2003 Chevy Silverado Reg Cab Install?
 

Hi Guys,

I have a 2003 Chevy Silverado 1500 Reg. cab truck with the stock stereo (standard CD Player). I bought an Innovatek DD W72GPS unit taht i wanna install. My question is, do i need any special wiring harness to install this thing? I was looking on flea-bay and i seen a harness for 75.00 that said it was for a '03 silverado, and it had a "chime thing" on it, then i saw one for 5.00 that said it was for my truck, but that i would have to find a 12v power wire, cause my harness doesnt have one in it?

my truck is a base model satndard cab with no On Star, or any fancy system, just the AM/FM CD player. I want to install a 4 CH amp, new Infinity door and rear pillar speakers, and i bought an Infinity Basslink T (used).

what will i need to get the head unit installed, or what am i looking at? i would like a heads up so i can be fairly prepared, and not just tear it apart, and then find out i need something special for it?

any help would be greatly appreciated!

Ginnz.

Theoretically, if you are doing "it all" speakers, amps, headunit, you should be able to do a full stand alone system that does not touch any factory wires other than relaying an acc. line so you could get by without the adapter. Problem is though, on many mid-2000's GM's, just by removing the factory head unit, you loose functionality. Could be warning chimes, message centre, not sure specifically for your truck.

You could bury the factory headunit somewhere by extending the harness wires but thats a sheet-load of work to save <$100

If it was me, I would add the magic box but do a "stand alone" system with all new speaker wire, etc. anyways.

thanks phil.

i hear you, but i wont loose anything but the seatbelt chime.... and that i dont mind at all. all i need is power to the headunit, ground.

one thing i dont quite understand is the headunit has a back up camera option, and there is a trigger wire for that, what do i hook that up to so when i put the truck in reverse, the camera is automatically displayed on the screen? does that hook up to the back up lights somehow? or is there a wire on the column i hook it up to?

thanks guys.

ginnz

If only that chime, great. The 05 Cobalt my wife had would have lost all chimes incl headlight on , the message centre and I think there was a third thing. Nevr did do a system in that car anyways.

The Camera wire does connect to the reverse lights wire to trigger it.

You should ask to see if someone with access to Directechs or similar would post up the wire colours/location for you. It will save you some time.

Thanks again Phil,

I looked it up, and i seen another guy state that the wire could be found just under the cab in the harness, but its easier just to run run from the rear, tied along with the A/V wire from the camera.... and there's all kinds of 12v power to be found at the rear of the truck for the camera behind the trailer plug.....

I have one more question before i wire up the head unit. i was looking for a schematic for my truck and found this:

2003 Chevrolet Silverado C1500 Car Radio Wiring Diagram

Car Radio Battery Constant 12v+ Wire: Orange
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12v+ Wire: The radio harness does not provide a switched power source. Run a wire to the fusebox for switched power.
Car Radio Ground Wire: Black/White
Car Radio Illumination Wire: Gray
Car Stereo Dimmer Wire: Brown
Car Stereo Antenna Trigger Wire: Pink
Car Stereo Amp Trigger Wire: N/A
Car Stereo Amplifier Location: Under the center console.
Car Audio Front Speakers Size: N/A
Car Audio Front Speakers Location: N/A
Left Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): Tan
Left Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Gray
Right Front Speaker Positive Wire (+): Light Green
Right Front Speaker Negative Wire (-): Dark Green

so, if the truck doesnt have a switched power wire, where can i find one to hook up to? I mean, i could run a wire to the battery, but then the head unit could stay on all the time, even if the key isnt in the ignition? I dont want that. I need to get power somewhere, but only when the ignition is on, right? Can anyone shed some light on this? it says to run a wire to the fuse box for switched power, but where?

thanks all, i guess you can tell ive never done this before.... i put an aftermarket headunit in our Caravan once, but it was straight forward. ;-)

all help is greatly appreciated!

Ginnz.

Personally I hate using furetaps on the fuse box.

I would suggest testing the orange wire and brown wire (preferably with a DVM) at the base of the steering column in the harness (they should be relatively heavy guage wires, likely 12gage or something close). I believe either will go live in the run postion on the key but I am not sure if either one is live in the accessory key position (which is preferred if you want to listen to the radio with the truck off).

I tried to find power at the column tonight, taking it apart is ridiculous, and its so hard to work around anything there.... i found 12v switchable power in the fuse box under the hood right away, ill just pick up an ATM fuse tap and go with that....

thanks guys.

remember you need a 12 v constant as well as a 12 v switched or all your radio presets and time will reset each time. the 12 v switched is just a turn on trigger for the radio.

the 12v constant is in the factory harness.... it just doesnt have the switched power. real pain in the arse setup IMO.