the radio and computer that runs the LCD screen, etc. Dealer wanted $200 to diagnose, and if it was the radio that was bad, would be about $1200 total repair cost.

Instead I got the exact same radio from a salvage yard on ebay for $200. Was able to find one from the exact same mode/year/options vehicle, so compatibility should be no problem. Only problem was that the radio has the vin number stored in it, and if that vin number doesn't match the one stored in the other computers in the vehicle, it won't work.

Called the dealer, they said they'd need the vin of the donor vehicle, and the vin of the new, and they could reprogram it for $150. Brought it in, and after 3 hours, they gave up trying to program it, said it must not be compatible with my vehicle. Even tried to charge me the $150... after some "discussion", I got an invoice showing $0.00.

Did some more research, and learned that the VIN is stored in an EEPROM chip inside the radio. Disassembled the radio, located the chip, and connected up to a $10 EEPROM programmer device I got on ebay. Was able to read the data in the EEPROM, and found the old vin, edited the vin to match mine, and then wrote the data back to the chip.

Pics of the EEPROM programmer attached to the chip, and pic of the software I used to edit it. Old VIN is down on line 150, starts off G1PG5

Props to you sir!

[Irving]

Seriously, that's a deep dive to get the fix.

[ChickNorris]

Happy wife?

;-)

[DenverGP]

I will admit to being slightly surprised when it turned on normally after reinstalling it in the car.... Of course I didn't let on to the wife that I was surprised.

Now I want to drive it up to the dealer service department with the radio blaring and give the service manager a wave.

[Erni]

It's funny how most security features on cars are are easy to defeat.

[Gman]

Reprogramming the EEPROM doesn't fall under 'easy'. I think of easy as something like jumpering a port with a paper clip and turning the ignition to run to reset.

The primary function is theft deterrence. I think the second one is 'owners making changes on their own without paying the dealership' deterrent.

Good job on getting it figured out.

[fitterjohn]

When I worked in a shop I always used the bulk brake cleaner.

[MrPrena]

NO DIY (besides easy maintenance for 1) for a while. Both vehicles are now under factory warranty and one is in 2yr maintenance free.

[Irving]

Does anyone use E-85? I've been driving a flex-fuel vehicle for over 90,000 miles and never even tried it. I'm going to try a tank now.